Killer brake pads

After a few laps at Eagles Canyon Raceway it was obvious that the brakes needed more bite and I was recommended to get EBC Yellow brake pads. What a difference! I have to carefully modulate the brakes to not lock them up. Also, my fellow Delorean friend Marc Dismukes fabricated two pairs of 3/16" stainless steel brake pad retainer pins for me instead of the awkward, mega sized cotter pins that came with the ventilated rotors.

Also, downshifting to second gear on the track is a bear and totally ruins your stride. I have been advised to upgrade to Genuine GM Fluid 88900399 Synchromesh Friction Modified Manual Transmission Fluid and will be installing it shortly.
 

Front suspension improvements, upgraded brakes: Done!

A few pictures of the completed job:

A early test drive yielded a good and smooth ride with good steering/suspension response and braking.

Initially I set the ride height @ 22" from ground to fender lip which turned out to be too low as I noticed some rubbing on the tires during hard braking; I am trying about 22 1/2" for the moment:

And here is the stance - job complete!

Front suspension, brakes: Almost complete!

The suspension package has been installed on both left and right side, consisting of:

From QA1 / Drive Stainless:
- Shocks with adjustable dampening
- Springs with adjustable ride height

From DMC Europe:
- Triangulated stainless steel arms
- Stiffer ("boxed") Lower Control Arms
- Polyurethane bushings... everywhere



Right side 

Left side. Upper Control Arm with new upper and lower ball joints; new tie rod ends and boots; freshly painted hubs and steering knuckles; plated dust shields; ventilated brakes...

All that's remaining now is to install and bleed the wider brake calipers... Then I get to play with dampening rates and ride height!

Front suspension, brakes: The work begins (and continues)



Right front spring and shock removed

 Ouch! As you see, the spring cup has been removed in this pic and I was going to overhaul the LCAs - but - the right side lower control arm turned out to be bent and will go in the trash. I will buy a new pair.

Right front shock tower cleaned and painted with POR-15

Upper control arms stripped and looking awesome after two coats of POR-15

An example of DMCMW's great plating workmanship (ok, they sub it out, but still)

Brake calipers, rotor dust shields and misc hardware are back from plating at DMC Midwest and looking really awesome. I have also purchased new front brake pistons along with overhaul kits for both. Spindles and steering knuckles have been degreased and painted. Basically, I am/was ready for re-assembly when I noticed that both upper ball joints (one of very few parts I was planning to re-use) are in poor shape. Just like the lower ball joints, I will order the UBJs from DMC Europe; their ball joints are slightly beefier than the stock ones that the DMC network carry.

Ouch (again)! Considerable wear along the upper ball joint's swage

Front suspension improvements; upgraded brakes

The Delorean’s front suspension is… not ideal…. for a couple of reasons:

1. There is literally no longitudinal constraint of the lower control arm. The only thing keeping the wheel from flexing fore/aft is the sway bar which in other words is having to serve dual purposes: Reduce sway and stabilize the LCA. Not ideal. This design arrangement is a legacy from Colin Chapman; the same concept was used on the Lotus Esprit S1 but was subsequently corrected  on the S2 (or S3) later on. To remedy this, I will:

• Add two sets of massive stainless steel lower control arm reinforcements from Delorean Europe that will provide triangulation, of course without in any way affecting the suspension from its proper compression/extension as it should.



Added stainless control arms for triangulation

• Replace the lower control arms with similar, new d:o with the only difference that the new ones are made from thicker gauge metal and are also “boxed” in, i.e. its profile is no longer an inverted U-shape, but a rectangular shape for increased rigidity.

Original LCA above; new and improved below (including new ball joint)

• Replace all of the rubber bushing in the UCA, LCA and sway-bar with polyurethane d:o. These too come from Delorean Europe. The new PU bushings come with nicely machined stainless spacers and inserts (and have the precision worthy of a Swiss watch):

Polyurethane bushings with stainless hardware (L&R)

2. The stock, front springs do not compress in a straight line! The way the spring is oriented in relation to the movement of the suspension does not allow for a linear compression/decompression; instead it describes somewhat of an arch. The main reason for this flaw being that the lower end of the spring sits (in a “cup”) on top of the lower control arm, which in turn, of course describes a circular pattern about its pivot point as it moves up and down. In addition, it appears that the spring has been interfering with the upper end of the shock tower as the metal is a little mangled there. (this is prevalent on both L&R sides). Likely the result of the fore/aft movement mentioned earlier!

A view of the stock suspension and its imperfect geometries

 

To rectify this, I will install an entirely new spring/shock arrangement supplied by DriveStainless/QA1 where the lower end of the spring is not resting on the lower control arm, but instead rides on the lower end of the shock itself, thus making the spring perfectly concentric with the shock. This design not only provides perfect in-line alignment between the spring and the movement of the suspension: it also enables adjustable ride height and in addition, the shock has adjustable dampening.



Adjustable ride height/ adjustable dampening. Pure perfection from DriveStainless / QA1 

The end result with all of the above improvements will be:

• increased stability under hard cornering and braking
• increased stability (less “float) during high speed driving

In addition, I will also be replacing the front brake rotors with vented d:o to reduce the risk of brake fade. I will be using the stock calipers, but spaced apart to accommodate the increased rotor thickness. Some D owners have opted to go with four-piston A/M brakes (such as Wilwood etc.) but that will/may technically introduce a front-to-rear brake bias issue, and without the means of brake bias adjustment I am not willing to go there....


Vented brake rotor. An authentic Delorean upgrade from Delorean Europe.

Cars & Coffee

Cars & Coffee have a gathering at Classic BMW in Plano, TX on the first Saturday of every month. I brought my D and it appears at the very beginning of this clip:

(video courtesy of The Dutch Texan)