De Lorean EuroTec

A small update today; and not many pictures (yet - I'll take some more).

This past couple of weekends; with the weather being nice, has meant long days in the garage. It's been thoroughly pleasant but does underline how much work really goes in to this sort of thing. Easily losing 4 hours to a simple(ish) job! 

Here's quick run down of the work I did:

Finished stripping the engine down to the crank - it'll now go to a local machine shop and be cleaned; the piston liners hopefully rebored and then I can start rebuilding. I believe the block to be "good" but I'll know for sure before I spend the necessary on service kits and the like. I very much doubt there is much I'll do here beyond rebuilding to a solid foundation - it'll be enough for a car I will rarely use!

Cleaned the underside of the tub - this is something I've been doing between jobs. I have no plans to paint the car or anything like that, I just want it clean. The top side - the bits you can see, they'll be done when the body/frame are re-united and I can work on each area in turn. I am keen not to take the whole car back to nuts/bolts - complete a job and move on! This is just cosmetic and to ensure everything goes back together cleanly and I don't end up with earthing problems or anything cosmetic I have to fudge.

Brakes/Suspension - When the frame was stripped I had to remove some parts complete; so I've had issues with castellated nuts where the split pins wouldn't come out; basically meaning the brake disc is still attached to the control arm. I've since finished separating those. Much of it, I'm not sure I trust - especially the front lower control arms. They may go in the bin (or more likely to someone that wants them for restoration purposes.
I've also begun to remove the brake master cylinder/servo - it's catching on the clutch but that has a rounded phillips head inside the car; that may need cutting off so I gave up and left that for another day.

Next up are the "spends". I'm going to get the frame done, the engine block cleaned and a rebuild beginning and hopefully a specialist go over the gearbox for me to see if it needs any work. I've also bought a small parts cleaner and will give rebuilding the brake calipers a go (first time but it's not like I'm in a hurry!). 
This will likely all take a long time - I don't like debt so won't be doing it unless I have the cash to do so; but I expect that it'll begin to go back together fairly quickly when it does happen.

DeLorean Engine Strip by Dan Willis, on Flickr
DeLorean Engine Strip by Dan Willis, on Flickr
DeLorean Engine Strip by Dan Willis, on Flickr
DeLorean Engine Strip by Dan Willis, on Flickr

A quick update; the chassis has been acid dipped and is now being welded - you can see below that there are a couple of holes, but generally it's in a fine shape for 36+ years old. 

Next steps are, welding, cleaning and then e-coating. The costs will make you weep, but I'm not half-arsing this, nor expecting to be re-doing it in the next 30 years so it might as well cost me the fortune now.

After that, I have to rebuild the frame asap so I can mate it back to the body. That is where the real costs come in, as I have to replace:

Brakes
Suspension
Steering rack
Hoses (and some pipes)
Radiator/fans
Bushes

In reality I'm reusing very little beyond brackets and nuts/bolts. It's largely a case of "what do I trust?" and the answer is "none of it". At least, not long term and not after 10+ years sat doing nothing. 

When it comes to the engine and gearbox, that I'm still unsure of. I've stripped the engine and cleaned everything but the block (being too large for my parts cleaner). The pistons, rods, crank and liners all cleaned up nicely so a re-hone and new rings/shells should see it back to health. The heads I've not touched until the bottom end is done, so I don't have too much to do and I start to lose track of parts and such like!
The gearbox is ready to be split and so far it's completely sound, so I suspect a replacement of seals and gaskets will see it good to go for now. Whether they are mated to the car before the body is entirely down to money; the engine itself, whilst simple, is a pig in parts and they are costly. But, needs must.

Here's a few pics:

Chassis acid dipped by Dan Willis, on Flickr
Chassis acid dipped by Dan Willis, on Flickr
Chassis acid dipped by Dan Willis, on Flickr
Chassis acid dipped by Dan Willis, on Flickr
Chassis acid dipped by Dan Willis, on Flickr
Chassis acid dipped by Dan Willis, on Flickr

Nice Dan!

Is that chassis pictured in bare metal? Does acid dipping remove the epoxy?

Just interested. Keep going mate, looks like a good job, done the right way- once!

You coming to EuroTec?

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That's in bare metal, yes. Yep, acid dipping removes the epoxy. its' the only way to get the stuff off inside the frame where blasting it can't reach - or baking doesn't work. It's bloody expensive though!

Eurotec? I've not been keeping up with events recently - I'll have a look.

A small update; things are still progressing, albeit slowly. Until the frame is back (hopefully this month), I've err'd on not spending money as there was, or is, little point.

However, I have been cleaning parts, cataloguing what I can use, and what must be replaced. Some things I thought were toast, were just really mucky - like the water piping. So, they can stay (and at over £300 a set, worth saving). The brake calipers are cleaned and painted, and various bits have been cleaned, sanded and painted too. I'll take some pictures soon, but isn't very exciting stuff.

Today, I made a big order. I've purchased:

Silicone hose kit (mainly for the water system)
Brake discs
TABS bolts
Suspension bushes
Re-conditioned steering rack and tie rod ends
Shocks
Ball joints
Sway bar bushes
Various clips

The frame, on its return, will be built up to a rolling stock - no engine or gearbox, just radiator, suspension, piping, brakes etc - so I can refit the body for the winter. The body won't bolted down, or the engine refitted (or indeed refurbished any futher for now) until next year at the earliest. The winter months will probably see me working on anything else chassis related, and begining to strip the electrics and interior out. But we'll see.

More over the next month as I know more on the frame.

Good progress Dan , thanks for taking the time to post up


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Quick update; whilst I work through the kit I have, need and avoid the rain, the frame came back!

I do need to add a coat of something; grey, obviously, to help protect it further. That siad, it looks mighty good in black. Not very "original" though. The life-blood of the car is now like new; and that's really the foundation on which I'm building.

E-Coated Frame by Dan Willis, on Flickr
E-Coated Frame by Dan Willis, on Flickr
E-Coated Frame by Dan Willis, on Flickr
E-Coated Frame by Dan Willis, on Flickr
E-Coated Frame by Dan Willis, on Flickr
E-Coated Frame by Dan Willis, on Flickr
E-Coated Frame by Dan Willis, on Flickr

Sorry the pictures aren't great; low light and my phone were all I had at the time. More later when I've started working out how to put it back together.

That frame is so beautiful, that's a very good job

thats a very nice job, this is a job i hoping to start on mine over the winter, where did you get all the dipping/ e-coat done ?

It looks nice in black!