That's actually not as bad as I thought. I was picturing it differently (I had not seen those pictures). Still, a half-bridge 20B with a big single sticking through the engine cover would be far sweeter...

 

Heck, given the low power of the emissions-regulations choked PRV engine, tossing a RENESIS in there would substantially increase horsepower without a weight penalty.

That super-clean Lotus install is putting out about 500hp. He's using the Lotus transmission as well, just modified the ring gear to reverse direction so the tranny could be rotated 180 degrees. I like that it's Lotus parts, given the Lotus/Delorean history...

 

I;m actually in the market for a Delorean (I PM'ed you about this a week or so ago, but have yet to receive a reply)

 

It's been done. (not sure about the 1/2-bridge though). There was a black one sold in Florida the summer before last for under 30k U.S. The install was very professional and the acceleration was a veritable mind-**** on wheels. Sure wish I could have picked that one up.

 

Ireland didn't give him any money, it was in Belfast hence the finding comming from England. He did a lot more than just accept money. I love his ideas, he wanted to make a sports car that was safe, lasted a long time, inexpensive and bring jobs to an area that had terrible unemployment. In the end everything fell apart some of the features that he wanted didn't make the production car ie airbags and the cost crept up too high, business went under and the drug scandal. You have to respect the motivation and ***** he had.

 

I purposely let my PMs sit in my Inbox for a while. I only check it every week or so. When I used to reply immediately, my box would get flooded and I would be receiving 20-30 a day.

I've seen pictures of that car. They basically stole my idea (by thinking of it seprately and doing it before me! ) but not the way I would have liked. It seems like they went though a lot of trouble to use the stock turbos which is something I would never consider. Also it was painted black....Removing the paint is a major problem and most likely it's there to cover body damage.

 

That 20B install is pretty slick - they even used the instrumentation out of the Mazda, creating a black 'screen' that only illuminates with gauges when the car is powered.

The thing is, they sold it for just north of 30K but spent more than double that on the work. Ironically enough the Delorean I'm looking at now, while turbo'd, has the stock PRV engine and the asking price is 35K.

 

Turbo and stock block = watch out. Every turbo DeLorean I have seen with an unmodified block has had serious blowby problems past 5 PSI or so.

$35K seems like a lot...The car better be perfect.

 

Yeah, with an unpainted stainless steel body stock, why paint it except to cover something up?

Jon

 

Some owners get sick of the fingerprints. Stainless shows off fingerprints like you wouldn't believe, and it seems passersby can't resist touching the car.

Also, the metal has to be groomed. Its brushed stainless, and occasionally you re-brush it to take out small scratches. In fact you have to use a special kind of metal brush because if you use one that rusts, you could end up embedding some of it into your delorean's skin and get rust spots on your stainless car!

 

He claims to have done every mod (throttle cable cover, fuel pump, fuel level indicator, wiring upgrades, etc.) Other than the turbo, he's also switched it over to Audi style HIDs and all the associated wiring changes neccessary to prevent the harness from frying itself. The interior has been thoroughly redone.

As you undoubtedly know, but some others reading this thread may not, the Delorean had a short production cycle and a lot of the gremlins didn't become obvious until after the company no longer existed. There's a laundry list of mods to do if they've not been done, and the cheaper examples either don't have them or have butchered versions of 'em. The difference between a $15,000 car and a $20,000 car can be more than $10,000

Even so, I can get a Lotus Esprit Turbo for $2,000 more than the Delorean, so it's a tough decision.

 

Not much of a decision at all. Light makes Might. Go lotus.

 

How's the SE project coming along?

 

it's passed inspection, but I need 2 new rims and 2 calipers to replace the odd one that RX7Specialties stuck me with

 

Aaron I didnt know you had a thing for DMCs thats cool man. Ive wanted a DeLorean for years now I just dont have the money. I think there awsome but not because of the movie. I think there just cool. I saw the vid with the 20b in it that was also equally cool.

How the heck do you find them so easily Ive only seen to for sale around here but I think that is because i live in the middle of nowhere. lol if you get one you gotta start a thread on here somewhere showing what your doing with it.

 

Sounds good. I'm personally not big on the factory wiring upgrades. They were all just quick fixes designed to get the cars on the road so none really solve the problem. But if it's reliable, then I guess you can't fault them that much. I worry about the HIDs though. I wonder if the extra heat will cause the eyebrow effect on the front bumper?

Exactly...Which is why the first thing I'll be doing is ripping out that 25+ year old British wiring and replacing it with something a little more modern...Painless Wiring has generic harnesses for the lazy, but making a harness isn't too bad either...

I've been interested in DeLoreans for about 20 years and have been active in the community for about 10, so I just know where to look as a matter of daily life. If you want to find a DeLorean, join the DML mailing list and just ask. There's a buch always for sale.

 

Cool I may just have to do that. Thanks for the info. Although they are slightly outta my range now after my taxes come back I may have enough to get a good project.

 

Delorean 'project' cars can become very expensive. As I said before, the difference between a $15,000 car and a $20,000 car can be more than $10,000

 

Now I've another Ontarean emailing me pics of his D trying to get me to buy it instead of the turbo...

Kweshtin ~ Do the Ontario Deloreans have the same frame-rust problems as other Ontarean cars? I know the double Y backbone was supposedly rustproofed with epoxy, but many D owners complain of rust nonetheless (there's a stainless backbone replacement, but it ain't cheap) and the one Ontario car I ever owned had a gorgeous body sitting on a floor that was more rust than metal.

 

ontario cars are really a mixed bag.

I have a 18 year old ontario car (my 10ae) that has less rust than most 6 month old cars.

And I've had some ontario cars that uhh, well yeah... were less metal than rust.. or worse, the rust was gone and all that was left was air and plastic.

The problem seems to be how much they salt the damn roads here, and how well the car was taken care of. If the car hasn't been driven in the winter it will probably have no rust or only minor rust. If it was winter driven and not taken care of, chances are that it'll be ****.

 

It's hard to tell with the DeLorean. The frame can look great until you get a chance to see under the epoxy...At which point you discover the car is about to fall apart. It's all about the inspection in the cumple tube area, front steering mounts, engine crossmember and all other hidden areas. Take a screwdriver and POKE HARD. If the owner has a problem with this, then he's hiding something.

 

he's already admitted to cracks in the epoxy, but "Can't see any rust". To me that's a red flag.

 

A big one. Cracks trap moisture...

 

depending on the crack shapes on the backbone, they could also mean torsional flexing in addition to the rust. Which mens the VARI FRP underbody could have stress cracks as well.

 

Nuts. Painless Wiring doesn't make a harness for a Delorean...