RE: [DML] DMC Houston HiPo engine

["Marc A. Levy" <malevy@xxxx>]

I have never drove or rode in a modified Houston car, so please know
that while considering my opinions.


When this engine was first made available, I asked a number of detailed
questions about what was modified. Best I could put together was:

1. Modified exhaust with dual CAT converters (Based on what I saw when
inspecting the first converted car in Cleveland, it looks like the
old-technology DMC cats were used).

2. Cams were replaced with new timing. (From what I understand based
on my research for performance mods on the PRV, this is a common
modification with mixed results. Cams alone usually do not make a big
difference)

3. The heads are resurfaced in order to increase compression by a
minimal amount. There may be also a port and polish job with this.


My opinions? Again, having never been inside a running Houston modified
car... I thought the exhaust was on the loud side (this was the car in
Cleveland, so there may have been improvements on this since). Watching
the car drive, it did not look all that fast. Based on the
modifications I list above, I find it hard to believe the 200HP number.
My guess would be they are in the 170HP range. Most performance engine
builders I have spoken to find it hard to believe that anyone can get a
extra 75% HP from a engine with just the items I list above.  

I also hear second hand stories that the Houston car was on the track at
a recent DeLorean event (Atlanta?) Where another DeLorean (I think it
may have been Rob's green car) kept up with the Houston car. If this is
true, then it is not a very good advertisement for the Houston
modifications. Rob's green car does have a custom exhaust, but I do not
think there are any other engine modifications.

Maybe someone from Houston can correct my "list of modifications" that
may explain how they achieve 200HP.

Either way, if your not in a rush my advice would be to wait. Houston
is supposed to be working on a "stage 2" and "stage 3" set of
modifications, and I hear there are some other vendors (and individuals)
working on performance modifications. The longer you wait, the more
options you will have. 

-----Original Message-----
From: scott-c-arnold@xxxx [mailto:scott-c-arnold@xxxx]
Sent: Monday, November 19, 2001 11:23 AM
To: dmcnews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [DML] DMC Houston HiPo engine


Has anyone tried out the DMC Houston high-output engine? It is 
supposed to put out about 190 to 200 HP and I am curious about anyone 
who might have opinions on not only the upgraded engines performance, 
but on DMC Houston's service as well. DMC Houston has a HP/torque 
graph for their upgraded engine (which is nice), but it is not all 
that informative since they do not show a stock engine to compare 
against. I e-mailed asking what kind of a wait there is on this 
service, but they did not reply. I might be interested in this 
service down the road a bit, but my engine is in pretty good shape 
and I could probably put together a pretty nice blower setup with the 
same power for the same money (roughly $6500 I believe).

Also, to hit another topic, one of the annoyances of the DeLorean are 
the side windows. Has anyone ever considered modifying the window to 
make the upper half removable, kind of like a T-Top? Just a 
thought...

Thanks,

Scott Arnold