- 7:05 PM, Tuesday,
December 13th, 2016:
-
- Man is this nuts.
I've spent 3 days going back and forth and today I've
finally decided: the Delorean Time Machine is going to
be gutted completely. New engine, new transmission,
new everthing. What the fuck brought this
about?
-
- So I can look back
now and see that this was an issue for probably 12-18
months. The governor that tells my automatic
transmission when to change gears was malfunctioning.
Being as busy as I've been, as long as it GOT me to my
gig, I had to just let that shit go. Yes, sometimes it
would start in what felt like 3rd gear and then jump
down to 2nd and back up to 3rd... it was bizarre but
I had no idea what was wrong because I couldn't
afford the downtime to have it in a shop for a week or
two. The past couple months has been very clear that
it's just not kicking into gear correctly. I was going
to have to deal with this. Of course a week of a bunch
of gigs and I find myself trying to get to a wedding
and having to
LITERALLY BE PUSHED through
intersections by good samaritans to get through
Hollywood and get to the gig. I made it... but had to
AAA it directly to the shop. All they could do was put
some transmission fluid in it, but nothing changed.
The transmission was pretty fucked.
-
- My neighbor gave
it some life by flushing it a couple times and
replacing the solenoids. $800 but later found out that
wasn't the issue at all - it was the governor, but we
were too late for that. The damage to the transmission
was done. He at LEAST got it to run for one more week
as I had $1200 in gigs to pull off. Didn't let anyone
down. One of the gigs was while Kenny and my dad were
here which got us talking. Kenny is a fabricator back
in Ohio. Builds cars... just what he does.
I remember the kid hooking a lawn mower engine up
to some wheels and making a car. Like, what the fuck.
It was always in him and now he makes quite a living
doing it.
-
- Long story short -
he was pretty certain he could swap the engine and
transmission and make that car haul ass. I was still
under the impression that a new governor ($400) would
solve it so we held off on the discussion... then came
my final gig on 12/10 that ended all discussion. I
could hear the gears grinding metal on metal...
I couldn't get over 25 mph no matter what
I did (going up the 405 was REALLLLLLLLY fun) and
I called him from the car and said, we need to
seriously look into this. The reason this is even
feasible is because a Delorean Transmission? Is
SIX THOUSAND DOLLARS. Just the part. You
have to remove the engine to replace this part. Why?
Because FUCKING DELOREAN that's why. So labor and
tax brings us to $10,000 just to have a shitty fucking
135hp Delorean. Dear Jesus.
It's something anyone who has followed this Journey
understands about me: when I'm hit with a massive
negative, I always double down and make it positive.
If I'm already $10k in, why not take a leap and put a
little bit more towards a real fucking engine? Real
cooling. A Real transmission. A car that can haul ass?
A car that is reliable? A car that you can get parts
for that aren't 10fuckingtimes more than normal?
Enter, the video:
-
-
- Now, there are
some conflicting reports on "fastest Delorean" as a
guy that said he had a 500hp engine was shown to be
full of shit once they drove it. But, we're going to
make the claim, make it happen and get some press in
the process. Oh, and ours is a fucking
TIME MACHINE. Even more worthy of press. There is
of course a concern...
-
- ...working with
family. Whew. I actually had to just call my dad
and ask him to be straight with me. He knows Kenny
more than I do - he was 9 when I left. Can he do this?
Are we gonna run into a situation where we take my
entire car apart and then he can't make it work and
I'm fucking screwed? He said what is true about
myself, him and also Kenny: when we put our minds to
something - we make it work. If it doesn't? We don't
sleep until it does. It's just one of those midwestern
traits: you work harder than anyone on the planet and
make, it, happen. This still isn't without
reservation. This is a pretty big leap of faith when
we're in an area that I don't know... but the truth
is? I'm gonna know it now. I will study every
fucking aspect I can. I will be an expert on what
we're doing and annoy Kenny every step of the way. I
will be working alongside him as much as I can
(flying him out here once we get all the parts to get
it done). We will make this happen...
-
- ...but I am
nervous. It's kind of how I felt nearly 3 years
ago when I started this entire business. But in the
long run? This should save me a ton of money and give
me a car that's as reliable as possible for the next
decade+. Having to rely on Delorean has been the most
stressful part of my job. Knowing this car will be
able to drive a couple hundred mile trips without
blinking an eye will be pretty peaceful. Every single
time I turn that key the past 3 years I've been
nervous. So... fuck that. Time to soup this bitch up
and go rip roaring into 2017.
-
- Whew. Here we
go...
-
- Adam
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