VIN 12306 'Auryn' : RHD rebuild

[Starglider]

As mentioned in my 'new members' post, this vehicle is currently being rebuilt as a right-hand drive conversion by P J Grady Europe. It is a manual with a grey interior. I have taken the opportunity to replace some parts and generally try to address reliability issues I have seen on this forum and other DMC-12 online material. Here is the current list; I am happy to hear suggestions for anything else I should look at.

Radiator air dam
Two-tone grey seat covers
Low-current radiator fans w/metal cowling
Heavy duty fuse block with light-up (on blow) fuses.
140 Amp alternator
Replacement ground wire
SS coolant bottle w/brackets
Soft lift door/boot/engine bay struts
Clutch air bleeder
High power / low noise fuel pump
Headlight switch saver relay
Braided SS clutch line with clear coating
Braided SS brake lines set with clear coating
Braided SS fuel lines set with clear coating
All bulbs other than headlamps replaced with SMT LED modules from SuperBrightLEDs (followed this guide).
Air intake mesh screen (as suggested by Chris Hawes)
Front tower brace strut
'Wings-A-Loft' Central Locking unit w/ remote door open + engine start + trunk release
Battery cut off switch
SS water pump pulley set
SS engine cover grills w/logo (to be painted dark gloss grey)
SS rear bumper lettering (to be painted dark gloss grey)
SS radiator front rock screen (to be painted dark gloss grey)
SS negative sill logo
SS shifter knob w/pattern
Thin grey dealer side stripe
4x speakers replaced with Eclipse modern equivalents
Stereo replaced with modern car PC

I am also investigating the possibility of fitting the car with a twin-turbo engine based on the Legend pattern. This is a tricky proposition due to cost, reliability and installation difficulty; haven't managed to find a viable supplier yet, but still hopeful that DPI might be able to ship an appropriate engine to the UK. If so will take their recommendation on appropriate radiator, brake and suspension upgrades. Will probably do some trivial electronic stuff post-delivery e.g. subwoofer in cubbyhole, backup camera etc.

[Guinney1971]

wow, sounds an amazing spec your car is going to have, will be great to
see it when its finished.

I would have thought it would be horrendously expensive to ship an engine
from the USA, I can see Customs & Excise rubbing their hands with glee at
the duty they'll charge on it now.....

[Chris Williams]

Certinally a comprehensive list there. Would be great to see pictures of the car as it goes together.

Chris

[Starglider]

Chris Williams Wrote:Would be great to see pictures of the car as it goes together.

Currently it's at a pretty early stage (photos by Chris N.);









Brace strut for the front suspension towers arrived today from DMOCO; package included a neat DMC keyring + auto shifter logo. Since 'Auryn' is a manual I'll stick the logo on the back of the tax disc holder. SMT LED kits, shifter knob and 4 x Eclipse speakers also arrived, stainless parts from Julian at Just Bandits should be on the way.

[Guinney1971]

good stuff, Julian is on here as 'Bandit' so I'm sure he'll be pleased to see his parts
on the car in due course.

Keep us up to date with progress and pics

[Starglider]

After seeing some horror stories about lower control arm failures online I've ordered the strengthened/upgraded control arms from Heninger and Associates. Also (since I'm already paying for the shipping) the door strut stress relief plates and the eyebrow reinforcements.

[stunned_monkey]

There's nothing wrong with the design of the oem lower control arms as long as they don't get too rusty or damaged. The door strut lower brace is only necessary on cars where the lower strut mount was placed too close to the door originally or struts that are too long were used at some point.

[Starglider]

stunned_monkey Wrote:There's nothing wrong with the design of the oem lower control arms as long as they don't get too rusty or damaged.

I agree it doesn't seem worth the hassle of replacing non-corroded original arms, but in this case new parts had to be sourced regardless, so it seemed sensible to go for the stronger ones.

One suggestion I have received but not implemented is galvanising the frame, although I understand it was done successfully on one of the cars you worked on?

[stunned_monkey]

I highly recommend galvanising. I've done it three times and on my most recent one I replaced the chassis with a glavanised one from Ed (indirectly). I send the chassis to Surface Processing to get it chemically stripped, then Medway Galvanising to have it dipped then powder coated. In my opinion, it's the best possible protection short of a fully stainless chassis.

[Rissy]

stunned_monkey Wrote:I highly recommend galvanising. I've done it three times and on my most recent one I replaced the chassis with a glavanised one from Ed (indirectly). I send the chassis to Surface Processing to get it chemically stripped, then Medway Galvanising to have it dipped then powder coated. In my opinion, it's the best possible protection short of a fully stainless chassis.

Oh, if only i had the money... (Looking dreamily upwards and to the left as the imagination runs wild... )

[Starglider]

I am working on sourcing an original Legend engine block as the basis for a twin turbo build. Unfortunately it has major fire damage so even if I can get hold of it it's not clear how much is usable; still, would be nice to have for historical interest.

With regard to galvanising, I asked PJ Grady what they thought and Chris said that he'd seen more than one galvanised frame start rusting soon afterwards. I assume this is a quality control issue, since galvanised bodies work well on cars designed that way (e.g. Audis).

[stunned_monkey]

There is absolutely nothing special about a legend "block". All PRV bottom ends are strong enough to take in excess of 300hp without modification. Assuming you mean a complete engine with heads but without manifold, the only "special" bits you'll be buying are the pistons and camshafts (which can be duplicated with relative ease) and which were only prototypes to begin with, not finished production-ready components (My friend Marc Levy's has quite pronounced piston slap on cold start for example). If you're sticking with K-Jet, there's a whole world of unknowns getting the fuelling and ignition timing correct. I know on Marc's car, the fuelling was never correct and his runs a pair of auxiliary EFI injectors fed from a MAP sensor. Renault switched to EFI for the turbo engines and recent documentation uncovered by the RAOC shows JZD really wanted that engine. It's quite possible Renault were developing the Z7U with him in mind, the letters certainly don't rule this out.

No coating will ever be 100% effective but galvanising gets into the bits that can't be reached any other way. Also there're two elements to a galvanised chassis - firstly as a coating and secondly as a sacrificial anode and this means that even exposed steel will only get surface rust, it won't progress beyond that until the zinc disappears altogether. A purely powdercoated chassis (or epoxy coated for that matter) simply has one less layer of protection. It's also very important to strip the epoxy properly first.

Another thing is that the annealing fluid used as part of the galvanising process is unfortunately a rusty brown colour. you can see some in this photo the day after the chassis was dipped. It's an absolute sod for hiding in the nooks and crannies of the frame! This can seep out over time making it look like there're rust spots.. I remember seeing this on the Explodaview car ages ago (not this chassis).

[andyd]

Hi,

stunned_monkey Wrote:....Renault switched to EFI for the turbo engines and recent documentation uncovered by the RAOC shows JZD really wanted that engine.

Thats interesting, any more info?

a

[Starglider]

stunned_monkey Wrote:There is absolutely nothing special about a legend "block". All PRV bottom ends are strong enough to take in excess of 300hp without modification. Assuming you mean a complete engine with heads but without manifold, the only "special" bits you'll be buying are the pistons and camshafts (which can be duplicated with relative ease) and which were only prototypes to begin with, not finished production-ready components

I'm aware of this; it's really for historical interest only, but then you could say that about the DeLorean as a whole, versus buying a modern sports/touring car.

Quote:Another thing is that the annealing fluid used as part of the galvanising process is unfortunately a rusty brown colour. you can see some in this photo the day after the chassis was dipped. It's an absolute sod for hiding in the nooks and crannies of the frame!

Interesting, didn't know about this (nor did anyone I asked). Are you still recommending Medway Galvanising for this sort of work?

[stunned_monkey]

Starglider Wrote:I'm aware of this; it's really for historical interest only, but then you could say that about the DeLorean as a whole, versus buying a modern sports/touring car.

I guess I mean tthat nobody would be able to identify it as ever having been a "Legend block" because it'll be the same as any other.

Quote:Interesting, didn't know about this (nor did anyone I asked). Are you still recommending Medway Galvanising for this sort of work?

The fluid chemically "ages" the coating in order that the powdercoat can be applied immediately. New galvanising is bright silver. Yes I would still use MedGalv.