VIN 4566 Restoration

[Dan Willis]

Agreed; you need space, not just to do the work, but enough if it has to take a back-seat to the day-to-day. I'm paying for storage elsewhere so the DeLorean can monopolise a double garage. Madness!

You can measure from the top of the gear stick to the floor, then the tub (base to roof) and add those together. That's what you'll need.

[Rissy]

I think your measurement points are probably good points for a typical reversed extraction of the chassis from under the body. I didn't measure like that myself, with the view as it was at the time, it was obvious that I was going to have to do the awkward thing and pull the chassis out from under the body, forwards! So the highest point to consider on the chassis at that point, is the top end of the engine making it under the body tub. That approach i'm sure now will not be necessary in my future house, but where I was considering doing it before, at a friends, i'd have had no choice but to do it the hardest way possible!

[Dan Willis]

Work is going, I hope understandably, slowly whilst I work on it alone. Since there is no rush anyway, I'm taking my time and ensuring I don't wear myself out (and then make a stupid mistake) and always feel excited to get back to it.

First up, I removed the wheels. Whilst this isn't how i've seen most body-off work; my car is on wheeled dollies, so I don't need rubber on the ground in order to move it. This means first and foremost, the body doesn't need to go so high. Here are some rough pictures of the heights of the both the frame and body:

DeLorean body-off work by Dan Willis, on Flickr
Base of the shock absorber mounting; likely the lowest part of the car. Roughly 3.5 inches.

DeLorean body-off work by Dan Willis, on Flickr

The frame/sump is 5.5 inches off the deck. The hardest part of this was getting a low enough jacking point (the gearbox) to remove the other jack being used to support the frame.

DeLorean body-off work by Dan Willis, on Flickr

The bottom of the tub is around 28 inches high here. That gives me a good 2/3 inches clearance on the top of the gearstick (sans knob).

DeLorean body-off work by Dan Willis, on Flickr

The top of the car is 67inches high. I can still open the doors and hood at this point - though I wouldn't recommend messing with the car when it's sat so high. Those doors being lifted are significant in both weight and torque; it could move the unrestrained body. No thank you.


DeLorean body-off work by Dan Willis, on Flickr

Frame on the deck, car high enough; but... bricks obviously stop the frame from moving anywhere but side-to-side.

DeLorean body-off work by Dan Willis, on Flickr

The same at the rear; low, low, low.

DeLorean body-off work by Dan Willis, on Flickr

Wheels off and protected; I don't envisage them being refitted for some time.

DeLorean body-off work by Dan Willis, on Flickr

This amount of clearance isn't necessary as you can see - but safe over sorry. I may be doing this solo (with perhaps my wife's eyes) so the more the better.

DeLorean body-off work by Dan Willis, on Flickr


And... the rears in place. But, nope, not happy with that level of bend. So, mid-chassis jacks go in to add extra support and...

DeLorean body-off work by Dan Willis, on Flickr

Back to bed it goes. I've ordered 100mm x 100mm x 2.4m posts (fencing). What I have is what I'd done some research on and had worked for others. For me, I want FAR more support and nil-bending. Once they go in (and I do the front), the frame will be wheeled out and I start on stripping the frame and removing the engine/gearbox. Then it'll be off to various suppliers/vendors to get the frame refurbished and the engine rebuilt!

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[Rissy]

Superb! Looks a bit vulnerable on those jacks though, and on that wood, as you say.

What was the method to transfer from the tub being supported by jacks at the tub, to using the beam? I see you have a LOT of jacks there! I'm still trying to envision the process of transfer though...?

[Dan Willis]

The two centre trolley jacks will quite happily hold the entire body up by themselves. The tricky bit is getting it to raise evenly, hence the bottle jacks. The process is remarkably simple.

Raise the car by the bottles;
Support the car centrally;
Drop the bottles; add a brick;
Raise the car by the bottles;

Once it's high enough, repeat, but move the bricks out - add the wood. Simple.

The floor has to be flat, the surfaces all steady and even. The tub is light but it's heavier at the front, so raising the car by the centre (by eye or measured) will result in the car lifting rear first (remembering I used axle stands so I was lifting, upping the stands and then lowering).

With two pairs of eyes and enough raising material, it's not that hard, but it's still unnerving. I won't be going any higher than it is now; I may even lower it on to bricks if it has to be in the air for any period of time.

[Rissy]

...you better be careful, "you don't want to be struck by lightning heavy gusty wind" while its up there! 

[Dan Willis]

(31 Aug 2016, 16:16)Rissy Wrote: ...you better be careful, "you don't want to be struck by lightning heavy gusty wind" while its up there! 

No

In all seriousness; there's never even a breeze but it's certainly a consideration!

[Guinney1971]

wowzers, I was actually quite concerned when the MOT tester showed me the chassis on #2292 (it passed, just advisory on it), its a job that is going to need doing on my car sooner rather then later.....

[Rissy]

(02 Sep 2016, 14:42)Guinney1971 Wrote: wowzers, I was actually quite concerned when the MOT tester showed me the chassis on #2292 (it passed, just advisory on it), its a job that is going to need doing on my car sooner rather then later.....

Welcome to what was my world a few years ago, and it gradually got worse and worse until the point came where i myself was SO curious HOW bad it REALLY was, so picked away all the epoxy to reveal THE REAL DEVASTATION of it all!

I got mine fixed this year, and not before time.  Luckily I worked on my front end before it got so bad that it needed outside help.

Just getting my engine cradle dealt with cost me £816.  Which wasn't too bad.


...Still wanna do a chassis of job at some point too though.  But at least now i'm not pushed and pressured to do it out of necessity.

[Dan Willis]

(02 Sep 2016, 14:42)Guinney1971 Wrote: wowzers, I was actually quite concerned when the MOT tester showed me the chassis on #2292 (it passed, just advisory on it), its a job that is going to need doing on my car sooner rather then later.....

With the space you'll have, I'd drop the frame myself (well, I am, so.. um, yeah). I realise mine isn't bad, but I'm intending the car to last another 30 years before this is necessary again. If ever. Might as well start with the life-blood of the car, and the rest is "cosmetic". No frame, no DeLorean.

[Dan Willis]

A quick update; wood inserted; bricks pushed out and the frame is finally free. It may be a few weeks until I actually wheel it out due to holiday and other commitments, but next stages are:

Remove engine and gearbox
Strip frame
Get frame sent away for refurbishment

Whilst the frame is away I'll strip the engine and gearbox and begin work on those, ready for frame refitting and the "reverse of removal"

[Guinney1971]

nice one

[Dan Willis]

Time for an update. The past few weekends I've managed only a couple of hours here and there on the car. The chassis is now out, as is the engine. Here are a couple of pics and vids:






As you can see, having the wheels off, and the chassis on castors makes manipulating the chassis very easy. The engine came out without any fuss, and none of the bolts were seized or problematic. That said, I liberally coated everything in bolt removing oils/sprays.

The engine is currently under the body on a pallet. I needed to order a 'bit' to get the sump nut out and the oil that came out was more like hot chocolate. Removing the accessories and pumps, including the water pump has me thinking the engine may be a very large, and heavy, door stop, but I've yet to have time to remove the heads and investigate further. Here are some pics :

First off; two packs of bricks (40 in total) get the body high enough (with room to spare):
No jack, just bricks by Dan Willis, on Flickr

Body one side, chassis the other - as you can see, you need room! (if you want to be inside and dry):
DeLorean Chassis Removal by Dan Willis, on Flickr

Water pump off, and these are pics of what I was presented. Worth remembering that this is possible 10/15 years of the car sat. So, is it terminal, or just what happens (crystalisation, rot etc). Too early to tell, but not heart warming just yet:
DeLorean Chassis Removal by Dan Willis, on Flickr
DeLorean Chassis Removal by Dan Willis, on Flickr
DeLorean Chassis Removal by Dan Willis, on Flickr

As you can see, the chassis is excellent in most places:
DeLorean Chassis Removal by Dan Willis, on FlickrDeLorean Chassis Removal by Dan Willis, on Flickr
DeLorean Chassis Removal by Dan Willis, on Flickr

More when I get inside the engine!

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[Chris Williams]

You will be amazed what a blasting with a good pressure washer will do to remove a lot of the old anti-freeze, remove all the drain pugs from the block and Y pipe on top of the engine and most will come out via blasting/reverse flushing. You can use caustic soda as well but make sure you blast it clean after!
Chris

[Rissy]

Amazing work! I'm still very impressed with all this. I've heard of people doing this, and even seen pictures, but some how it seems more real when you know it's going on RIGHT NOW.

Interested to know the inside dimensions of your garage. WIDTH, LENGTH, HEIGHT.

I'm currently looking at houses with a hope to buy next year, and garage dimensions are of high interest to me (still with intention to do this separation myself at some point once moved)