VIN 5510 - Bill's DeLorean Restoration

[CyberBill]

My new video is live! This one covers design and fabrication of the battery boxes for the DeLorean EV.

https://youtu.be/PFFFqAO2o-k

[Helirich]

Lots of work. I’m amaized you do so much welding with a magnet next to the weld. I find it really draws the arc.

[CyberBill]

Lots of work. I’m amaized you do so much welding with a magnet next to the weld. I find it really draws the arc.

That's interesting - I guess I've never really noticed. I pretty much always hold everything together with magnets, give them a tack, then remove the magnets and complete the weld. Maybe I'm using high enough amperage to not matter? (120A for most of this stuff)

It could also be that I'm just too new to notice, as my welds are pretty crappy! haha

[CyberBill]

Another month has gone by! I'll say right away that my hopes to get the car moving on its own by 4th of July are out the window at this point. I hit so many issues with the pedal box/brake booster/steering column/steering intermediate shafts that are taking wayyyy longer than expected, and it still isn't complete yet.

The interior firewall is mounted, and it's perfect!! I have it welded to the upper half of the "pedal box", which is really just the steering column mount. That meant I could get the steering column mounted and it properly tilts and telescopes and is positioned quite well (after a few attempts!). I also have the exterior firewall aligned and ready to install, but I've got it removed to work on steering and brakes without having two plates of 1/8" steel in the way.

Just last night I got the steering joints and shafts in place. I cut down the steering column on the Bolt - then a U-joint and a support bearing and another U-joint - then a firewall bearing - then another U-joint, a 3/4" DD shaft, then a support joint, then two more U-joints, one of which is attached to the steering rack. I'm not quite at a place where I can turn the steering wheel and the wheels turn, because I need to mount the two steering support joints. I think tonight I'll be able to mock up where they go, and maybe work on fabricating them. Each one of these U-joints is about $100... so just for those it's about $500 - then the support bearings are about $50 each, and the shafts are in that range, too. So damn expensive!!

I was hoping I would be able to run the steering shaft low enough to avoid the brake booster with it mounted flush with the firewall, but at the moment l think I'll be able to get it within a few inches of the firewall, which is way better than I had originally thought it would be.

Once I've got the steering hooked up and the brake booster installed, then next up is the pedal box from the Bolt.

As far as the battery boxes - I've got the laser cut parts for two 'small module' packs from SendCutSend and one of them is tacked up and it's perfect. I'll be finalizing them and I've got the parts to build the mounts all ready to go as well - so it's just a case of finding the time to weld it all together and make some bolt holes in the frame.

I think at that point the only thing remaining will be the high voltage components in the rear, which will involve a lot of fabricating of little mounts and things, and then wiring this beast up! Oh, and I also got the CV shafts coming in, which should be very simple to bolt in place, AND a personalized license plate, which I'm pretty excited to see.

Purchases:

• Borgeson steering shaft support - Amazon - $40
• Borgeson steering u-joints - Summit Racing - $329
• Exterior firewall plate - SendCutSend - $49
• Rear battery mounts - SendCutSend - $26
• Small Module battery enclosures (2x) - SendCutSend - $500
• CV shafts - DriveShaftShop - $1640

Tools:

• Drill guide blocks in Metric and Standard
• Metal file kit
• Step bit for metal

[Riley88]

Another month has gone by! I'll say right away that my hopes to get the car moving on its own by 4th of July are out the window at this point. I hit so many issues with the pedal box/brake booster/steering column/steering intermediate shafts that are taking wayyyy longer than expected, and it still isn't complete yet.

The interior firewall is mounted, and it's perfect!! I have it welded to the upper half of the "pedal box", which is really just the steering column mount. That meant I could get the steering column mounted and it properly tilts and telescopes and is positioned quite well (after a few attempts!). I also have the exterior firewall aligned and ready to install, but I've got it removed to work on steering and brakes without having two plates of 1/8" steel in the way.

Just last night I got the steering joints and shafts in place. I cut down the steering column on the Bolt - then a U-joint and a support bearing and another U-joint - then a firewall bearing - then another U-joint, a 3/4" DD shaft, then a support joint, then two more U-joints, one of which is attached to the steering rack. I'm not quite at a place where I can turn the steering wheel and the wheels turn, because I need to mount the two steering support joints. I think tonight I'll be able to mock up where they go, and maybe work on fabricating them. Each one of these U-joints is about $100... so just for those it's about $500 - then the support bearings are about $50 each, and the shafts are in that range, too. So damn expensive!!

I was hoping I would be able to run the steering shaft low enough to avoid the brake booster with it mounted flush with the firewall, but at the moment l think I'll be able to get it within a few inches of the firewall, which is way better than I had originally thought it would be.

Once I've got the steering hooked up and the brake booster installed, then next up is the pedal box from the Bolt.

As far as the battery boxes - I've got the laser cut parts for two 'small module' packs from SendCutSend and one of them is tacked up and it's perfect. I'll be finalizing them and I've got the parts to build the mounts all ready to go as well - so it's just a case of finding the time to weld it all together and make some bolt holes in the frame.

I think at that point the only thing remaining will be the high voltage components in the rear, which will involve a lot of fabricating of little mounts and things, and then wiring this beast up! Oh, and I also got the CV shafts coming in, which should be very simple to bolt in place, AND a personalized license plate, which I'm pretty excited to see.

Purchases:

• Borgeson steering shaft support - Amazon - $40
• Borgeson steering u-joints - Summit Racing - $329
• Exterior firewall plate - SendCutSend - $49
• Rear battery mounts - SendCutSend - $26
• Small Module battery enclosures (2x) - SendCutSend - $500
• CV shafts - DriveShaftShop - $1640

Tools:

• Drill guide blocks in Metric and Standard
• Metal file kit
• Step bit for metal

I think you overpaid for cv axles bud. DPI has really good ones for like 500-600. I installed them and they are great. Or did you find something interesting?

[CyberBill]

I think you overpaid for cv axles bud. DPI has really good ones for like 500-600. I installed them and they are great. Or did you find something interesting?

These aren't standard DeLorean CV axles. Custom designed to have the Chevy Bolt EV CV cups on the inboard side and DeLorean / Porsche 930 on the outboard side - with custom lengths for my specific application. Also designed to handle the increased torque of an EV (although honestly the stock ones don't seem to have a problem handling 300HP+).

[Riley88]

Even cooler, sweet man. I wanna see when ya post pictures!

[CyberBill]

I released a new video on the DeLorean EV conversion today - this one is focused on stripping the DeLorean's interior and wiring harness - taking it down to basically an empty shell in preparation for moving the EV components over.

https://youtu.be/aZVWvsji8sg

[Helirich]

That was the best episode yet. I learned a lot. Got me thinking about possibly making my trunk bigger. This is an exciting point in your series because pretty much everything from now on is going forward. (As appose to removing something first.) I’m amazed you took so much care removing the harness. Your certainly committed now and can’t go back.

Thanks for posting.

[CyberBill]

Thanks!

Yeah, I agree - mostly all "building" from now on, rather than breaking things down. The next video will come up shortly, and it's on stripping the Bolt wiring harness and prepping it for install, but certainly after that it's all fabrication.... battery packs, battery mounts, steering, brakes, high voltage components and wiring...

I saw a video from one of the DeLorean yearly shows that was the guy who did the Iron Man DeLorean and he also did an EV. He cut open his front trunk, similar to what I did, but he did it so he could hold the spare tire and have a lot more space up front, plus he could hold one of the rear tires in there. The space in that area is very much underutilized!

It should be pretty straight forward to build a mold and create a replacement trunk in fiberglass that greatly expands the amount of storage space available. I'm planning to make a replacement myself once I've got the pack in place.