VIN 11596 Frame Swap - a rolling frame-off restoration

[82DMC12]

That?s what I figure. I do this a lot. (Not that cold here)

My escutcheon on the pax side keeps breaking. Not sure what is wrong. I still have the original on my side. I?m on the third one on the pax. So your saying the new ones are better somehow?

Not sure which version of escutcheon you have. As far as I know there are four kinds now -

1) OEM original one (NLA)
2) A reproduction sold by Houston and others in the late 90's, early 2000's, also NLA
3) a DMC-EU reproduction that is said to not be very good
4) New DMCH reproduction that just started shipping last week. That's what I'm talking about. I had #2 for the last 20+ years.

The new one, #4, is much heavier duty than #2, probably heavier than any other version made. Also some of the lock tabs are two-stage so it can partially engage while you line up the rest of the escutcheon, then fully snap it down. The engagement edge of the lock tabs sticks out further now too. It's a good design. There's an optional bracket you can install under the arm rest to screw the escutcheon onto if you have a really jacked up arm rest too. I guess early cars have more problems.

Here are a few more pics.

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These are my old warped reproduction (#2) escutcheons. Glad to be rid of these, BUT the color and finish was closer to the A/C vents.

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Close up of the finish on the NEW #4 escutcheon

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As you can see, the new escutcheon is pretty much a dead-on match of the blank switch and the mirror switch.

[Helirich]

Thankyou, I guess I need to order one. Do you suppose I need to order two? Is it going to bug me if I don?t?

[82DMC12]

Thankyou, I guess I need to order one. Do you suppose I need to order two? Is it going to bug me if I don?t?

Haha well just take note that the LH and RH are slightly different, so don't get two of the same side!

Sent from my Pixel 6a using Tapatalk

[82DMC12]

Last project of the year - upgraded my front brakes to LSDeLorean's Wilwood package. Josh Shattenkirk was very helpful along the way and answered all my questions with his own advice and experience as I considered which components to mix and match. There are a few other owners like Steve Bano and Jim Gravina who provided great reference and encouragement to do the swap. The nice thing about this upgrade is you can choose which parts to use for either a daily driver experience, an autocross experience, or something in between. I was mostly looking for a bit more solid stopping in emergencies and less fade when driving aggressively. I opted for the Wilwood 4-pot calipers and normal vented rotors.

Josh's kit comes with everything you need except for the calipers and rotors (so you can create your own package). He has part #'s and recommendations to ensure you get the right parts though. I bought my calipers from an ebay retailer and the rotors from Rock Auto. Pads came from yet another retailer. Once I had everything in hand, the package Josh sent me had everything else including a new style speedo adapter cup. All new hardware included too.

I had both front corners stripped to the spindles in less than an hour, and everything installed shortly after. I flushed and bled all four wheels with ATE200 Dot 4 fluid using my Motive Power Bleeder and then after a safety check, bedded in the pads on a quiet county road. After warming up the brakes I stopped the car repeatedly from 55 to 5 mph and it wasn't until about the 10th stop that I even started to smell any heat from the brakes. No fade at all, no lock-up, and now I have a lot more options for brake parts. Check it out!


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The Wilwood 4-piston calipers. Quality stuff, nothing else to explain here.

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Fully installed and bled. I added silicone dust caps to the bleed screws to keep them clean. You can also see the DPI Spec suspension I installed a couple years ago.
These brakes and upgraded suspension really make the DeLorean a comfortable, capable cruiser. It's just solid as hell.

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I also picked up this 3/8" electric ratchet which I used for the project. Nice half price ebay find. Love this thing, it really saves the hands and makes quick work of projects like this.

[82DMC12]

OK so THIS is actually my LAST LAST project of the year. I replaced my shift linkage pivot bolt with a better, preferred part from PJ Grady. The stock bolt is a known trouble area, in fact it is the only reason my car has ever had to be towed, and this happened to me twice in 24 years. The first time, the bolt snapped off in the frame, the second time the bolt eventually unscrewed from the frame.

This new bolt is a lot better, it's harder metal for one so it's not as likely to snap off, but also it's the proper length so that you can you fully tighten it in the frame when using the included hardware. The stock bolt you can't do that, you have to get it "just so" tight so that's not binding the bellcrank. I grease the bolt and crank end pivots with 50/50 red grease and anti-seize, then installed the jam nut with blue loctite. The shifter feels so nice and I feel better knowing the bell crank is as reliable and trouble-free as possible now.

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Comparison of the two bolts. Grady on top and NOS on the bottom. You can see the shank is longer on the Grady bolt. This allows the bolt to be screwed completely into the frame until the shank is on the frame. The wave washer goes under the bell crank and creates tension without crushing the crank. The NOS bolt requires washers on the bottom to create the proper length, and the top threads will stick up above the frame. No wonder it's a bad design and prone to breakage and unscrewing itself.

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Greased and ready for installation.



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After installation and properly torqued with the jam nut installed on an external tooth washer for added vibration resistance.

[Helirich]

I like this bolt upgrade. I need to do this even though I haven?t had a problem. It just makes sense.

On the brakes, I did the vented discs awhile back and they seem to work great, but I can see those Wildwoods got to be better.

[82DMC12]

Speaking of linkage pivot bolts, sometime around 2001 I had my linkage go out and had the car towed to a shop for evaluation (I was quite the newbie back then!). They found the original (?) pivot bolt broke off in the frame and John Hervey reached out very quickly and sent the shop a new improved bolt to use. That bolt lasted until November 2021 when I once again lost my linkage, this time I had the car towed to my house and when I got under it I found the Hervey bolt had unscrewed from the frame but fortunately the threads were still good in the frame.

Here is a photo of the Hervey bolt compared to OEM. You see how the shank on the Hervey bolt (left) is the same length as the OEM bolt - too short. And also not enough threads to really add a good backup jam nut. Compare this to the above picture of the Grady bolt and you see, again, the difference.

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