How to maintain your Delorean for less than $500 a year and put 10,000 miles on it

[stevedmc]

Furthermore, if something does break, and you decide to disclose it even if it destroys your argument, will you fix it yourself and claim no labor charge, or will you take it to a shop?

If I use another mechanic for an engine swap I will be sure to include the labor.

Honestly, I love 16510 and according to Facebook I am married to it. I consider driving and working on it to be a pleasure. Would you let another man please your wife?

Oh and as far as disclosing issues, I already have some unexpected stuff to disclose that really sucks. Last night I discovered I have a radiator leak. If have to replace it i could possibly go over $500 for the year. Time will tell.

Quite likely, I could drive my DeLorean for under $100 a year not including gas. (at this point) - Results not typical

And log 10,000 miles?

[Dangermouse]

Everything but fuel.

Plus insurance, road tax etc?

[stevedmc]

Plus insurance, road tax etc?

I never knew insurance and road taxes were part of maintenance.

[DMC5180]

Plus insurance, road tax etc?

While those are regularly re-occurring costs, they are not maintenance items. How picky do you want to be? If you want to go there, you'll need to factor the none yearly cost items on a cost per mile basis. Tires,Brakes, Etc.

Steve,

If you need to replace the radiator, would it be just the cost of the leaking radiator? Or, would it also include CHOICE Upgrades. Like FANS, HOSES, CONDENSER assuming they have not been upgraded already.

[stevedmc]

While those are regularly re-occurring costs, they are not maintenance items. How picky do you want to be? If you want to go there, you'll need to factor the none yearly cost items on a cost per mile basis. Tires,Brakes, Etc.

Steve,

If you need to replace the radiator, would it be just the cost of the leaking radiator? Or, would it also include CHOICE Upgrades. Like FANS, HOSES, CONDENSER assuming they have not been upgraded already.

My fans are working fine and the hoses were replaced a few weeks after I got the car.

The AC condenser and radiator were replaced a year ago (paid by my insurance) when I ran over Bambi a year ago. I had a $100 deductible on comprehensive and they were nice enough to wave the deductible due to an inconvenience on their part.

My radiator issue was completely unexpected. The leak was due to an unfortunate mishap when I had my car inspected last week. I assumed the lady remembered how to drive my car, and to make a long story short, the front end of my car ended up bumping into something it shouldn't have. It only scraped some paint on the front fascia (so I though) and I told the nice lady not to worry about it. I would just call my insurance company for a nice paint job and radiator but my collision insurance has a $1,000 deductible. It will be cheaper for me to just do the work on my own. I don't expect the lady at the inspection station to be responsible for what happened (although she should have had her foot on the clutch when she started it) so I'm just going to be a nice guy and take care of the expense on my own.

If the radiator was 30 years old I would just replace it. But because it is only a year old, I am going to do some testing on it and see if I can find and patch the leak with some solder.

As far as the condenser, I pray it isn't damaged. I will put my gauges on at a later date to see. If I do end up needing to replace it this will be a nice excuse to replace the DMCH part with one of Hervey's larger capacity condensers. Unfortunately a new radiator and condenser will put me just a hair past $400.

Oh, and btw, I do plan on including shipping in my $500 total.

[Alan]

I personally do not subscribe to the whole premise. The upkeep of a 30 year old car with multiple owners can not be surmised with one owner's experience during the course of one year.

I completely agree with you. However, these numbers are thrown around. There's the $25,000.00 rule and this maintenance rule. If they are going to be cited by the community, as a non-owner who wants to be an owner, I'd like to see examples of where the numbers are accurate as well as where they're not.

I'm also going to be interested in how the maintenance is done and any extenuating circumstances behind the need for repairs. If Steve does all his own work but I can't, it will affect how accurate his numbers are compared to mine. If Bambi (or the lady at the inspection station) keeps causing damage and I don't encounter that damage, it will affect how accurate his numbers are compared to mine. It's still good information to see a trend.

The only missing piece might be for Steve to try and, as accurately as possible, describe the initial condition of his car. If it is a project that he considers a work in progress with many items still needing attention, this year could be more expensive. If, on the other hand, Steve considers his car to be pretty well gone through and reliable, then less maintenance should be expected.

Do I expect my experience to match Steve's? No. Do I think with enough background it could be an interesting study? Yes.

[stevedmc]

The only missing piece might be for Steve to try and, as accurately as possible, describe the initial condition of his car.

I believe this information can be found amongst my 1,300 or so posts on this forum. The old forum had lots of my work documented as well. I finally have the car at a reliable state and don't plan to spend much on it this year.

[David T]

What is missing from this experiment is the initial conditions. If the car is a P-O-S and was never properly taken care of you can EXPECT things to happen. If the car was well maintained (and a lot of money was spent) you can expect the car will need a LOT less to be spent on it. Also a lot depends on how picky you are and how well you expect everything on the car to work. Maybe the doors don't close right, some bulbs are burnt out, the A/C doesn't work well, the wipers blades streak, etc. There are years I don't spend ANY money on maintenance on my car but that is because a LOT was spent when I first got it. Then again I don't drive it 10,000 miles in a year. In the time I have owned it (around 15 years) I put 9,000 miles on it. Everything works and works perfectly on the car though. Not very many 30 year old cars can make that claim.
David Teitelbaum

[Dangermouse]

I never knew insurance and road taxes were part of maintenance.

I never knew "fuel" was a maintenance cost either.

I was attempting to help clarify your aims and differentiate between "maintaining" and "operating". I was adding "insurance and road tax" to "fuel" as non-maintenance type expenses.

[DMCMW Dave]

If the radiator is only a year old, and not grossly dented/bent, take it out and find an old-time radiator shop (they are pretty scarce but they are out there - usually in a crummy part of town). Assuming the one you have is brass, you can probably get it fixed for less than $100 and it will be a much better radiator than a used one. They will solder it up and leak-test it in a tank.

The AC condenser and radiator were replaced a year ago (paid by my insurance) when I ran over Bambi a year ago. I had a $100 deductible on comprehensive and they were nice enough to wave the deductible due to an inconvenience on their part.
l.