Modified Deloreans

[MPolzin@xxxx]

Considering I had little else to do on a Friday night I went over to visit
with my mechanic. Just to give everyone a little bit of background, this my
"mechanic" used to build monster trucks, engine, frame, everything. He can
fabricate just about anything, the resources this guy has are just
incredible - he has pulled out the entire engine in my Delorean,
disassembled, rebuilt, replaced, etc... Its the first Delorean he has ever
worked on, but he is fearless and needless to say has some some wonders with
my car so far.

The first thing I asked him about was frames, because obviously it has been
a concern of many people that over the long term they would rust out and
require replacement, and he assured me that he or any good fabrication shop
could put a tube frame back under that car or repair the frame if there was
anything left. He felt a frame could be fabricated at a pretty reasonable
price, much less than the option currently available. Needless to say I was
impressed (and relieved) that he felt it would be a fairly staright forward
thing to do.

This led to my next question for him, which was: What is the most horse
power you think you could jam into one of these things? His suggestion was
to pull the frame out from underneath the car, and put a boxed square frame
underneath which would free up that center area (the middle of the double
Y's) for a drive train. This would allow you to keep the car rear wheel
drive and have a front mounted engine.
For an engine choice he likes Chevys because there are so many options
available, specifically the large block Chevys. I ofcourse asked him how he
would get that size engine in that area in front and his response was
classic, "Well, it might stick out of the hood a little."

I'm wasn't so sure if I would want to have an engine hanging out of the hood
of my Delorean, so we discussed some of the the newer high HP engines now
available with twin turbos or something like that. There seem to be a ton of
options available as far as engines go, and fabricating the drive train
wouldn't be a problem.

Has anyone actually attemped to do such a thing yet? Mounting the engine up
front would certainly do away with the front end issues (lack of steering
because your tires are off the ground) and putting some real HP into a D.
Are there any 500+ HP Deloreans out there? I am seriously considering
undertaking this project, and would be interested in feedback.

Mike
VIN 4761

P.S. Anyone have a D for sale cheap with a rusted out frame and trashed
engine they want to sell cheap? :)