This is an account of my experience replacing the original radiator in the DeLorean. I write this so that other DeLorean owners may stumble upon it and save themselves some grief and a little time, assuming that like me you are not a mechanic by profession.
First, it is helpful to have the shop manual and to have read it and make sure that you know where all of the attachment points are located. Secondly, it is very useful to grow a third arm before getting under the car. It would be equally beneficial if your new arm was sufficiently long to get you in the running as a First Round Draft choice for the NBA - say 4 feet long would be good if you have an option. When the manual says “Manoeuvre the radiator assembly sufficiently to gain access to and release nut securing each top support strut to radiator assembly”, this is where you use the extra arm to reach the top of the radiator while keeping the whole assembly balanced.
If you are like me, do not have a car lift installed in your garage and must rely on ramps and floor jacks, then be prepared for significant contortion to reach the top bolts removing and replacing the assembly. Go ahead and remove the top support brackets from the frame as well, since you will need the freedom to wiggle them around a bit during the re-installation. I am getting a little old, to the point where most days I start out with sore body parts and go downhill further as the day progresses, so these gyrations are noticeable the next day when I try to get all of my appendages working together in unison.
I found that before removing the radiator from between the condenser and fan housing that zip-ties were very useful in supporting these pieces and giving me a little extra room to “manoeuvre”, or maneuver if you prefer. I also keep a supply of Ziploc® baggies on hand along with a permanent marker to label them and put the small parts in them, even if I only expect to take a short time to do the job. When I unexpectedly get called away from the project and return to it days later this makes it much easier to get re-started with assembly. Less thinking and more action saves time.
Before starting I made sure that I had all of the new radiator hoses and new clamps on hand because this is a really, really good time to replace them. The old hoses were a bit crisp, although it was the radiator itself that was leaking and started this project in the first place. (Take a look at the photo of the old radiator. The (plastic!) side tank had small fractures running down it.)
My replacement radiator was a little thicker than the original and this caused the radiator air duct to not fit at the top left side when being reinstalled. The plastic contacted the top fitting of the condenser and needed to be cut away slightly. This would have been much easier to do before everything was back in its place. I have included a photograph of this area in case you run into the same difficulty.
Overall, this is a moderately difficult job only because some of the attachments are a little difficult to reach. I also installed a new stainless steel coolant bottle because the original was looking a little too weak for the long haul. It took me the better part of a day to complete by myself and several glasses of wine aided the recuperation and added to the satisfaction of completing a job for which I have had no training whatsoever. Keeping the DeLorean in shape to drive all of the time is very satisfying, and I do drive it as much as possible, rain or shine. This is no garage queen.
This shows the little cut-out that I had to make to reinstall the radiator air duct.
My typical working environment. Not shown are my creeper and the 4x thickness of carpet padding that I use when I need to lay on my back and get some leverage.
The new radiator is thicker, having more cooling capacity, but the extra width caused a bit of an issue during the installation.
As you can see, the original plastic radiator had given its all and was dribbling fluid at every chance.
This a NASA composite photograph of night time Earth.
