De Lorean EuroTec

Well first off, I have to say what a nicely engineered kit it is.
Also as a work colleague is fighting cancer it was hell of a way to donate £50 to a great cause (Arran I will let you know the specific charity asap).

So I got started on doing it - and so far so good!
I got the stud out - that was the easy bit! Then I drilled out the rivets holding the rail channel.
Great so far, and it gives me an opportunity to clear out the desert leaves (well, leaf!) and to apply sealant to the extreme rear of the roof box.

It just makes soooooo much sense to do this job on any delorean. it sure will beef up the current structure - my drivers side stud was just ever so slightly canted over - and I was glad to see no damage to the tub around the bracket.

Just back inside now as I wanted to re read the instructions on the next phase - the kit instructions say that there is some tape underneath covering a slot that need elongating and digging out some foam. My slot seems to (factory) filled with black mastic so will need to dig that out.

It's a shame though because none of the photos are available to view on this thread.
viewtopic.php?f=13&t=2426&p=33438&hilit=strut+repair

Fixed the pictures.

MikeWard wrote:Fixed the pictures.

Cheers Mike . Just got back in - started digging out the mastic - still a way to go but it'll wait until tomorrow.

I managedd to do the driver door strut repair. I couldn't do the other side (more on that later!)

To carry out this job on a driveable car - a car that has nothing removed would be a bit of a task - but as a lot of "stuff" had been removed from my car anyway, it made my task easier.

There are instructions with the kit so I won't replicate them all here.

The interior roof panel needs to be removed - - my exterior T panel was off as I had recently performed the roof box fix down mod, however the instructions say that the s/steel T Panel can stay in place. (anybody got a good T panel spare )

The door needs to have the strut removed and the door propped up.

I had no door seals to remove (their u/s remains are in a large plastic bag!)
You would however have to peel the seals back a bit to do the repair.

Next I removed the small black piece of guttering - mine was quite loose and I had to just dremel out one of the rivets - if it had been sealed with silicone it may have made my job harder (I would have used an old top E guitar string to act as a cheese wire - preferably an Ernie ball super slinky 009 string )

here's a pic of the channel I removed.



I then unbolted the strut ball mounting.

I have to say that what prompted me to do this job was the fact that the strut ball mounting was a tiny bit on the pi55 - uhhh not 100% perpendicular to the tub.

Next after applying my home made concoction of releasing fluid onto the bracket mounting nuts , using a hypodermic syringe, I then used a trick passed onto me by an old mechanic - use a punch and hit the bolt squarely on - that "shocks" the bolt and reduces the risk of it snapping. The bracket was then pried away from the tub. The bracket was a bit bent. - the tub itself had a tiny hairline crack - so fine I couldn't photograph the crack. Here's a pic of the bent bracket, I propped it up to take the pic.




Next, I undid the screw on on the quarter interior trim - I felt that a bit more movement was required on the trim to give me better access to the slot..... so I also undid the seat belt mounting - was that a wise decision? - read on !!!

This exposed a slot underneath the tub - mine was sealed with black mastic so I cut it out with a scalpel. Underneath the mastic is expanded foam.
Here's a blurry photo of the slot with some of the mastic cleared out


I used a hack saw blade to elongate the slot - this is required so you can get access to mount the 3 backing plates - yup 3 - this bracket is strong stuff.

Initially I used the scalpel to remove the mastic, but it was as sticky as heck and took ages to pry away. I used a paint hook - made to hang a tin of paint from a ladder - that was amazing at removing the mastic/foam/dead lizards out,and I'll use that on the other side.

You also need to remove the rear quarter fixing screws down to the striker plate.

So I offered up the bracket, but it would not sit properly, I had to remove the section shown in the poor quality photo below to get it to line up and sit horizontally.



Thank god i have small hands /fingers and the dexterity of a guitar god - but even with those attributes the main backing plate fell out of the slot as I was rummaging around . it slid down the interior panel like Eddie the Eagle in the Winter Olympics. Alas out of reach! ... and I thought that it was a good idea to have removed the seat belt mount!!!

Nothing else for it I used the bracket from t'other side.

I made the necessary 6mm clearance holes beforehand and bolted it all up. Reattached the mounting ball and strut - and tried it. No Movement whatsoever!

i can only imagine that all Deloreans will eventually fall foul of this problem due to the forces exerted when closing the door and the flimsey ish mountings.

Here's a few more photos





Now can anybody tell me how to remove the interior panel to get "Eddie the Eagle" out!

I love reading stories of restorations like this.

Just a quick one, if there is a crack forming, you can so it spreading further by drilling a hole at the end of each crack, with the centre of the do bit at the very end I'd the crack. That should hopefully so it spreading further.

Keep it up

Cheers Mike for the tip.
I've done loads more to the car and have lots of pics to post, but Photobucket is now a pig to use, and I've just started using another photo hosting site.

Thanks for the encouragement too - it's fighting me but I seem to be edging forward!

I'm Nick

Admin-bloke wrote:I'm Nick

ooops - Hi Nick.

Why are u always working in the dark? Still candle lit in Wales?..

Needs to save his money to keep the car going