First Contact The Very First time I saw my Delorean to be......	Second Contact :-) The Other Picture that came with the first....	And there she was The first time I saw here for real. Nose into the hedge!!!	What a poser..... This Is the first time I sat in what was to become my D
First job Remove the rear facia, and then through a process of jacking and blocks, lift the body	Clearance..... As the body is lifted high enough, the chassis will simply roll back	Engine height The rear facia has to be removed , other wise you would not be able to clear the engine.	Twist and shout...;-) Through the jacking , Some how we managed to twist the whole body through it's axis........
Aaaggghhh Now the body is off I can look it over....I'm sure this should be straight	Rear ended????? From this veiw.. The red lines should be straight lines, not like a coil of rope..!!	Hole..... This is the main reason why it was thought to be a complete write off....	More Rust This is a hole right through!!!!!
THAT hole again This is only 'box section' take off the bit outlined in green, replace it....The arrow points out where there should be a hole anyway	Not bad hey??? Cut down through there..... Heat it a bit.... Hammer into shape... weld it back together...Prime and paint....Easy ;-)	What hole? Replace the part of box section that was needed..... Job done	I love Box section Hole right through??? Again replace the box section either side and finish to your likeing.
Snap And the same is done to the other side..	Finished article The engine bay finised and ready to receive the engine.	How was it finished?? Stripped back as far as the good epoxy. Rust killer coat, Red Oxide Under-Coat, Scania Truck Chassis paint top coat	PRV6 The bit wot makes it go........
Rock-a-by-engine The mount on the right is the new one... On the left, wel that's why the engine rocked. All mounts were broken!	Take aim...... Lineing up the repaired chassis and remounted engine.	UP UP again Jacking the body up again to clear the wheels.	Is it there yet? Time to start pushing it under.
No it's not a monster truck. With it lined up as best we can get it time to let it down..SLOWLY	Sunset. All back together, and doesn't she look better for it. BED TIME.	VIN Plate #6463

Now that the main Body work has been completed the car must be closer to being road legal. Or at least I know that it won't fall apart or the engine won't fall out. Now's a case of the finer details to bring her up to a better standard. Next is a list of the small jobs I have completed.

1.   New CV boots                    2.   New oxygen sensor and reset Lambda counter.            3.   New Lower Speedo cable

4.   New Angle drive                5.   Two new rear tyres                                                 6.   New Rear Muffler

7.   New muffler heat shield     8.   New Door Struts                                                      9.   New Rear Sunshade Louver

10. New Shifter boot.              11.  New Column switches                                             12.  New Centre console for switches

13. Re-Conditioned and updated Door lock module (Thanks to Martin Gutkowski)             14.  Two new Headlights

15.  Fog light.                          16.  Fan Blower resisters                                              

Also carried out was a total engine flush, injector clean and cooling system flush and refill.

After much deliberation I decided the next job to do had to be to put the car through an MOT and see how she does. This will then point me in the right direction for what jobs I will have to concentrate on to get the car road legal, and ready to release back into the wild. An MOT here consists of 45 checks on the car from Headlight aim to under-body condition to steering and much more. I was prepared for the worst.

08/01/02 She went for her test........and Failed.....On one point only. The Hand Brake. This was not holding tight enough, and so I am now at the point of fixing this before the retest. So it should not be long before the car is on the road.

I have now started to concentrate on the interior of the car and start to bring this up to a better standard. So far I have replaced the Steering column switches and replaced part of the centre console. The carpets have cleaned up really well using a heavy duty carpet cleaner and so has most of the dash. The worst part of the whole interior is the seats. These have cracked really badly and need to be totally recovered.

14/01/02 I have found the company that originally produced the seat covers for DMC back in '81. They have agreed to do the work on my seats, even though they now do aircraft interiors. These should be finished by the end of next week. They will be totally leather with no PVC/Vinyl panels.

Brake pads have now been sourced to solve the Hand Brake issue. Rear pads for both hand and foot brake are from a 1979 Jaguar XJS front pads are from 1979 Ford Cortina. Both easily purchased from my local Motor Factor.

20/01/02 At last... today brings success.. I have managed to work out what the issue is with the hand brake, and it's not the pads. The self adjuster mechanism had seized, the pads had worn slightly and were now not making contact with the break disc. With a good soaking of Penetrating oil and a pair of mole grips I was able to free the nut and bolt. I was then able to tighten the adjuster until I could no longer rotate the brake disc, then back it of a half turn. As I need the pads for the driver side (fell apart on removal) I was only able to do the passenger side, however with this side alone I can now hold the car firmly on a hill. Time to book the MOT re-test......  

23/01/02 First seat is back from the trim company. VERY, VERY, VERY Happy with the result

Recovered Seat This is my first seat back from being recovered. Not too clear, Sorry Taken in B&W to show detail	Back The seat is now totally Leather, no PVC cheeks or sides.	Base From this you can see how they have re-created all the textures.

24/02/02 What a month!!!! MOT re-test? Did not happen, on the way to the test centre the Brakes started to get really spongy, to the point where I thought they were not going to work at all. On arrival at the test centre I took a last look around the car only to find the rear drivers side covered in brake fluid. Closer inspection showed a fracture brake pipe.  No point in even trying to pass today....

On getting the car home it was off with the wheel... What a mess the top bolt of the two that hold on the brake calliper had broken the aluminium housing off the rear hub carrier, causing the calliper to rotate and snap the brake line.... NOT GOOD. A quick trip to the boys that did my frame repair, and using their magic built the aluminium back up, re-shaped it drilled and tapped it and its as good as new, probably better.

Today saw they whole assembly back on the Car and the car off it's stilts. Monday will see the completion of the drivers seat and the end of the week should see the MOT certificate. Watch this space

28/02/02 That's it... The seats are both done! and back in the car, and looking good I might add. Total price for the total leather recover, No vinyl and labour £300 Leather used was from Jaguar. Below are 3 before and 3 after shots of the seats. Click for a bigger picture.

As they were Here you can see how the seats were. Note how they had gone shinny and were cracked.	How they are now Soft, supple, attractive, smell good, look great, great price, make the whole interior look better, need I go on?

 

02/03/02 It pays to check everything before you buy a replacement!!! Yesterday I decided to try and complete all the little jobs that have been niggling at me since I got the car:-

1.         Oil Pressure sender

2.         Washer only squirting when the wipers were on slow mode

3.         New label set applied

4.         Refit all carpets

5.         Full wash and detailed clean/Tyres Blacked.

All bar two jobs were simple, however time consuming. Washer, meant re-wiring the entire switch. This is due to the fact that I replaced the OEM column switches with 1989 Austin Mini switches. Only difference being the OEM has 5 wires and the Mini 6. Slightly different colours so this meant a lot of trial and error, but I got there eventually.

The Oil Pressure sender was a different matter. The needle has always pointed skyward since I got the car. My guess was the sender was defunct. Before buying a new one and fitting it I did a full circuit test and found a break in the wire about 12" from the sender. Fixed this and the gauge works perfectly.   

16/03/02 Below are two shots 1st is the Photo of the Interior the first day I saw the car 8 months ago, the second I've just taken today. I think you'll agree there's been some vast improvement.

How it was 8 months ago Clearly showing the cracked seats.	As it is Today   Vast Improvement.	Another view

16/03/02 At last I finally have a MOT on the car, after a lot of agro.  After failing twice because of the hand brake, the test guys realised that the car was too wide for the rolling road test rollers. therefore the tyre was not effectively griping the rollers to stop them, and failing......... Still it's done now. Tax it on Monday and the open roads wait......

25/04/02 Time flies when your having fun........ I can't believe it's been over a month since I last updated the site!!! I've done so much in the last 4 weeks I'll probably miss some of it off. so here goes....

The biggest challenge was the fact that I moved house, not from one town to another but from one country to another.... Northern Ireland to England. A total of 257 miles. Not that far, but far enough for a car that's only been driven to the MOT station and back.

The beauty of Gull wing doors Watching everybody struggle to get out of their cars on the ferry ( as they pack you in real tight ) made me chuckle as I swung open my door and easily got out.

The whole journey was quite uneventful with three exceptions

1. Bunch of lads taking photos as they passed me twice on the M6

2. These car can be dangerous to drive on the Motorways..... Why?? People tend to sit in your blind spot to stare at your car. You have to take a real go look before overtaking, because there's always one sat there!!!!

3. 7 miles from its new home my D showed me a lot of steam in the rear view mirror... 7 miles!! to go. It turned out that the water hose from the pump to the header tank had drooped with heat onto the alternator belt, which in turn rubbed it's way through. Luckily I could cut the offending piece off and re-attach top up with water and get home.

Jobs since arrival After that little scare with the water pipe I decide to put new rubber pipe sections around the cooling system. I have also had in my box of "bits to do" a new lower Speedo cable bracket, which is now on I have also now bought from Chris Parnham two new front coil springs, awaiting fitting. I have also fitted a new Stereo.. Kenwood Mask with 6 disc Auto changer.

Now for the embarrassing part. I had a visit from Martin and Rich, who kindly pointed out that my engine compartment was a disgrace and to top it of the engine was only firing on 4 cylinders!!!

Not to be shown up like that again. within 3 days the car received new Plugs, HT leads, Distributor Cap and Rotor Arm, and what a difference that made, let me tell you. I also set about cleaning the engine bay, Ordered a Stainless Throttle cover and header tank You can see the difference below.  

As it was After a bit of spit and polish It looks slightly better.	After the tidy up Black, blackened	Stainless! New header bottle and throttle cover.	The Finished article. I will be happy to open this anytime now!!!

What else??? I've also had new external door rubber seals from East Kent trim, however they just won't stay on. the U shaped grip is not long enough, so I'll have to get something else. I have now also had my new window motor assembly delivered from Darryl Tinnerstet, however it will have to wait, as I've got stitches in my hand from a nice sharp edge on the inside of the door. Well that's it for now watch out for the next update.  

04/05/02 Today I had a bit of a get together at my house Martin, Chris and James brought their cars for a Fiddle 'n' Fix day. I also invited my local News paper to come around. They bit my hand off for the chance of a photo with not just one but four Deloreans in it.

All Four One! The clipping from the Local Paper.....

 

The biggest job we did in the time was change Martin's front springs. Chris and I will have to wait!!!!.

Chris paraded his newly refurbished wheels which made us all turn green, so I flashed my seats, fair swap for envious glances.

Many fiddly jobs were done, I had my drivers side door torsion bar adjusted, and I set out to find why my steering wheel shuddered heavily under braking or around 50mph. This was down to the bushings in the upper wish bone of the front suspension. I had new bushes however these were loose in the holes like the old ones. On the drivers side the bushes had been spot welded in place so I did the same on the passenger side, and this promptly cured the shudder. 

James connected up his front speakers, and Chris repaired his Rear demister switch and replaced his reverse light switch on the gear box. Chris fiddled a lot with his striker pins for his door latches, so I hope he has adjusted them well too. All in all a good day was had by all.

13/05/02 Last Weekend, I managed a couple of fiddly jobs, and was happy with the results.

First was the replacement of all the headlight brackets, this was done due to the poorly mounted lights, leading me to think there was something seriously wrong with them. And sure enough there was, The screws to adjust the angle of the lights were bent and rusted and the passenger side had one on the cups completely missing so the light fitting was held in with some niffty welding!!!!

Whilst in the process of doing the lights I was able to get to the Bonnet hinge brackets and adjust the front of the bonnet height, and for the first time since owning the car I am now happy with the alignment off the bonnet.

Today my wheels were picked up by B.J.V Engineering for refurbishment These will be back in 4 days, I will then post some pictures of the end result and the total cost. You will be surprised......., Check out their site for some Idea.

20/05/02 The  wheels are back and a great job has been done. Blasted, powder coated and the tyres put back on all for the sum of £98.00. See the photos below for the finished article. I have also purchased new wheel nuts from my local car shop, these again can be seen below.

Referbished & lowered Powder coated and P6000's, also lowered with Chris P's springs.	New Nuts Please!! What do you think of these then????

25/05/02 I have also now fitted my lowered front springs from Chris P and you can see the result above. The adjustable front shocks on the car are to be replaced tomorrow with NOS shocks from Dave Howarth.

I made the decision this week to remove the push button start system in the car and go back to the original key ignition. Checking out the price parts would have cost $400, however I have managed to cross ref the parts to a Rover SDi and got brand new parts with two keys for £58. Ordered yesterday and arrived today. Very minor adjustment to the loom plug and it was fitted in 45mins. I also then removed the immobiliser that was in the car and rewired the accessory switches for the ignition. Back to factory original again.

26/05/02 Collected my shocks from Dave today, and fitted them this evening.. Last time I drove my car it had original front springs, After market front shocks and old Bridgestone tyres. Today I drove it with new lowered springs NOS shocks and Pirelli P6000 tyres. What a noticeable difference..... Corners now like its on rails and is so much easy to drive and steer, What will it be like when I put the P600's on the rear?? The picture below shows the old shock and the new.

Shocking!!!!! On the right is the old adjustable shock on the left the NOS shock.

01/06/02 Today was an Interesting one to say the least, after spending last night connecting all the vacuum hose up under the dash for the air-con, I found the Mode switch leaked all the vacuum built up and failed to change the air-con settings. So out it came and was soon dismantled. The problem was the diaphragm was clogged and hard. This is a little rubber maze that directs the vacuum to the different ports. after a good clean and spray with silicone lubricant I put it back in. To my horror it was even worse........ Took it back out turned the diaphragm through 180 degrees and put it back in, and now it works perfectly.

I have got to say that I've had this car nearly a year and I can now confidently jump in it at any time and just drive, and that's all I want... to drive my D.

08/06/02 Today I decided to try and clean he interior to a better standard than before and treated myself to Autoglym interior shampoo and vinyl care. Set to the Dash and knee pads with a tooth brush and elbow grease. The dirt that came out of the vinyl was unreal, and the way it left the dash was a vast improvement.  Another couple of cleans and I will be more than happy. I also decide to replace the inner door seals, after hearing they were off a Ford hatch of some description. Scrapheap challenge began...... and no match was found. On my way home I went to my local car shop to see if they could get some from their supplier...... Guess what they had it on the shelf for £12.99 for 4.86 mtr plenty long enough.. Job done again by my local guys they haven't failed to get me a part yet. Also too some new photos. See below...

07/06/02 IT'S NOW A YEAR SINCE I FIRST WENT TO SEE THE CAR IN DUBLIN. And what a year it's been!!! The ups and downs have been many. I'm glad to say there has been more ups than downs. and the downs have been short lived.

I think I've come a long way in this year. Certainly my technical knowledge of the car is much greater. I'm even starting to understand the electrics a bit more :-)

So today's pictures are 1 of the headliner since I recovered it, and 2 of my new number plates. See below.  Next Update should be after Super Car Sunday next week.

Headliner From this you can now actually see the relief pattern	Front Plate	Back Plate With new Bezel

22/07/02 I'VE NOW OWNED MY DELOREAN FOR A YEAR. Super Car Sunday has now been and gone, What a great weekend 23 Deloreans in attendance. I will upload some photo's in the near future.

The 150 mile round trip was fairly eventful for BKZ. On the way there 1 1/2 miles from millennium point the alternator belt rubbed through the main water pipe, again. Luckily I had all the parts needed in the bonnet. On arrival at Hall Green I was starting to find it hard to get into gear, and eventually on the way home from Gaydon was unable to select any gears at all. This turned out to be the OEM plastic clutch pipe getting soft in the hot weather and stretching in diameter when pressure applied, thus not releasing the clutch plate. Problem solved.... Nice shiny stainless braided pipe put on.

More Pictures... These Really show the car off........

 

28/07/02 I am now starting to get to the stage of being happy with the interior of the car. I have replaced the stereo with a Kenwood 6 disc auto changer. Found a fog light switch that I am happy with and does not need the Lambda light to be used as it illuminated itself. I have also fitted a brushed aluminium gear stick knob. All of which can be seen below.

Today I took the Bull by the horns. After deciding my steering rack needed to be rebuilt, It was time to take it out. after removing it it was clear to see the boots were well worn, and so were the track rod ends. The rest seemed fairly solid, and not loose. So, changed the boots, put on new track rod ends, filled with lube, and put it back on the car. After a test drive I have come to the conclusion, I do not need the rack rebuilt, track rod ends were the problem.

03/08/02 Today has been one of those days where every thing has gone just right... It was time to bullet proof the cooling system. Replace the remaining hoses that were not already done. Then the big job.. New radiator, two new fans and motors and a new fan cowl.

The original or should I say, the fans in the car were not set in a fan cowl, but an interesting piece of welded frame. They were also wired in series directly to the fan relay. When I put in the new fans I was able to clean up and use the original wiring loom plugs. This to might surprise brought with it an added bonus.. The Air Con electrics now work....  When the air con is switched to any of the cold settings the fanes fire up and you can hear the magnetic clutch engage on the compressor. I am now well on my way to cold air.

The old one No cowl, intresting frame to hold in the fans	The new one Need I say more?

Car show photo's I have now been to 3 car shows with BKZ and thought it time to post a few photos.

Too Cool This is Allan, My brother-in-law. Mmmm I think they go well together.	He's there again!! British sports car day, at Shuttleworth, Bedfordshire	Millenium Point The day before Super Car Sunday	Super Car Sunday Arriving in convoy
Super Car Sunday Some sort of red car in the back ground	Super Car Sunday Another Shot	Super Car Sunday

03/09/02 I have also now painted my Fascias, Colour used was Rover Gun Metal, with a white Plastic under Primer. I am quite happy with the results. However I am also sure I could have done it a little better. I think I will re do them over the winter.

I have also wired a green light onto the centre console next to my fog light switch, which come on whenever the cooling fans are running. Peace of mind really.

Finally got my electric aerial working in the rear wing.

Re-Spray Not the best picture but shows the new look	Fan Light Infront of the gear stick next to the fog light switch

03/11/02 This update is bad news, I had the worst thing that can happen to a owner happen. My drivers side torsion bar snapped. The only good thing was I was not getting in or out of the car at the time... Or I could of had a nasty crack across the head as the door dropped. Passenger side torsion bars are easy to come by. Driver side are like 'hens teeth'. However I have tracked one or two down and hope to make the purchase in the next couple of days, then to fit it. So what does a broken T bar look like......

Broken Bar Here you can see where it broke	Close up of the break	End on Not too clear

As the car is out of action due to a broken wing. I thought it time to do a few job out standing. A water leak behind the water pump and a set of 'Toby TAB's'

The water leak turned out to be a corroded hose clip so I did not need to change all the pipework.

The TAB job has been started and I have completed one side. This is one job that should be done by all owners... replace or certainly inspect/tighten your Trailing arm bolts. They do become loose, you can loose the shims or worse still they will bend and then break, with un-thinkable circumstances.

Below is a picture of my  drivers side TAB beside a Toby TAB, you can just see mine has started to bend.

New vs Old You can just see the bend in the lower TAB

16/11/02 I had the car out on the drive at idle when a noticeable amount of steam started to rise through the engine cover. I know the pipe are good, even the ones behind the water pump, but that's where it seemed to be coming from. So that was it strip off the mixture control unit and the intake manifold and have a good look around. Less than an hour later it was apart. see below

Mixture Control Easy to put together the pipes were numbered	Wow look at thet lot! Intake manifold removed

 

Price Check

How Much????  Running total below

Car                           £ 4500.00 

Parts                       £ 3661.46

Total to Date    £ 8161.46