Questions For Nick Sutton, Mike Loasby, or Anyone Else Who Was There

[content22207]

There is a lot of "conventional wisdom" within the DeLorean community that has been accepted as gospel for several decades, and which only recently is being assessed against memories of people who were actually involved in creation and production of these cars. For example:
- The origin of the rear louvers (sunshade)
- The demise of the gas flap hood

It would be nice to have one thread (perhaps stickied) in which other conventional wisdom could be collected and assessed.

I myself would like to know the reason for the last minute increase in the front suspension height. Conventional wisdom is that the front end was raised to meet federal bumper height requirements. 49 CFR Part 581.7 does not support that assumption: http://law.justia.com/cfr/title49/49-6.1.2.3.46.html (NHSTA summary: http://www.nhtsa.gov/cars/problems/studies/Bumper/Index.html). If the front suspension was not raised to meet federal standards, why was it raised? All of Lotus' development work was done with the front end significantly lower, as represented on Page A:04:01 of the Workshop Manual.

Bill Robertson
#5939

[Bitsyncmaster]

I seem to remember that the center of the headlight had to be 20 inches or more from the ground.

[content22207]

Dimensional drawing on Page A:04:01 of the workshop manual shows the lower edge of the headlights to be 22.5" above the pavement, and the centerline of the headlights to be 24.5" above the pavement.

Remember that Pilots 19 through 21 were shipped to the United States (loaded/unloaded from airplanes on vertical scissor lifts) for emissions testing. Had there been a regulatory problem with the front end height, ostensibly somebody would have noticed at that time. But as the Visioneering car clearly shows, on the very eve of assembly line production Lotus' original development height was still very much in effect.

Bill Robertson
#5939

[Bitsyncmaster]

Dimensional drawing on Page A:04:01 of the workshop manual shows the lower edge of the headlights to be 22.5" above the pavement, and the centerline of the headlights to be 24.5" above the pavement.

Remember that Pilots 19 through 21 were shipped to the United States (loaded/unloaded from airplanes on vertical scissor lifts) for emissions testing. Had there been a regulatory problem with the front end height, ostensibly somebody would have noticed at that time. But as the Visioneering car clearly shows, on the very eve of assembly line production Lotus' original development height was still very much in effect.

Bill Robertson
#5939

Just checked mine. Pretty close to 24" so maybe that was the number they had to be. I just remembered that mine were pretty close to the minimum value.