DeLorean DMC-12 (October 1981)
Manual transmission. Grooved hood. Grey interior. Rear antenna.
Obsessive perfectionist and 64th annual 2019 Hillsborough Concours D'Elegance class winner.
Posts: 4,807
My VIN: 3937
DeLorean DMC-12 (October 1981)
Manual transmission. Grooved hood. Grey interior. Rear antenna.
Obsessive perfectionist and 64th annual 2019 Hillsborough Concours D'Elegance class winner.
Location: Ellensburg, WA
Posts: 190
My VIN: 5510
Successfully separated the body from the frame today. My brother-in-law Joe came to help, thankfully. No way it would have happened in one day (roughly 10 hours) without him. We did the poor man's lift using 16"x8"x4" and 16"x8"x8" cinder blocks,
My entire body is aching, every muscle feels like its pulled, and after we finished my entire body was covered with dirt... but... there's now a DeLorean body sitting on two furniture dollies and 4x4's, and a DeLorean frame sitting on 4 wheel dollies.
I'll update more in a day or two when I've recovered. For now, enjoy a picture of the highest point off the ground we took it, just after rolling the frame out.
20200523_215049.jpg
Last edited by CyberBill; 05-24-2020 at 03:27 AM.
Posts: 4,807
My VIN: 3937
Good to know. Hadn't realized that was there. Doesn't show one for the auto trans. That part also doesn't come up in the parts list as it goes from #4 to #6 without a #5 being there?
Wow, bravo. Not for the faint of heart that job there, for a new owner or old.
Sept. 81, auto, black interior
DMC has repros made from new material. Looks stock but the fuzzy bit won't separate. I've got them in my car.
https://store.delorean.com/p-9765-po...wipe-seal.aspx
I can attest to these. The original glue in my car obviously had hardened long ago, and caused what fuzz was on it to become very sharp. Both of my windows were scratched due to it. I ended up replacing the glass on both sides for the tollbooth and redoing that rub strip and now its great. A solid investment if you don't want your window's all scratched up. Replacing the tollbooth isnt hard, but it isnt fun.
- OCT81 DeLorean DMC-12 Vin 5312 "DeLores"
- 1978 Lotus Esprit S2 "Problem Child"
- 1995 Mazda Miata Turbo "Happy Daily Driver"
I repair Lotus's with DeLorean parts
Location: Ellensburg, WA
Posts: 190
My VIN: 5510
Haha, you're not the only one! This picture opportunity was very short lived, we put the 4x4 on jacks, jacked up the rear off of the jack stands and cinder blocks, rolled the car out, took pictures, and then immediately put the jack stands back in place and began lowering it down.
I'm really trying to devise a plan so that next time I can take the car to DIY shop where I can rent a lift for an hour... It was very sketchy. And cinder blocks are really heavy.
I used a different but similar approach. Did it myself. Not terrible difficult but you will get your 10,000 steps in. You only want to lift a point a bit to avoid twisting the body. My process:
- 4x4's under the body like yours
- jack stays on the floor (I had one jack and had to go back and forth, side to side, front to back)
- scrap 2x6's on side between the jack and the 4x4 to get enough lift
- blocks, jack stands, wood between the floor and the 4x4 when more scrap 2x6's needed to be added or when working other points
Just kept working the points, adding a bit of height (not too much) and moving to the next point. Mine
never felt scary. The 4x4's were never more than a couple inches from the solid support under them
Then
- the body went up
- the frame rolled out
- the snowmobile trailer went under
- blocks of wood blocked the body to get the 4x4's out
- the trailer was rolled away for storage until the frame was repaired.
- Reversed the process to reassemble the car
FWIW, to remove the engine and transmission
- I made a wooden swing set in the garage like found at most Home Depot like stores (I used the set's brackets for lateral support)
- reinforced the top beam because I had the 2x4 lumber. I simply set a couple 2x4's on top the top beam and tied them in place
- I think I used a 4x4 for the top beam because it was cheaper than the 4x6 in the set plans
- Bought a chain hoist to lift the engine (come along was to scary to use)
- rolled the frame out.
- rolled a home made dolly under the engine and transmission
- Rolled the dolly out of the way until reassembly
- reversed the process for reassembly
Nick
- No matter how many people believe in a dumb idea ... it is still a dumb idea!
- Some cars look fast. Some cars look faster than time!
- The question is not "where did the time go" but rather "where to go in time".