Units 20-21 White Road
Charfleets Industrial Estate
Canvey Island
Essex
SS8 OPQ
Tel: 07731 545857
On this page we show you some of the work that goes into a Right Hand Drive Delorean. The process can take a long time depending on the car. Most owners looking at this type of project are focused on the steering rack alone, that being one of the easiest parts to make. Everything depends on the donor car which is key, and will have the biggest effect on how long the car takes to build.
These images are from various Deloreans which we have converted. This is not intended to be a full guild, more of a basic run down for a conversion.
The first step is to strip the car down to the under body. From here the first step is to mirror everything. The first stage is the wiper holes, then ventilation, following onto the pedal box area, and heater matrix. Then it’s a case of repairing all the old holes and gaps throughout the front end of the car. Note also that Woller Hodec cars have a whole front cut out section that bolts into place. We copied that design and improved on it.
As you can see in the above picture, the wipers have been reversed along with the main air supply to the cabin. The wiper motor itself has already been fully reversed. The trick with that unit is to remember to get the delay wipe set correctly while out of the car. Nothing is worse than taking things apart twice.
In the first picture you can see a finished RHD pedal box which we have made. The Second shows a LHD pedal box which we also made for comparison. The third picture shows the RHD box fitted. Fitting this part of the project is key to many things. The reversed wipers can hit on the pedal box if not enough thought has gone into its placement, and also if the Pedal box is not quite in the right place, the brake booster may not be able to fit on the opposite side of the bulkhead.
Our designs are basically woller Hodec which we have copied and improved over the years. Each car we have built have variances or improvements over the last. But all are basically the same. It should be noted that fibreglass material has been removed from behind the pedal box so a flush fit can be made. Also note the hood trunk release that is fully mirrored. Our previous designs called for the hood latch itself to be reversed, however we keep that stock, and go for a longer cable to adjust for length of travel. another important point is that the main wiring harness now runs down the right side of the car rather than the left side, our logic is to modify the body not the wiring, with that both door harnesses are removed and swapped around, this means you can then use the mirror switch like on a LHD car.
After fabrication of the dash, its best to check for alignment of the binnacle to steering column, to pedal box, we are some of the way through the conversion now. Wiring can be added, but the next important step is to reverse and fit the ventilation area, and heater matrix.
This is a fairly complex piece to get right. As any Delorean restorer knows working on a normal stock unit is not exactly fun. Many parts need to be reversed, like vacuum cambers, blower motor, etc. The actual core casing was always designed to be reversed, but all the parts to it are not.
Before the heater core can be installed let alone the wiper motors or pedal box, the stock LHD ventilation corner section needs removing from the right hand side.
Again this piece has to be fully mirrored to the left hand side, and checked for fitment; this is an area that can leak water into the car easily if not worked on correctly.
Extra use of sealant is used just like on a stock car. We have a mould for all our RHD parts, they are refined with time. Like anything the more time you spend on preparation the better the results.
In these images you can see the heater core installed and waiting for its final part, the centre console air blower unit. In the top image to the right this one was made for RHD that required its stereo head unit installed at the top, and the vents below. In the other picture you can see one of our mock up units which is more 'correct' for the RHD's
There are many other jobs not shown here. The hand brake, the hand brake cables and body tub modifications for them, along with carpet holes that need repairing, from swapping the handbrake to the RH side, knee pads, and a lot of smaller parts. All of which we have moulds for. Certainly not something you can buy on the shelf, as we learned a long time ago.
In the picture opposite you can see a clear view of the brake booster/master, along with steering rack, and brake lines that have all been modified to accommodate RHD.
On the front bulk head, we use a plate to mirror the pedal box so strength is improved due to the pressures of the pedal box, and this also covers water traps and gives a cleaner look to anyone working on the car in the future. It’s always our intention that the car should look stock.
Other parts that need modifying is the grill that goes beneath the wiper arms, (there is a creative way of obtaining a stock look, which means buying two units and cutting them down). Also another part that needs modifying is the wiper arms. It is a small part, but very time consuming, as with stock, the arms point to the right, with a RHD conversion, they need to point to the left.
