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Blimey, has it really been over 2yrs since I updated this thread?   Shock

Well, a lot has changed here.  The garage got finished (6 car capacity), and the new mancave was built on the 
back of it.

After seeing the amount of work that Marek has had to do on his car for the L7X conversion, we decided not to 
go that route, and a few months ago sold the donor Peugeot 406 to a friend who is building a Citroen Xantia Activa 
and wanted the engine and gearbox for it.

Back end of last year, we'd even started toying with the idea of an electric conversion on the DeLorean, and got 
chatting to a guy at the NEC about Jaguar iPace motors.  However, having looked into it further, we soon realised
we'd be looking at a cost of between £10k-£20k, which is considerably more then we have available to spend on the car.

My beloved old 1989 Cavalier is finally going off for her bodywork resto on 1st August, so this will leave space in the garage
to start stripping the DeLorean down and see what we are dealing with.  As the car is nose-in at the moment, we need to 
pull her out, was all the dust and crap off, then get her back in with her engine bay at the entrance to the mancave, 
so that we can pull the engine out and put it on a pallet.  We can then see how bad the chassis rot in the rear box section
is and work out if its something we can fix ourselves, or something that needs to be done by a specialist.

We've quite a list of work to do, and much as I'm not a massive fan of automatic DeLorean's, my worsening arthritis means
that I simply wont have the physical strength to operate the clutch on a manual DeLorean in the future.  This means that
one of the jobs will be fitting an automatic gearbox to the car.  However, as many of you will know, an automatic gearbox
will not drop into a manual frame, so that will mean modifying the chassis somehow.  We are also once again looking at
engine options, anything from a 2.9 V6 from an Espace to an Alpine A610 engine - however both will need ECU, looms, etc
and its scarily expensive once you start looking into it.

I've had the usual 'put an LS V8 in it' comments.  No thank you.  I don't intend to butcher the car more then necessary, plus
the adaptor plate for the LS is over £2000, and that's on top of £10,000 for an LS motor and all the other costs.

Another upgrade we will be looking at is power steering, and finding a compact electronic PAS system that will fit in the limited
space available.

So, hopefully in a few weeks I'll be able to update this thread a bit further once we've got her in position in the garage and start
the strip down.

All being well, Flopsy will ride again in time for her 40th Birthday in July 2021.
Good luck Claire, I think the only chassis differences are the mounting plate for the sector mechanism. I know the auto box has only a few mill clearance ...as you pull it out...i've done that Job!
Ah that's interesting Chris, so not a total no-no, just a bit of adjusting needed to get it in.

I've dropped you an email btw.
Great News that Flopsy will ride again...

Is the block absolutely irreparable?
How about cold welding the block rot if it isn't too severe?


It would be nice to keep her original.

Stu
Thing is Stu, the engine in Flopsy isnt the original one (it was changed in 1990), and its always been a dog, so I'm happy to bin it.
Phill has been spending months looking into engine options, with the obvious problem of the engine/gearbox/driveshaft layouts.
Our thought is now to buy a complete Renault Espace Mk2 V6 Automatic - hens teeth here, but plenty in Europe - and use that as
a donor - any left over bits from the Espace will be useful for my own Mk2 Espace (2.1TD), and we can scrap the rest.

My Cavalier went off to the bodyshop on Saturday, so yesterday (as anyone who follows me on Facebook will have seen), we dragged
Flopsy out of the garage with our Cavalier TD, turned her round, washed 4yrs of crap off of her, then towed her backwards into the garage.

We are making space to do the frame separation, and will make a start on this in a few weeks once Phill has finished sorting out his man cave
and we've got space to put the various parts we'll need to store during the strip down.

So hopefully, in early September, pretty much 4yrs to the day since the engine shat itself, work will commence!
ok, another change of plan............. jeez nothing is simple....... so the Espace 2.9 V6 didn't use the 4141 automatic, so that means
its a no-go for a donor car.
I got chatting to a petrol head mate of mine and was talking about making my car automatic as osteoarthritis and a heavy clutch aren't
really compatible, and he suggested servo assistance on the clutch and sent me a link to a company who do a kit for about £160.00
This means I can keep the car manual, so less dicking about, and will 'hopefully' give me a wider range of engine options again.
I did go back to the Ebay listing for a rebuilt Alpine A610 engine, but that has now sold, but I'll keep looking and hopefully find something
suitable soon.
Hopefully once the final few mancave jobs are done, the space will be there for the body to be separated from the chassis for the first time
in 39 years and work can start in earnest.
What happened to turning Flopsy into an electricery car?
the lack of £30k to do the job properly.
Okay, to quote Borat we have "great sucess!"

We have a friend who is really into Land Rover's and when we popped round one day, he had 
on an engine stand a 3.5 V8 from an ex military 'Snatch' Land Rover which he was sorting to 
go in his LR 110 (its got a diesel engine in, and Bob is a proper petrol head).

We were amazed how compact the Rover V8 is and after lots of measuring, we deduced this could
be a goer.

A few weeks ago we pulled the dead PRV out of 'Flopsy', and that gave us the opportunity to properly
measure the distance between the bellhousing and the back of the engine bay to see what will fit.

It was suddenly looking a very tight squeeze.  "But the Amercans are fitting LS engines in De's, and they 
are bigger, so how does that work?"  Turns out, they more often then not move the (manual) gearbox
forward up to 4 inches which obviously means the driveshafts are at more of an angle then standard.  However
we then compared Flopsy to Sorbet, who is Automatic, and the driveshafts are more angled on the auto.  As
we only need about an extra 2 inches to make the V8 fit, then this wont be a problem.

It was now time to start hunting bits.  Now as we're still using my original UN1 gearbox, we either needed 
an adaptor plate for the UN1-RV8, or a new bellhousing.  Phill being proactive as ever, was on Facebook 
joining some Rover V8 groups, and just prior to Lockdown 2.0 we found a guy just north of York who had
a bellhousing for sale.  Deal done, and off we went first thing one morning to fetch it.  This guy is a total
petrolhead, and he showed us one of his builds - a 2005 VW T5 taxi, with the back floor cut out and a Rover 
V8 in the back (with supercharger) and mated to a UN1 that he modifies to a 2 speed transmission for drag
racing.  This thing sounded epic.  This bellhousing means we dont need to fit an adaptor plate, which therefore
means we dont have to get a new input shaft made (and fitted), saving us around £400.  Now to find an 
engine.

After chatting to Bob, the decision was made to go for the 3.9 used in early Discoveries and Range Rover Classic.
Whilst a donor car would have been a more sensible option, we simply dont have the space to have a 2 tonne
off roader on the drive whilst we cannibalise it, and Bob has plenty of V8 bits, so a standalone engine was
decided on.  After searching eBay and Facebook Marketplace, a 3.9 turned up in Co Durham, as £400 or offers (plus
£60 shipping).  An offer was made, and thankfully accepted, so hopefully in the next few days Palletways will be
here with an all aluminium 3.9 V8 engine with Flopsy's name on it.

Obviously we will strip the engine down and inspect everything, and Bob said he will advise us on the best parts
if any rebuild is required.  At the moment, we are undecided on whether to keep the EFi set up or go for something
like a Holley carb set up.  We'll see.  We also need a manual flywheel and a few other bits off a 'saloon' V8 (like a 
P6 or SD1).

Before we can fit the new engine, we need to get the body off the frame, so thats the next big job.  The frame has 
areas of rust that need attending to, then it will be cleaned up and painted.  I'm thinking of going gloss black  on the 
frame rather then the standard light grey.

If anyone is considering a Rover V8 swap, we have a 'time window' now to get the bellhousing we have here copied,
so if you think you might want one, then please drop me a PM and we'll find out how much it will cost to get one/some
made.

Will update this thread when we have more news.
Good show, sounds like a positive step forward and you seem to be well aware of what's still to come, so that's good. Hopefully we'll see Flopsy strutting her stuff on the black highways and byways of the UK roads again soon.

Let me know if you want a hand with the body separation when you want to do it.....lock down permitting of course.
Fantastic project guys and it seems like you have hit upon an ideal engine choice. Readily available bits too, I use Rimmers for all my new Rover bits but I guess lots of LR places will supply V8 bits too. Love the sound of the Rover V8 too.

Sent from my moto g(7) power using Tapatalk
Thanks Rissy & Rich, and thanks for the input on Facebook/WhatsApp too.

Phill is undoing bolts and stuff under the front end for the frame sep, unfortunately I'm out of action to a certain
extent as I burnt my hand quite badly the other week and I'm still using dressings whilst the burns heal.

An engine stand has been purchased, and we are just waiting for a compression tester and we'll also get a leak
down tester to check the new engine prior to stripping it down.  

I'll try and attach a few pics.

sorry for pics being so huge, I dont know how to make them fit in the page
UPDATE:

This morning purchased a Rover SD1 V8 flywheel from a well known dealer in RV8 parts for £150 - better
then £402 for a new one! It'll be here tomorrow.

We can sell the automatic flywheel off the engine I bought to recoup some costs.

Phill is going to carry on sorting out disconnecting stuff to do the frame sep until the compression tester arrives.
Found the list...[attachment=916][attachment=917]

Sent from my moto g(7) power using Tapatalk
Cheers for that Rich, Phill will print it off and work through it.

Flywheel arrived today, blimey its a stout bit of kit and in very good condition too.
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