Trip to PJ Grady for Work

Well, following the repair of the frame the car was booked in for a few bits down with Chris N at PJ Grady. Remember that damaged and bent spoiler, cracked radiator cover and cracked battery cover? Well my marine insurers agreed to pay for these to be replaced by PJ Grady, so while the car was down there I decided to make the most of Chris and his skills and get a few other jobs done. So, here's the list of repairs:

• Repair and replace of spoiler, radiator cover and battery cover.
• Sort out that transmission leak by removing the transmission, replacing the clutch disk, press plate, throw bearing while in there and replace the final rear seal.
• Replace trailing arm bolts. The originals can become bent with the extreme forces placed on them by the rear wheels. You don't want these snapping on you at speed! Much easier to do while the transmission is out.
• See if he can sort out those gears (more of this later).
• Replace steering tie rod ends and steering gators.
• Change all the shocks to SPAXs - much better handling, ride and general all round feel.
• Change the springs from the originals (looking a bit knackered now) for lower springs at the front and new at the back. Result:- much better stance, with a lower front end. Makes the D look far more sporty, and is more in keeping with the original design.
• Remove a couple of dents from the bodywork, plus a scratch on the hood.
• Remove the after-market cruise control and return the car to stock.
• Replace the door struts with new ones. See if this helps the doors have more life and "rise" all the way.

Quite a bit of work, but in true DeLorean legend form Chris managed to do everything in one week. Absolutely amazing! The car feels, well, like a new car. When I turned up last weekend to collect her from his workshop I was blown away by the effect of the lowering front springs. The car looks great! Definitely worth every penny.

Talking of pennies, the cost of parts came in at about £1000. Ouch! Not cheap, and more than I was expecting. But, it will be worth it to know all that work has been done. I was banking on doing this stuff over the next few months, but with the expert hands of Chris N on offer it seemed silly not to take advantage. I don't regret it, but its beans for a while......

Oh, and as for those gears, see the next post...