Fantasy 1984 RHD Twin-Turbo DeLorean

[LEVY]

Here's a question while I have your attention; several people have suggested a rear sway bar. The only current supplier I know of for this is Martin G in the UK; I heard DPNW and possibly Josh were thinking of making one but haven't got it on the market yet. I'm holding fire on this decision until I've had more experience of driving DMC-12s (i.e next Jan), any opinion here on whether it's a good idea? Martin G went as far as saying it was investigated by Lotus and would very likely have been standard fit on later model years (had the factory survived).

Also considering an integrated rear spoiler similar to the one seen on the original turbo DMC-12 concept art, since Chris N is now fabricating custom fibreglass fascias, haven't checked technical and financial feasibility yet.

I don't believe this should be a priority, at least not the way people drive Deloreans. I see you have better priorities.

Regarding your engine, I believe you should talk to Josh, being this a very special car, he may benefit selling you the engine at cost, it will be free advertising!

LEVY

[Delorean Industries]

I don't believe this should be a priority, at least not the way people drive Deloreans. I see you have better priorities.

Regarding your engine, I believe you should talk to Josh, being this a very special car, he may benefit selling you the engine at cost, it will be free advertising!

LEVY

At cost on a full twin turbo set up is over 34,000 done right. I believe he has the project under control with Pj grady europe and Uding.

[Starglider]

Regarding your engine, I believe you should talk to Josh, being this a very special car, he may benefit selling you the engine at cost, it will be free advertising!

The main problem with Josh is that he's just too busy, he's got a lot going on and engine wise I think he's focused on the enhanced NA dyno/tuning project at the moment. The earliest he could get an engine shipped over is next summer and honestly that's optimistic. Josh did make some useful technical suggestions though. Ed has successfully built something very similar to what I'm after before and he's close enough to take the car over for install and tuning, which makes that an attractive option. Have also looked at suggestions from Martin G and John H.

[Delorean Industries]

As much as I would love to do it we just can't meet the deadline. We have owners slated for 2014 on engines builds now with 4-6 being built a month.

[LEVY]

The main problem with Josh is that he's just too busy......

To tell you the truth, I would spend the least amount of money possible on the engine at this time, then talk to Josh and see what options he have to offer. They way I see it, you still have to wait some time before everything else is ready.


LEVY

[Starglider]

Visited P J Grady Europe today, frame work is coming along;





Some non-stock bits on there e.g. high power pump from John H fitted, Ed Uding's springs, Spax shocks, beefed up LCAs from Heninger and Associates (awaiting resin coating) etc. Left several boxes of electronic gadgets with Chris N, picked up the engine (to go to DMC Europe for rebuild & turbo conversion).

Transmission parts had also arrived with Chris N: one-piece input shaft, gearing & final drive to change ratios to Esprit V8 equivalent (post retrofit spec), limited-slip diff etc. Gearbox / transmission rebuild in January.

Martin G is looking into fabricating a rear sway bar for this car (similar to his previous prototype, connecting to the hubs and routed through the engine cradle tunnel).

[Grover]

Is the Limited Slip modification the part that is seen at the bottom of the page? (http://www.delorean.co.uk/delorean_performance.html)

I always just quickly read over it, and once I saw Automatic I assumed it was for the automatic transmission, never read the full description.

[Starglider]

Is the Limited Slip modification the part that is seen at the bottom of the page?

Yes

I always just quickly read over it, and once I saw Automatic I assumed it was for the automatic transmission, never read the full description.

No, that just means that it biases torque to the wheel with more resistance (i.e. reduces power to a slipping wheel) without needing external sensors, brake assistance (as in eLSD) or a manual diff lock switch.

[Grover]

Well, that's what I get for reading it really quickly, lol.

Do you know anyone else who has done this modification? Results?

I just had my transmission rebuilt by PJ Grady last winter, so this is a long ways off. But I was just wondering if anyone can chime in with any results they have heard.


Thanks again for sharing and updating all of us on this. It's something that I want to do, if I had the funds for it. A 'what if' car based on the turbo racing sketch...

[Phil Peters]

I have a question regarding the VIN that perhaps you or Phil can answer. The last VIN I show in the 12XXX series is VIN 12199. You have VIN 12306? Any idea how it got that number and if there were any other cars between VIN 12119 and 12306?
Shannon

Hi Shannon,

I'd be interested to hear more about this too as the 12XXX VINs were assigned retrospectively to the known surviving Wooler-Hodec cars, most likely by the receivers.

The 12XXX cars have their VIN plates glued on to the dashboard rather than riveted. In the case of VIN 12173, I carefully removed the VIN plate from the dash during the car's restoration. Underneath I found the remains of earlier rivets which would have secured an earlier VIN plate on to the dash. This seems to suggest that after the right-hand drive conversion work was completed, the cars were assigned their original VIN numbers in the 5XX - 6XX range. The cars were then later re-vinned.

I understand there were a batch of stamped 12XXX VIN plates which had not been fitted to cars. The story goes that when Dave Howarth here in the UK purchased what is now VIN 12199 some years ago, it didn't have a VIN. Dave chose the highest numbered VIN plates from the pile of stamped VIN plates to assign to the car in order to signify it being the 'last' Wooler-Hodec car. This explains why there's such a gap between the other sequentially numbered Wooler-Hodec cars and VIN 12199.

Starglider - out of interest, do you know what the frame number is on your car?

Cheers,

Phil