Video

Understood. I’m doing good, but work’s been busy and I haven’t had time to record anything lately. I have plenty of ideas - I just need to get the videos made!

I've heard "saddle", but I'm not entirely sure myself. www.deloreanmuseum.org/gold-deloreans.html calls it "tan".

When I did the lower link arm bolt I used a sledge and mushroomed the bolt. I had a replacement, so I didn’t care too much, other than having to actually get it through the carrier and link arm. I wound up grinding it to a bit of a taper to remove the mushroomed This actually helped with reassembly, as the link arm and carrier were slightly out of alignment, and I couldn’t get the new bolt in. So I tapped the tapered bolt in from the other side to line everything up, since the taper got around the misalignment issue, and then tapped the good bolt in from the correct side, knocking the tapered bolt out of the way fast enough that it entered the link arm before everything could get misaligned again. So it worked out in the end in that case. For the upper link arm, though, I was committed - I couldn’t put back on the nut, so I just had to hope I could get the rest apart!

I really want one of those inductive bolt heaters. I feel like I can’t justify the cost of one, but given how much time I’ve spent trying to get suspension bolts out recently, it’s probably worth it!

They aren't ideal for all situations, but they deliver WAY more calories (joules?) than a (not) MAPP torch. You can kit one from Chinese sub assemblies for WAY less $ than buying a finished one. Your channel name suggests you like "projects"

@jimurrata6785 Your right, I do like projects. :) I’ll check out the kits - thanks!

Or the Past! LoL!

I learned from my farther that the right tools makes half the job itself so you are right.

there are actually 3 more, one was done in 1985... the other two were in the 90's. Home/self plated of course. The 1983 car is the only one with gold interior, it was a prototype (just dyed regular interior), so it makes it truly unique. DMC Huston has a couple other random interior pieces in blue and red, because they were going to actually put different colors in later cars (84, 85 ect)... but the brown interior was the only one with a full set completed.

I thought the three factory cars - the two actually sold and the one built from the spares - all had brown interiors, but I’ve never seen the other two in person. Some quick googling found a picture of a gold car with a black interior exactly like you said. I definitely would have put that in the video if I’d known! I was kind of hyper-focused on this specific car. I did hear about someone gold plating their own car in the ‘80s, but I didn’t know about the two in the ‘90s.

There was another owner who took their car and polished the stainless to an actual mirror... he was told he cant drive it because it blinds the other drivers, its literally a mirror. The story was told in the old DMCFourms DMCTALK... and that story was from the mid 90's.. but i have no other information or pictures. It was fastinating because it was telling stories because there was such a glut of DeLoreans trying to be sold between 83-85 that dealers were painting cars just to make them different enough from the others to sell. Remember, they were 25k (in 1981,82 @@joeangellx

You’d think so, but it’s an unusual size, since the original bracket had something else (probably a threaded insert of some kind). It took less than half an hour to model, print and install this - less time than driving to the auto parts or hardware store and finding out that they didn’t actually have quite what I needed.

@@joeangellx hell yea, i was thinking it took longer but in that case send it.

It does seem like there are a lot of names for this thing. My 3D printed whatever-it's-called is sort of the hack fix, because the original didn't have any kind of clip like this, but rather some kind of threaded insert in the bracket itself. I think. I couldn't be bothered to remove the louvers or the bracket itself to get a better look.

@@joeangellxI am impressed by your remedy to this problem, you really ought to give it its own name. Perhaps, instead of J clip yours should be called a Joeclip.

Those J clips are missing on my car too. If you have the file, could you share it with me so I can print some for my car?

@MasonFowlkesKenneth Seems I forgot to update the description with the link to my site, which has the STL and Fusion369 files: www.tmproductions.com/repairs-and-maintenance-blog/2023/10/31/t-panel-rattle

I don’t think it matters which way they go, but they probably are. I once heard a theory that installing them upside down prolongs the life, but it probably isn’t significant isn’t if at all. I feel that my doors always droop in the cold. I can either have them rise properly In the cold and over-extend In the summers, or open properly In the summer and drop In the cold. I think that’s just how it’ll be with a passive system like this.

Yeah, everyone seems to be saying that. The DeLorean does use some smaller ones (although I didn’t know what they were called before), but I do know that’s not what was originally in this spot. I think it was a threaded insert or something pressed into the bracket, but it wasn’t worth the trouble to take off the louvers to get a better look, or risk taking out the large bolts that hold the bracket to the roof box and possibly breaking something important there. It took me about half an hour to design and print this, which is less than it would have taken me to find out the auto parts store didn’t have one that was big enough. :)

Yeah, that’s basically what I made, although it’s larger than the stamped metal ones used in some other parts of the car, so I’m not sure how readily available they are. I also don’t think that’s what was originally in the car, since the other mounts seem to have some other kind of integrated threading and not just a clip. It took me less than 30 minutes to model, print and install the heat set insert. It would have taken me more time to hit a couple of auto parts stores and find out that they don’t have one in the right size before giving up and just printing one anyway. :)