BTTF Time Machine Build Questions - Ask Me Anything

[Josh]

Awesome I like the look and plan to replicate it on my car. The sizes that is. I wish you could still get white letter eagle gt'size for front

You can get cooper cobras for the front if you look around. They are discontinued but I found a stack of 20 at a local tire shop last year. So im running RWL all around and 245s on the back. Love it!

[sdg3205]

You can get cooper cobras for the front if you look around. They are discontinued but I found a stack of 20 at a local tire shop last year. So im running RWL all around and 245s on the back. Love it!

I called them back not too long ago and all those tires were gone.

Did you paint the fronts like me or did you actually get legit RWL 195's?!

[sdg3205]

The screen used cars were originally built with the stock Goodyear NCT's installed (235/60/15 rear, 195/60/14 front) but were swapped to outline white lettered Goodyear Eagle GT's (245/60/15 rear, 195/60/14 front). Note the slightly larger size on the rear than stock.

What was the reason for this? just aesthetics?

[Josh]

I called them back not too long ago and all those tires were gone.

Did you paint the fronts like me or did you actually get legit RWL 195's?!

Yeah I scooped up most of them quick haha.
I painted my letters on, I dont think Cooper ever made RWL 195s.

[sdg3205]

I got one back up set. I should be good for 20 years. They actually did make a 195 with legit RWL. I have one. My bud in the tire biz gave it to me. Only has 50% tread left but could be swapped on in the event of a bad enough blow out.

[Mark D]

What was the reason for this? just aesthetics?

I don't have a verified answer from anyone at universal why they swapped to the Eagle GT's.

Several theories include:

The Goodyear NCT's were recalled due to poor traction in cold/wet conditions, so it's possible before filming started the tires on the cars were swapped to comply with the recall.

Or the stock tires could have already been partially warn so production could have just wanted a fresh set. The filming schedule called for stunt scenes (burnouts, high speed driving, etc) so before they started to film they could have given the cars a once over to prevent issues that would potentially interrupt filming.

Or there could have been a product placement agreement with Goodyear and the NCT's were black wall and wouldn't have shown up on screen. The white letter Eagle GT's would show up on camera better and were also a performance tire worth marketing.

[nullset]

I got one back up set. I should be good for 20 years. They actually did make a 195 with legit RWL. I have one. My bud in the tire biz gave it to me. Only has 50% tread left but could be swapped on in the event of a bad enough blow out.

It is absolutely not safe to use a tire that has been sitting for 10+ years. I hope you're joking.

[sdg3205]

It is absolutely not safe to use a tire that has been sitting for 10+ years. I hope you're joking.

No. Im not joking. New, never-mounted tires stored properly (though not as good as any new rubber of course) are not the risk they're made out to be. Would I pull a used tire out of a landfill after 10 years? No. I worked for a tire shop and recycler at one point in time and learned a lot about tires.

FYI - 90% of mexico is running around on old, used Canadian and American tires that get sold and exported south of your border. There are standards that must be met, but they are older, used tires none the less.

[powerline84]

Screenshot_20161227-072131.jpg
My buddy is trying to build this. Anyone that's done this can you pm me with details that you have? I saw in the thread about the boxes and led.s still have questions on the dial pad. Dimensions of assemblies etc.
Thanks,
Jimmy

[Mark D]

Screenshot_20161227-072131.jpg
My buddy is trying to build this. Anyone that's done this can you pm me with details that you have? I saw in the thread about the boxes and led.s still have questions on the dial pad. Dimensions of assemblies etc.
Thanks,
Jimmy

All of the TRW keypads came from APEX electronics in Sun Valley, CA. They are the only source and held the last remaining stock of keypads when TRW liquidated their stock sometime in the 70's or 80's. Last I checked on their ebay page they had a few up for sale, although in needs of different types of repair. The green housings are pretty fragile and require cutting to fit exactly as they did in the screen used cars. Most people opt for a casting of the green housing and use the guts out of an original TRW pad, or use a similar keypad from GTE. The buttons/indicators can also be cast, or people use real ones out of a legit keypad assembly.

So you've either got to find a real one and scavenge it for parts, or find someone with castings of a real one.

Or if you're not interested in accuracy any number of keypads are out there. Phone pads are a standard size for the most part, so you can cruise around ebay or electronics websites to see what's out there.

For the actual time circuit display enclosures I posted PN's a few pages back in this thread, and as I stated before, accurate sized LED displays with the correct digit height DO NOT CURRENTLY EXIST. You can get close with commercially available parts but height of the characters on the display will either be under or oversized depending on which way you want to go.

TMR is working on making the correct LED displays available again but there are large tooling costs involved and huge minimum order quantities to make it economically feasible. A company called TFX has been working with TMR and there is a time circuit clock in the works that has accurate display electronics.