Re: [DMCForum] Re: Northstar swap?

[Ryan Wright <ryanpwright@xxxxxxxxx>]

On 12/23/05, Joe OBrien <joeyoseppijoe@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Northstar Swap.....
>
> You also forgot to add you will also need a spare $20,000 to $30,000
> along with incredible fabrication skills to maintain it as well.

Oh, come on. I've heard this number thrown around by several people.
While I may not have all of the details I need, I know enough to tell
you with certainty this number is BS unless you're including the cost
of professional labor. You can do it yourself for less than half that
twenty thousand dollar bill. Hell, I'll bet DMCH would do it for you
if you handed them a DeLorean and twenty grand.

If we were talking about a Fiero, a Northstar swap would be a $4k-$6k
proposition depending on where you got your engine. A DeLorean is not
a Fiero, this is true: A DeLorean has more space in the engine bay.

How would incredible fabrication skills be necessary to maintain this?
To build it, perhaps, but maintenance? It's just a Cadillac engine.
Maintenance of the engine is no different than it would be on a
Cadillac. I maintained a Fiero with a 3800SC for a couple of years. I
bought Fiero parts from Fiero vendors and engine parts from Buick. No
big deal.

> Still sound cheaper than some engine work?

I didn't say it'd be cheaper. I said I'd rather not invest a couple
grand into this old, slow drivetrain. If it takes $3k to fix me up I'd
rather put $5k with it, and I think $8k would more than pull this off
if I did most of the labor myself.

> I'd just fix what you have, it seems overwhelming when things start
> breaking, and more so if several things happen, but fix them one at a
> time, and it will be much easier, AND cheaper.

That's good advice and I may well end up taking it. Still, I'm going
to tread down another road for awhile before making this decision,
just to be different. :)

As for "easier" - Maybe it's just the way I think, but replacing it
all sounds easier to me than fixing what I've got. Note that "easier",
to me, does not mean "less work". A job is easy if I enjoy doing it.
It's hard if I don't. Doesn't matter if the "easy" job requires five
times the money and a hundred extra hours of work, it's still
"easier".

> Once you have it back together working, you'll be glad you didn't hack
> the car up, which with most engine conversions, you do.

There's still a question as to whether this is necessary and if so, to
what extent.

> If you don't feel 100% comfortable, then just pay someone to fix it
> right, and be done with it. Then hopefully you'll be good for a long
> while.

I'm comfortable, I'm just questioning how badly I want to. I like
modern engines with EFI and diagnostic computers and 300+hp much more
than I like this old PRV. Mainly I'm a stubborn ass and I like things
the way I like them. :)

In the end, I've got a DeLorean with 63k miles on it now - the first
40k from '81-'03, and the last 20k in the past 2 years. I'll be
putting at least 10k miles on it every year from now on and I'm not
putting up with finicky old parts anywhere I don't have to. The
visible parts of the car will remain a stunning example of the marque
but everything else - the goodies underneath that make it go - will be
upgraded. I've already taken care of virtually everything but the
drivetrain. Suspension, cooling, and many critical electrical items
are now modern.

The PRV will go. The only questions are, "When?", "How?", and "With what?"

--
- Ryan
http://www.memfrag.com - Store your bookmarks. On every computer.

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