Is this the black delorean I saw last month?
Location: Moline,IL
Posts: 135
My VIN: 3390
Is this the black delorean I saw last month?
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Posts: 1,380
My VIN: 01955
Updates:
My mechanic pulled out the transmission yesterday morning and the auto specialists had told him that the 2nd Gear Drum had failed. I have no other details to how this has happened. Currently he is looking for a compatible part to replace this, he should be able to find it. I had a look on the online parts listing but did not see this part, unless it's called something else? If I don't hear from him, all is good, but if I do, I will need this part asap.
Auto experts?
Location: Northern NJ
Posts: 8,581
My VIN: 10757 1st place Concourse 1998
C1 is usually the one that "goes". Happens because someone drives on a flakey shift computer and it hammers the drivetrain with frequent and hard shifts. It is just a piece of formed sheet metal with some spot welds and is the smallest clutch and all of the power has to go through it. C1 is #26 103620. If your mechanic is calling C2 "second gear" that is #14 103966. You might be able to repair it. Look at 4-5-4 and 4-5-5 in the Parts Manual. DMCH should have it but they may not want to sell individual internal parts. Martin in the UK may be able to get you one, these parts were a lot more popular in Europe, they were used in a lot of Renault cars. It may turn out to be cheaper to buy a rebuilt transmission or another dead one in the hope that the part you need is not bad. While it is apart you should be replacing all of the seals, frictions, steels, springs, and shims and rebuilding the torque converter.
David Teitelbaum
Originally Posted by SIMid
Location: TN
Posts: 145
Tiptronic or Sportamatic if you like them.
Just a locking torque convertor clutch alone will reward you with much longer lasting transmission fluid, less wear and more efficiency.
The tiptronics also aren't made of pricey cheese and it is possible to make them shift with only vacuum and throttle position inputs, sans computer although you'd have to manually lock and unlock the convertor.
I think if I were to stay married to an R30, I'd bump up the line, control and reverse pressures, ditch the shift computer if a vacuum modulator is adaptable and update the lined clutch plates to modern stuff.
At a casual glance it does also look possible to reverse engineer in a modern lock up convertor although it would take some work. I haven't delved into this deeply at all.
Had these cars stayed in production, such changes would have inevitable.
Location: Northern NJ
Posts: 8,581
My VIN: 10757 1st place Concourse 1998
I had spoken with people that were involved with the production of the Delorean and the plans were to get away from Renault. They were not very cooperative and did not want to do any more engineering or improvements on what they considered a product at the end of it's life cycle. The auto was near the limit of it's HP rating anyway. All of the things you mention are probably what would have occurred but not with Renault. Now, to do it "on your own" is very difficult because you can't do it with "off the shelf" parts. You may be able to find parts that can be modified to be made suitable but even that route is expensive. Anyone looking for performance is probably going to want a 5-speed anyway. The only way it makes sense to do it with an automatic is if you use forced aspiration, then an auto with a torque converter can be a good fit, just not the Renault box. Because of the nested design of the clutch packs and the way they are made (stamped sheet metal with spot welds) you have a LOT of work to do to get it to handle more HP.
David Teitelbaum
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Posts: 1,380
My VIN: 01955
Auto Trans guy ripped out the box last week and took it all apart and examined why it was slipping. Faulty 2nd Gear Drum or C2.
I went down and had a look.
As you can see, there a crack which was causing it to lose pressure. They believe that they might had been a pinhole or a very fine hairline crack. So yeah, poor French manufacturing.I wonder how many other boxes have this issue?
Location: Northern NJ
Posts: 8,581
My VIN: 10757 1st place Concourse 1998
First time I saw that. I would still guess it was due to a faulty shift computer slamming in and out of gears and over-stressing the parts. Maybe your guy can weld it up and then machine it?
David Teitelbaum
Auto Trans guy ripped out the box last week and took it all apart and examined why it was slipping. Faulty 2nd Gear Drum or C2.
I went down and had a look.
As you can see, there a crack which was causing it to lose pressure. They believe that they might had been a pinhole or a very fine hairline crack. So yeah, poor French manufacturing.
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Posts: 1,380
My VIN: 01955
The Delorean did have a sick computer with the PO. This was replaced by Toby and all was well afterwards. Examining the clutches, he said the slipping was due to loss of oil pressure from the crack in the drum. As you can see the colour of the clutch discs, 3rd was pretty burnt.
He did source another drum from a GM Trimatic box. All measured up exactly the same! He said some internal components are used in all boxes due to cost savings. Whish is good news!
I did question regarding if the drum was repairable, but he said he didn't trust it and said that there may be other cracks in the metal that we cannot visually see around the shaft hole. Just told me that it was a bad box.
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