VIN 5510 - Bill's DeLorean Restoration

[CyberBill]

These have been a slow couple of months on the car, and I realize that I haven't made an update in a while. As everyone here is surely familiar - sometimes other things come up. One of those things was installing a NEMA 14-50R outlet in the garage, which now has a "Level 2" 40 amp EV charger in place (240V * 40A = 9.6kW). This is more than the 32A max that the Bolt/DeLorean charger will accept, but we just bought a Mustang Mach-E that can charge at 48A. 40A means we can do a full (0-100) charge in under 10 hours, though we keep it capped at 80% unless we are doing a long trip. This is a huge improvement over the level 1 charger (120V * 12A = 1.4kW).

One big thing is that my custom drive shafts have been shipped out from The Drive Shaft Shop, and are scheduled to be here on Friday!! While that isn't even close to holding me back at the moment, it is a requirement to get the car to move, so I'm very excited to get them installed!

Next is that I've taken some time and I've pivoted on the brakes & steering situation. I decided to stop working on the steering and instead get the brake booster and pedal box installed so that I can confirm placement and fitment of the pedals, and then I'll go back to the steering linkage. This required me to make 2 brackets - one that holds the Bolt's pedal assembly to the interior firewall plate/pedal box, and one that holds the Bolt's brake booster - plus an arm that holds the brake "clevis" in the right spot on the brake pedal. This has been tack welded and I'm planning on testing it over the next week. Testing it will mean the brake booster is installed and I can press the brake pedal to activate it.

With the booster working, I'll switch over to the steering linkage - and I *might* have a new path for the linkage where I can go to the driver's side of the pedal box, rather than passenger side of the box. At the moment it is basically right in the middle of the car, and if I can move it to the driver's side it will come out a few inches from the stock location. If I can do that, I'll likely be able to remove one of my U-joints, which will make me very happy, and simplify the linkage.

I also have both small battery boxes tacked together. On the short list is to weld the rear small and large packs together, which will let me properly place it in the engine bay and get the mounts fabricated. I think having the full rear pack (empty) mounted will be a huge milestone!!

• Brake booster stuff - SendCutSend - $66
• Bolts for brake booster - Bolt Depot - $35

Tools

• Grizzl-E 40A EV charger and 50A NEMA 14-50 outlet
• 3" die grinder mandrel w/ cut-off discs
• MIG welding wire, TIG electrodes, other consumables
• Riv-nut install tool (for use with a drill)

[CyberBill]

I hit a pretty awesome milestone this evening while working on the car!

I've got the pedal box from the Bolt installed in the DeLorean - along with the electric power brake booster and master cylinder! This means I can sit in the car and hit the brake pedal and it actually "does" something! The brake fluid hard lines aren't installed yet, but that should be pretty straight forward, and at that point I will literally have working brakes again!!

The accelerator pedal is also a component of the booster, and it is installed and working. And the final piece, steering, is coming along. The steering column is installed - it has both tilt and telescoping, along with lots of buttons. The main piece not hooked up here is the steering linkage, but I'm pretty sure that the setup I was getting frustrated with before WILL work, I just need to get the heim support joints really strong. My thought that I might be able to route the steering linkage to the "left" did not work out once I test fit everything. There just isn't any room.

Side note - if anyone wants to replicate this build - avoid this situation. I'm too far along now, but had I known I would run into this I would redesign the battery pack to give more room on the driver's side of the trunk. Then the steering linkage could go through the original path (or maybe a bit to the left) and then move the brake booster 4" to the right (of my current location... which is probably 6" to the left of the original brake booster location) to give it enough clearance.

Anyway - once I've got the steering working I'm going to switch over to the batteries. I've got to finish constructing the rear battery box and then build the mount for it, then mount the big front box and build a mount for the small front box and mount it. Then I'll need to mount at least 2 of the high voltage boxes (HV distribution box and inverter - I won't need to mount the DC-DC converter or AC charger for the first run around the block). Once they are installed I'll run the high voltage cables around the car and hook up the packs, then low voltage wiring harness. I did receive the custom CV shafts last week and they are gorgeous and will fit perfectly! Because they are splined and go into the electric motor, I will need to remove the lower suspension links in the back to install them.... THEN I'll be able to drive it for the first time!!

[Helirich]

Sounds like a lot of work yet. Keep at it. I have a custom Truck that took me ten years to build. It was worth it, now that I’m driving it. My only regret is now I have to pick between two awesome vehicles when I go for a drive.

[CyberBill]

Haha - well, all that progress from a few weeks ago has been ripped out. It's all for for the better, though!!

The short version is that the steering linkage setup was just terrible and not going to work very well, and I wasn't happy with it. It had something like 6 U-joints to snake around the brake booster, and every one of those is a potential place for binding to happen. It also would require 3 support joints in there (you can have 2 u-joints in a row, but not 3) - and I just hated it.

However as an engineer, I've learned that sometimes if you want to do something right you have to do it wrong a few times first. Having all of the components in the car really let me decide exactly what was working and what wasn't, what things I could be more flexible on, and other things that I couldn't.

The brake booster location was PERFECT, and basically unmovable without redesigning the battery pack. From the top looking down I thought it was right up against the driver's side fiberglass frame rail, but when I lifted the car up and took the driver's side wheel off, I found out that I could get about 2" of space between the rail and the booster because the rail kind of flares out. This is just enough space to fit the steering linkage!! I'll only have to use 3 u-joints - maybe down to just 2 if it happens to line up, but probably not, so I will have to use one support joint - probably mounted on the firewall.

I drilled a hole through the firewall and my firewall plate and then had to come up with how to put the accelerator pedal and brake pedal in there. This is really tricky because the pedal assembly from the Bolt doesn't leave any room for the steering linkage. The accelerator pedal assembly from the Bolt is a couple of inches thick (left/right) and is all one unit, made of plastic, that I can't make any thinner - but I found out that I can put the assembly right between the steering linkage on the left and the brake booster on the right, and in this position the steering linkage will work, the brake booster plunger can be pressed, and the pedal itself is in a comfortable position!! GREAT!

This leaves just the brake pedal. After lots and thinking about it and trying things - the end result is that I'm going to scrap the pedal box from the Bolt and make my own. For the brake it's just a couple of standoffs that accept bushings for a 3/4" rod. The rod has the pedal shaft welded to it, along with a piece that presses the brake booster, and a third piece that activates the brake position sensor. I'm even going to use the original brake pedal from the DeLorean, since it has a better shape. However the rub here is that this means also having to recreate the mount that holds the plastic accelerator pedal - which isn't flat, has all sorts of weird curves to it, and is just generally a pain.

I tried using a 3d scanner (Revopoint Pop 2) without any luck, so I ended up using reference photos, then tracing them to design a bracket. Took me the weekend to 3d print a bunch of attempts, refine them over and over, and end up with a pretty snazzy design that I can make out of laser cut metal.

All of this has been designed in Fusion 360 and just this morning I sent them off to SendCutSend. It was only $107! It's insane - it would take me WEEKS to make these things from scratch. I should have everything back in a week, so during the downtime I'll get back to the rear battery box.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention that I'm also working on hooking up the brake lines and ran into some issues there with the iBooster. All the posts here on DMCTalk are using an iBooster brake master cylinder that uses M12-1.0 threads, but mine is M12-1.5! I can't seem to find anything that lets me use this... so I've got a lot of brake line tools and fittings coming in to come up with a solution. Also, to make it easier to do this work I've removed the steering wheel - and the bolt was crazy tight. Ended up snapping a T50 torx bit and ordering some beefier replacements, and it also stripped the bolt out a bit.

Purchases:

• M8 weld nuts - Amazon - $10
• Brake line coupler set - Amazon - $11
• Chevy Bolt brake pedal sensor - Amazon - $30 (I accidentally drop and broke mine, woops)
• Bronze flange bearings, shaft collars, and 3/4" rod for brake pedal - $50
• Chevy Bolt steering wheel bolt - Amazon - $8
• 12" M10-1.0 Bubble brake line sections (4) - Summit Racing - $61
• Steering linkage couplers - Summit Racing - $94
• M12x1.5 - 3/16 brake fittings - BrakeConnect - $36
• M12x1.5 - to 7/16x24 brake adapters - eBay - $27
• 3d cut parts for steering, brakes, accelerator pedal - SendCutSend - $107

Tools:

• Brake tubing bender, rimming & deburring tool, tube cutter, flaring tool set
• Torx bits (I snapped one getting the steering wheel off)

[Helirich]

Good up date, better with pics/video.

Carry on.

[CyberBill]

Good up date, better with pics/video.

Carry on.

All in good time!!

[CyberBill]

I did a video update showing the latest status as of today!



https://youtu.be/bU-SVdMPJwg

[Helirich]

Good video. That steering setup is cool. I’m sure it was a PITA. One thing I noticed was it looked like a bolt was going to hit your pedal support if you turned too much. Probably just the camera angle. I’m sure the bolt could be trimmed if it really hits. I assume the battery’s can be removed relatively easy in the future if need be?

Plate is cool. It would be neat if you could source/make some kind of official looking badges that would indicate or hint at it’s secret. Ha ha.

[CyberBill]

You are totally right - that set screw DOES hit the accelerator pedal as it is. Good eye! The reason is because I haven't drilled a spot for the set screw to go into yet, so it's just sitting on top of the threads on the steering column shaft.

The batteries are pretty easy to remove. Each battery box has 4 eyebolts that I can install and then pick the whole thing up with an engine hoist. The one in the front will come in at around ~325lbs and the rear will be ~400lbs. These will go up once I add all the cooling plates, covers, high voltage cables and connectors, etc. The individual battery modules simply slide into the packs and are bolted into place.

I like your idea of a badge visible from the outside... I'll see if I can come up with something!

[CyberBill]

Since last month, I got my SendCutSend order in for all of the pedal box and brake booster stuff, and it went together PERFECTLY! The accelerator pedal assembly is all good to go, fully welded up. The brake pedal is well placed and presses the booster. The only minor issue is that the arm that presses the booster has to be too long in order to reach the booster plunger, so pressing the brake pedal takes a lot more force than I want. I'm going to fix this with version #2 of the brake booster mount - essentially lifting it up by an inch, but maintaining all the angles. The steering linkage is great, and I think I'll be able to have it all hooked up with about 2 hours of work. Mainly I need to mount the firewall support joint - then cut the linkage shaft to length.

The other big item is that all 3 of the battery boxes are now complete and mounted in the car!! I had some trouble with the small battery box that goes in the gas tank area, but nothing an angle grinder and welder couldn't fix.

This week I will be dropping all of the battery boxes and filling them with battery modules, then hooking up all of the high voltage cables and BMS wiring. The BMS is going to live in the gas tank area, attached to the small battery box. I'll need to extend half of the BMS sense lines - roughly 50 of them - to reach the rear pack, but I think the wires to the front pack should be good. The high voltage cables are composed of 8 copper bus bars that I had laser cut and CNC bent into 'U' shaped bars that connect the large modules within a pack together. Then I will connect the packs together with 2/0 welding cable, which I hope to snake through the inside of the frame. Depending on how much space and time I have, I may hook these together with Anderson 350A connectors... or wait until I can find proper sized Amphenol connectors.

These next two weeks I'm going to be pushing to try and get the high voltage system functional so I can spin the motor for the first time, then take a much needed vacation.

Purchases:

• Welding consumables - gas lens, collets, TIG torch head - Amazon - $75
• Split loom conduit and orange electrical tape - Amazon - $35
• Copper bus bars - SendCutSend - $126
• Version 2 of brake booster mount - SendCutSend - $31
• Clevis rod end for brake pedal - McMaster Carr - $24
• Bolts, flat washers, nuts, fender washers, etc for battery mounts and bumper - Bolt Depot - $48
• 6mm button head bolts, washers, and lock washers - Bolt Depot - $33

Tools:

• Drill Doctor DD750X drill bit sharpener
• Cobalt spiral flute step drill bits
• Welding supplies - Argon flow meter/regulator (for MIG welder), welding sleeves, magnetic TIG torch holder,
• Tap socket set
• 6" Digital Calipers