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!