Square Wheels!

Another weird aspect of Deloreans are the staggered wheels, i.e. 14" in the front and 15" in the rear. The initiated would tell you that the purpose for that is to supposedly provide more grip in the rear for an already rear-heavy car. While that may be true, finding a matched set for all four corners has become virtually impossible for good reason: 14" tires are all but extinct and look hopelessly dated and 15" aren't far behind. To alleviate this problem, I decided to purchase a set of rear rims and put them in the front. Going from the stock 6" wide front wheels to 8" is perfectly doable - with some modifications.

First of all, I selected a set of Toyo Proxes R1R SL 205/50R-15" ("Extreme Performance Summer" per Tire Rack) tires with a "V" speed rating. Of great significance here is that this tire dimension provides a virtual identical circumference with the stock 195/60-14" tire i.e. the speedometer is not affected. 

Stock front wheel on the left; new front wheel on the right

Same OD!

Secondly, I purchased a new set of Upper Control Arms  from DMC Houston and had them drop shipped to Reid Performance who modified the UCAs with a -3 deg camber angle. This should not only help turn-in but also provide some added fender clearance at the top of the wheel - and of course - it looks cool. In this picture you can see how four new holes for the Upper Ball Joint have been drilled further in to provide the added camber:

Modified UCA

Something I had not expected is that the new UCAs threw the toe-in out of spec but that was easily adjusted. 

Thirdly, the fender lips had to be rolled:

Fender rolling in progress

The front spoiler where it meets the front of the wheel arch also needed to be modified (basically, the plastic was shaved using a Dremel tool) for more clearance.

In the end my new 8" wheel fit like a glove - tight, yes - but no interference from tilt to tilt. And it looks pretty damn good too (at some point I need to re-spray all wheel for a uniform look):

To me it's striking how dated the rear wheels look... so now I'm thinking an identical but customer made rear rim with the diameter increased from 15 to 16" and another 25 mm negative offset ("poke"). I might out put out some feelers with some custom wheel machinists... 

Upper Control Arm bearings

The movement of the Upper Control Arms relative to the frame is to a large extent a function of the amount of torque you put on the Wishbone Pivot Bolt (#43) and Nut (#29). It's a shame considering the fine engineering modifications many of us have done to our suspension, only to have the movement hog-tied by the thru-bolts' arbitrary clamping force. Also, there seems to some confusion within the Delorean community as to what washers, and how many, go where.  

I started researching how to decouple the bolt torque from the UCA movement and found what appeared to be a very good solution from my favorite supplier McMaster-Carr:

• Thrust Bearing p/n 5909K31
• Thrust Bearing Washer p/n 5909K44

Up to this point, this is how my UCAs were arranged:

Bolt head - Large Washer - CONTROL ARM - Two snub washers - FRAME - Two snub washers - CONTROL ARM - Large Washer - Nut

So, replacing the two snub washers with one thrust bearing and two thrust bearing washers on both sides would result in the following: 

Bolt head - Large Washer - CONTROL ARM - One thrust bearing washer - One thrust bearing - One thrust bearing washer - FRAME - One thrust bearing washer - One thrust bearing - One thrust bearing washer - CONTROL ARM - Large Washer - Nut

One thrust bearing and two thrust washers

The thickness of a thrust bearing and two washers is about 0.2 millimeters more than the combined thickness of the two snub washers so the fit is pretty tight and can be a little tricky to get in there, but once it's in there it is as if it was "engineered in".

Some pictures with the thrust bearings/thrust bearing washers in place:

Thrust bearing washer/thrust bearing/thrust bearing washer. Right front wheel; left of UCA. 

Thrust bearing washer/thrust bearing/thrust bearing washer. Right front wheel; right of UCA.

Is it worth it? Hard to quantify but from my personal point of view this modification is definitely working: If you grab the bolt head with one wrench and the nut with another wrench, the Wishbone Pivot Bolt/Nut spin freely about its axis even after they have been fully torqued down. I'd say that it's a testament to its effectiveness!

Virtual Delorean Weekend 2020 - a tour of my D

I participated in the Virtual Delorean Weekend 2020 by giving a video tour of my D:

Unfortunately, the audio is terrible... also, I did the whole thing in one take and since I don't know the first thing about video editing you will have to put up with the "seven... uuhh... seven... uuuh..." stuff.

New starter

My efforts to find the lazy starter issue continues. My local O'Riley's tested my starter and concluded that it was bad. Not that they gave me any results or anything; they just took it out back and came back and said "it's bad" so I ordered a new one. It's a Nissan starter. Why you ask? Well, SEO Motorsports' original Delorean conversion project used a Nissan 2JZ engine so the adapter plate between the engine and bell housing was really developed for it. Consequently, the VR6 adaptation is a revised version of it - presumably just a change of bolt pattern on the engine side; there really was no reason to change the design to accommodate a different starter, which is why I have a Nissan starter; model# 17904N, 23300-AM600 to be exact.

Adapter plate with starter recess

Old Hitachi starter with model number

For good measure I also replaced my Optima battery. O'Riley actually deemed it good but I've had it since 2011 so it was probably just a matter of time.

The result? Well it definitely cranks better but it's still not as peppy as I would like. The other day my buddy Marc suggested I run a jumper cable directly from the battery's (-) post to the engine block to see if I may have a grounding issue and it really made a difference. Next up: Improve the ground!

Oil return line

The oil return that runs from the turbo outlet back down to the oil pan had developed a small leak resulting in an occasional drop of oil hitting the exhaust with lots of smoke and smell as a result. The notion of an engine fire is scary stuff so it had to be addressed quickly.

The old hose, taken apart

As I examined the hose I concluded that the O-ring in the upper AN fitting may have taken a beating given how close it sits to the exhaust. I took the hose over to my buddies Brandon and Ryan at BSP Motorsports who agreed. They fabricated a new hose with O-rings rated for the extreme temps. We also added a high temp sleeve to ensure this is addressed once and for all. Here is the result after I installed it:

New oil return hose, upper end

New oil return hose, lower end

Upsized positive cables

The starter has always been a little sluggish. Even Ed made that remark as I picked up the car two years ago, and last month after a full day of driving it stalled at a red-light and it wouldn't crank. I have suspected that the offender is the bundle of small gauge wires that make up the positive cable, so that was replaced with two beefy 1/0 Gauge 0 AWG cables with 5/16" lugs on both ends; one 12" cable from the positive post to the connectors behind the electrical connector cover and one 48" cable from the positive post to the starter.

Stock, starter cables and the new, heavy gauge 1/0 0 AWG cables

I also replaced the stock, single post for the positive cables with a Fuse Block from Blue Sea Systems and a 300A fuse:

New fuse block

Cover removed

And here is a pic with the new cable running to the starter:

New starter cable

The upgrades were really neat and needing to be done - but my Nissan starter is still sluggish. I should probably pull it and have it checked at the local auto parts store.

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.