So I’m driving home from a movie in my Delorean about 3 months ago and I ran over a landscaping rock. I thought I could straddle it, but the rock was too tall by a fraction of an inch. There was a bigger rock in the oncoming lane, and a curb strike on the right would certainly tear up the front end. I had a fraction of a second to decide what to do, and decided that less damage would probably occur by running over the rock. The rock creased the frame right under the rack and pinion steering gear, guaranteeing a visit to a repair shop. Immediately I felt damage to the steering, but limped the car home. My insurance company (American Family) has been great; they paid the entire front-end repair bill (less my deductible and transport costs). I have a standard policy with them, unlimited mileage, and a fairly inexpensive premium.
Josh Bengston of Delorean Performance Industries has flown out to Denver a couple of times to work on our cars, and the Colorado Delorean owners have always swamped him with work (as you can imagine). He’s replaced my front shocks and rear axles during one of his trips, so I decided to send my frame damage to DPI in Ohio. I had to change this year’s vacation plans to trailer my car to Tallmadge, OH but am glad I did it.
In the course of repairing the crumple zone, the radiator had to be removed. The coolant was badly contaminated, and when backflushes failed to clean the block out, I authorized an engine disassemble to clean it out properly. I don’t know where the contaminant came from; I’ve had my water pump replaced locally so I wasn’t on the original coolant. As you can see in the photos, my VOD was also flooded. I also had a main engine seal leak and timing valve cover leak, so pulling the block was a good thing to do.
The frame was pretty dirty from the leaks, so DPI cleaned up the frame, engine, plumbing and transmission. I was able to get spousal approval for DPI’s Spec 1 exhaust as my original heat shield had flaked apart. Not only does DPI’s exhaust take up less room in the engine bay, it’s far quieter at highway speed while still having a nice growl around town.
During the reassemble, DPI tuned my engine, removed the Nology ignition and polished the heads/valves. During my 1,500 mile drive back from Ohio to Colorado, I got tankful after tankful at 25+ mpg, with the A/C on @ 70 mph. The engine has never been so quiet or efficient. The engine temp was rock steady even though the three days on the road were near 100 degrees.
I’m very impressed with DPI and the work they did on my Delorean; I can’t say enough good things about Josh and his commitment to his customers. I highly recommend him for any work you may have.
Did he replace the whole crumple zone or just parts?
I replaced my (whole) crumple zone 2 weeks ago. (4th of july weekend). Hell of a job. Working straight, it was 12 hours from the first bolt being removed, to the last bolt being tightened. The worst part was all the prep work. Cutting, grinding, cutting grinding, fitting, cutting, fitting, tacking, then finally welding was probably 7 or 8 hours itself. Then 2 hours for disassembly, 2 hours for reassembly.
My VIN: 5646,5080, 5880, 10234, 3639, 2518, 10586, 1538
A few things to add for clarification.
-The SPEC I exhaust upgrade with ceramic coating option fell under our swap out program. Since the engine was removed for major service due to cooling issues the exhaust was off anyways. We did not sell an exhaust system due to the missing heat shield or broken weld on the passenger side collector. I feel when possible and with permission of an owner it is better to bolt my own system on.
-Cylinder heads- Obviously with this being a stage II engine originally the heads were ported. We have a different take on this and have found a few solutions on the exhaust port side to increase power. Since we refuse to do anything sub par our in house machinist performed our performance valve job, refurbished both heads, installed our upgrade spring package, replaced all the valve guides etc. We also corrected the camshaft design with a more aggressive camshaft that allows for better fuel economy in automatic cars with the same power output and better idle. (as described in the first post)
The cooling system contained what could only be called nuclear sludge. The direct result of an incorrect coolant to water mixture/ hard water. The first concern before even starting was "no heat". Upon starting the frame work and opening the cooling system we determined how bad the build up really was. The sludge around the cylinder liners was so bad we were seeing external block temperature variations of over 50 degrees in some spots. After extensive flushing we made the call to gut the entire system.
Detailing and appearance. As always this is how vehicles leave our shop. We provide a different service here that is incorporated into repairs. We feel that this is more restoration then it is just repair. With owner consent we will always go the extra mile to detail, powder coat and restore a vehicle while performing even the smallest of tasks unless other wise instructed.
I thought I'd show more of the resto-mod photos (I've always wanted to use that term since I heard it on Barrett-Jackson Auctions). I just couldn't believe how dirty an undercarriage gets, and I live in high desert (Colorado).
So you can see the original damage, here are photos of how I hit [what is now] my favorite rock. I stopped by the homeowner's place the next day (after hitting the rock) and had a "discussion" on his leaving rocks in the road by his home. I'm sure other cars knocked the rocks all over the road as they weren't there the next morning. I have the rock in the photo and it's on my desk. It reminds me of how random events are...
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