What's next?

Digital dash:

The Megasquirt MS Pro-3 ECU offers a lot of exciting possibilities. One of them is to provide the output to a display with a custom interface; a completely configurable digital dash in other words. This would do away with all mechanical inputs and the various inputs from sensors all over the car into the dash, and instead allow a vast array of different displays, alarms, set-ups etc. There is already a compatible design in development within the Delorean community that accepts the CAN bus protocol. Here is an example:

Front suspension:

Given that I am now dealing with forces of nature that are a lot greater than they used to be, the first thing to address is the front suspension attachment points: A weakness in the Delorean’s front suspension is that the lower control arms are not triangulated. In other words, the LCAs are a simple cantilever design to take vertical and lateral loads; however, they are not designed to absorb longitudinal loads. Those loads are, oddly enough, being taken by the anti-roll bar. I believe this is one of Colin Chapman’s concepts that Lotus adopted on the early Espirits. The solution is rather simple from a component standpoint but complex from a geometry and mechanical grip stand point. In addition, the strength aspect is not ideal either; there are examples of front wheels having collapsed into the rear of the wheel well under heavy braking. There are several solutions out there; one particularly interesting solution is undergoing field testing as we speak and I am following the results of it with great interest.

Brakes (shouldn’t this be at the top of the list?):

The stock disc rotors are prone to overheating and warping from repeated use. There are some upgrade options to ventilated, cross-drilled options available that I need to look into. Nuff said.

Stay tuned….

Final thoughts

Driving my new Delorean on the street is… humbling. Ed eased me into it by letting me ride along and – wow – I would characterize the acceleration as almost explosive.

Responsiveness is great. Once it reaches the beginning of the power band it just takes off; and the “whoosh” from the blow-off valve when you let up on the gas tells the ones you just passed that this is not your ordinary “all-bark, no-bite” Delorean. That Saturday in Melbourne was pretty hectic and we were itching to hit the road for the long journey home. So in the midst of all that I actually never drove the car – until we were back home in Frisco, TX and it was time to drive it off the trailer. Last time I drove this car, it had the stock engine and auto tranny. Now, ten o’clock at night, after a full day on the road I was negotiating a torquey fire breather with three-four times the power, a stick shift (in fact, I was so unprepared that I wasn’t even sure where in the shift pattern to find the reverse gear) and what seemed like a very, very grabby clutch. It is, I’m sure, probably considered very smooth and easy for the amount of power (Ed emphasized many times that it is child’s play compared to some of his other projects). HOWEVER, to me, it was like trying to compress a rock. I did my best not to slip the clutch too much but, still: I bet that car came off the trailer in one big leap.

A couple of days later I spent a good hour practicing starts in the parking lot of a grocery store (audience included). Now, a full week later I’ve got it figured out: I can do smooth starts all day long with just the right amount of rev without bunny-hoppin’ or stalling. So far, I think my favorite environment is the highway: You trudge along at 65 and wait for someone with something to prove to come up alongside and then… downshift…. end of story. Mid-life crisis? Maybe so, but – hey - I’m enjoying every second of the cure.

This past weekend I also participated with my car at the North Texas Irish Festival in Dallas. The comments around Ed’s worksmanship were never-ending…. So, as a last hoorrah, here are the before-after pictures again:



Then

Now

As I was outlining my high level criterion in my very first blog page, Delorean owners have a few, good sources for engine upgrade options but, in my mind, Ed Ghesquiere has really hit a home run with my car and I am just so thankful I was the beneficiary of his skills and expertise.

Next, I’ll be working on upgraded, ventilated, multi-pot brakes and then I’m thinking an all-digital dash. The ECU has all the outputs to accommodate it.

More than anything though, I will do a lot of driving J.

Dyno testing!

Dyno testing took place on February 27 at Garcia Automotive in Melbourne, FL. Now, if you recall, (or you can refresh your memory right here): Our rear wheel target was 350 HP and 350 ft.lb of torque. Well, here is what two dyno runs yielded (individual results were about one percent apart):

·         Rear wheel peak power: 367 HP @ 6,260 RPM

·         Rear wheel peak torque: 377 FT.LB @ 4,710 RPM

Here is the video of the second run (the fun starts at 25 seconds):

 

 

A few tweaks

A couple of changes to deal with the heat:

1. A heat shield that goes between the CAT and the turbo air intake area to keep the inlet air temp as low as possible has been added. A shroud around the intercooler (in the pontoon) has also been added.
2. Instead of drawing (hot) air from the engine compartment, the turbo air intake has been extended with a rubber boot such as the air is now drawn from the inside of the bumper.

The turbo compressor and air filter now run considerably cooler and will be a benefit in a whole bunch of ways.


New heat shield and turbo air inlet arrangement

We're now a week from travelling to Florida to inspect, dyno test and bring #1283 back to Texas!

Tuning

At this point I can only relay the progress that Ed reports to my via texts. In the last couple of days he has gradually increased the boost from 7 up to 15 psi. There was no worry with respect to the new motor but whether my fuel pump was going to be able to deliver enough fuel at full swansong, and here is what he said:

About the fuel pump: A couple of years ago I threw out the o-so antiquated factory fuel pump and fuel sender and replaced it with this complete solution from Delorean Motor Company in Houston, TX. Good for me that it has the ooompf to deliver the goods, and good for all others that also already have this pump/sender module and are considering an engine swap.

The final result

So here it is, the final and completed engine compartment. The engineering solutions and workmanship is worthy of any high-end automotive company; everything is functional and tidy... (Yes, I'm gonna have to ditch those stock stickers.)

Just check out what the engine bay used to look like and what we wanted to achieve, right here. We definitely reached our goal, and then some.

Nothing wrong with the view from the rear either:

Finishing touches

The last two remaining items have now been completed:

1. The cover plate for the former carbon canister compartment, now home of the intercooler and fan, has been cut:

Cover plate taking shape in the CNC plasma cutter

2. The turbo inlet filter cover has been procured and installed. It's a chromed beauty with blue anodized touches. Matches the spark plug wires and the new chrome plated fire extinguisher as well as the blue anodized, billet aluminum bracket from Eddie Motorsports.


Turbo inlet filter cover



Buttoned up and first road test

OK, so Ed has burned some midnight oil and completed a couple of major milestones:

First of all the AC: It pulled a very good vacuum and spits ice cubes. A life's necessity as anyone in the south would attest to. I converted my AC to R134a a few years ago which also included replacing the stock R-12 Sanden SD-510 compressor to a Sanden SD7H15 d:o. Well, that compressor is now replaced with the compressor that came on the VR6 engine; it appears to be a Sanden variable displacement SD7V16 so I am staying true to my old employer. The Megasquirt ECM does a beautiful job controlling idle-up. Rock steady. 

The second thing is that he has completed the integration of the charge piping into the rear fascia. Yes, the piping will be flattened if someone rear ends me but hey, it's just a pipe.

The third big deal is the 3" exhaust has been fabricated and installed along with the 3" high flow catalytic converter from APTuned, specifically for forced induction applications.

All of this means that the car is now roadworthy and here she is purring away:

 

Ed took it for a 10 mile test trip and it... "drives like a dream". It was only set for 5 psi of boost and he said it pulls very good;nominal boost is 15 psi which is estimated to equate to about 350 hp and lbft - all changeable in the Pro-3 ECU. With MegaSquirt's app on my phone I will be able to modify boost on the fly as I'm driving... talk about a potential distraction!

For the next 4-5 weeks Ed will be working on tying up any loose ends to make the project complete and of course: a lot of testing and tuning.

 

We're scheduled for sign-off and dynamometer testing on Feb. 27. at which time I'll be there with my trailer. Can't wait!



1283 got a wash

 

Intercooler plumbing

The turbo and intake plenum are now plumbed and connected. Below you can see how the compressor output is routed into the compartment in the left pontoon (where the carbon canister used to sit), and in there - although not visible in this picture - is where the intercooler and fan is located. The fan operation is controlled by the ECU and is based on intake air temperature and engine load. I really like the cone shaped K&N filter; I believe Ed will add a chromed/polished shield around it as well.


The turbo is now "stuffing" air into the intake, like it's supposed to

The plumbing will be routed through the fascia and bumper and completely out of sight when everything is said and done.
Once that's is done, then Ed will move on to the exhaust.