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Thread: 1982 Frame Off Restoration

  1. #1
    Senior Member SupercoolBill's Avatar
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    1982 Frame Off Restoration

    I have titled this thread as a restoration but I am not sure what will become of it. First a little background. My wife were both teenagers in the 80s. We are both BTTF fans. She has always loved and wanted a DeLorean car. Mostly because of BTTF. I have always wanted one partially because of BTTF but mostly because I like odd ball vehicles that other people can't easily get or wouldn't want because they think they are junk or ugly. Basically if most people have it,..I don't want it. Back in around 2002 I was visiting a local friend of mine. One day he mentioned that he had a DeLorean. It wasn't at his house so at first I thought he was messing with me. He said he bought it for like $6000 off a guy that he worked with and it was in a nearby storage barn. He said it ran and drove but needed a minor frame repair because of rust issues. I tried to get him to sell it but said he was going to fix it up and keep it. We kept in touch over the past 20 or so years. He always knew I was interested in the car and when asked said he didn't want to sell it. Besides that I didn't really have any good place to work on a car project anyways. Well this Fall he sold his house (which had a large garage) and was planning on downsizing. He decided that the DeLorean project was never going to get done and he was sick of paying storage fees. So he gave me first dibbs on the car. He said for me he would sell it for $15,000. I told him I wanted it (after talking to the wife of course haha) I thought to myself "He is saying $15,000 but I am thinking $10,000 max".
    I asked him a bunch of questions about the car and went to look at it. The car was in worse shape than I had pictured from his stories about it. It was very rusty. He had told me that it hadn't been driven "In like 8 years" (if I remember correctly) but as he started remembering and calling out dates we realized it has been sitting in storage, not started, for 21 years. Yikes!!! Game changer in my opinion. I talked to the wife about it. We agreed to not pay $15,000 for a non running car that was going to need a full frame off restoration.
    We offered him $10,000 cash to be paid immediately. He said he needed to think about it for a day. He said that $10,000 was not enough. He said "Meet me half way" I talked to the wife again and did some research on line to see what these cars and projects were selling for and we decided to do.
    Here are the pics on the day the car got dropped off and the next day.20211028_225926.jpg20211030_165441.jpg

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    Last edited by SupercoolBill; 11-07-2021 at 06:02 PM.

  2. #2
    Senior Member 82DMC12's Avatar
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    Aside from your frame post, It looks great from here. You have your work cut out for you and unless you're retired it will be a long time before you are driving it. If you love the car and it's your dream, start working on the frame-off. Don't be dumb and spend tons of money on interior and cosmetics before it's safe to drive as so many do. You paid a good price in today's market but don't kid yourself, you'll be probably be into this for another $10,000+ and hundreds of hours before it's safe and reliable to drive. Oh well. We love the punishment. Right?

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    Andy Lien

    VIN 11596 Jan 1982 build - owned since Nov. 2000!
    Total frame-off restoration completed 2021-2023

    Photography and Backpacking is life.

    Was Fargo, ND
    Now Kansas City

  3. #3
    Senior Member SupercoolBill's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by 82DMC12 View Post
    Aside from your frame post, It looks great from here. You have your work cut out for you and unless you're retired it will be a long time before you are driving it. If you love the car and it's your dream, start working on the frame-off. Don't be dumb and spend tons of money on interior and cosmetics before it's safe to drive as so many do. You paid a good price in today's market but don't kid yourself, you'll be probably be into this for another $10,000+ and hundreds of hours before it's safe and reliable to drive. Oh well. We love the punishment. Right?

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    Thanks for your reply.
    Yes this "Ain't my first rodeo" as they say. I've been wrenching on stuff since I was a young kid. I made those stupid mistakes for years. By a vehicle, spend a bunch of time and money pimping it out, then I go to get an inspection and it won't take a sticker. Lol.
    I have fixed of several older vehicles and motorcycles and done my own motor swap from a carburetor engine to a MPFI engine. My latest project was a 1970 BMW motorcycle that I shouldn't have bought (rode hard, put away wet) but nonetheless I completely restored to showroom condition. Had an estimated 600 hours and $13,000 into the project. Luckily those motorcycles in mint condition are worth as much as $22k now.




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  4. #4
    Senior Member 82DMC12's Avatar
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    Location:  Olathe, KS

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    I think you have a lot of headroom even after accounting for a frame off. Just depends on how much, or how little, you value your time. Not everyone has the patience for "the big one". I'd go for it.

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    Andy Lien

    VIN 11596 Jan 1982 build - owned since Nov. 2000!
    Total frame-off restoration completed 2021-2023

    Photography and Backpacking is life.

    Was Fargo, ND
    Now Kansas City

  5. #5
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    It’s a good price. Is the front fender wrinkled bad? (I can’t see from the pic) I know one fender (can’t remember L or R) is really hard to get. You maybe able to hammer that out. Is the frame rust going to need metal welded in? Looks like a good project.

  6. #6
    Senior Member SupercoolBill's Avatar
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    The first thing the wife and I did was check the car all over. None of the lift struts worked which was really annoying. We cleaned the car out. There was a mouse nest in the car jack stowage. The interior was somewhat musty but not horrible. I had learned that the fuel pump was most likely junk. So we checked it out. Sure enough the fuel pump was badly corroded and the associated parts were a black gooey mess.
    We pumped out the remaining fuel in the tank with a siphon pump and cleaned out the gas tank. I was thankful that this car has a plastic gas tank. 20211030_105038.jpg20211030_104157.jpg20211030_111559.jpg20211030_110353.jpg20211030_112058.jpg

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  7. #7
    Senior Member SupercoolBill's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Helirich View Post
    It’s a good price. Is the front fender wrinkled bad? (I can’t see from the pic) I know one fender (can’t remember L or R) is really hard to get. You maybe able to hammer that out. Is the frame rust going to need metal welded in? Looks like a good project.
    It isn't horrible. Of course it is the $4000 one,...the left side.

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  8. #8
    Senior Member 82DMC12's Avatar
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    Location:  Olathe, KS

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    Quote Originally Posted by SupercoolBill View Post
    It isn't horrible. Of course it is the $4000 one,...the left side.

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    Chris Nicholson can fix that quarter panel right up and you'll never know it afterwards

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    Andy Lien

    VIN 11596 Jan 1982 build - owned since Nov. 2000!
    Total frame-off restoration completed 2021-2023

    Photography and Backpacking is life.

    Was Fargo, ND
    Now Kansas City

  9. #9
    Senior Member SupercoolBill's Avatar
    Join Date:  Oct 2021

    Posts:    869

    Bit the bullet and ordered a modern style fuel pump kit for around $600.00 while installing the new electrical connector for the new fuel pump I found my first mouse damaged wiring. And a wire that I'm not sure what the heck happened to it. The original fuel pump plug connector was pretty corroded looking.
    Attached is a picture of the roofing tar that leaked out of the fuel return hose over night on the work bench. 20211103_175504.jpg20211103_192731.jpg20211104_074804.jpg20211104_090736.jpg

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  10. #10
    Senior Member 82DMC12's Avatar
    Join Date:  May 2011

    Location:  Olathe, KS

    Posts:    1,654

    My VIN:    11596

    Quote Originally Posted by SupercoolBill View Post
    Bit the bullet and ordered a modern style fuel pump kit for around $600.00 while installing the new electrical connector for the new fuel pump I found my first mouse damaged wiring. And a wire that I'm not sure what the heck happened to it. The original fuel pump plug connector was pretty corroded looking.
    Attached is a picture of the roofing tar that leaked out of the fuel return hose over night on the work bench. 20211103_175504.jpg20211103_192731.jpg20211104_074804.jpg20211104_090736.jpg

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    So far so good. I have the same fuel pump kit (DPI). Making the weatherpack connectors was more work and special tools but I'm sure it was worth the effort, long-term. Might as well change the fuel filter and fuel accumulator while you're at it. Probably injectors, too. Hopefully the fuel distributor isn't too far gone.

    Sent from my Pixel 3a using Tapatalk
    Andy Lien

    VIN 11596 Jan 1982 build - owned since Nov. 2000!
    Total frame-off restoration completed 2021-2023

    Photography and Backpacking is life.

    Was Fargo, ND
    Now Kansas City

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