Project: BTTF Time Machine Build Diary AKA the LONG build… updated Oct 31, 2023

[Utinni]

I started taking the Rowans apart, taking out the un-needed parts. I need to locate and add 2 small microswitches, and replace 2 springs and remove 1 or 2 wires.

I also located an NON-accurate GE turbine for a crazy cheap price and picked it up. This is not the correct model, but I'm going to drill and add the 2nd row of bolts, see if I can file down the 4 side pipe details, fill them in and then do a repaint and eventually resell it to a builder that might not care or wants to upgrade their resin version. I have a very accurate CNC'ed aluminum turbine, plutonium core and lid coming from James Napier (hopefully later this month) that I'll be using on my car. TM builders tend to have a box or 2 full of secondary/non accurate parts as they go, lol

I have another parts update I'll do this weekend!

- Jeff

 

[Utinni]

I started doing the layout of the dash boxes. These boxes still have not been identified what they are, possibly part of an amplifier, there's white and red panel jacks that are next to the fuse holder.

The aluminum shell was made by Brett Aiken, I located 2 of the correct fuse holders, and 2 really close RCA transistors that I'm basing the rest of the measurements off from in CAD and 3D resin printing them. Gary Weaver was able to take detailed pictures of a screen used opened box years ago, so that's what my main ref. for these. I think I have a few things I need to tweak for sizes, but I'm pretty happy so far with it. It's kinda funny that you really won't see a lot of these details when the lid is on, maybe from the side vent openings, but it's something I know is there, and hardcore TM builders will notice it. There's still a BUCNH of details to do on these!

- Jeff

 

[Utinni]

Quick update! Several parts came in this week so I'll do another post on those. But I wanted to test out a cool anodized color spray paint on my capacitors!

The screen used capacitors have a similar anodized looking plastic sleeve over the metal, but I wasn't able to locate 2 in nice enough conditions, so I'm going with ones that have the same measurements. When I cut off the bottoms/tops to empty them out I removed the clear plastic covering. I cleaned up the metal as best I could, but I wanted to leave the Mallory name and info on them.

This is 3 light coats, I'll let them dry for 10 days and I might hit a final coat or go ahead and clear coat them, I'll do a test piece first to make sure the clear coat doesn't effect the blue.

I think they came out awesome! I can't wait to see how the red ones turn out!

My new parts will be posted later this week! I started collecting parts for the inside!!!

- Jeff

 

[Utinni]

2 new parts came in today! One I've been looking forward to for almost a year! An awesome CNC machined turbine for my plutonium chamber!

Part: Blower fan
Area: Inside rear bulkhead behind the passenger seat
Original ID’ed part: Torin dual blower fan, found in old air hockey tables
Materials: Delrin CNC'ed
Type: Replica
Made by: James Napier

Part: Plutonium Chamber/Lid
Area: Rear Deck center.
Original ID’ed part: GE T58 turbine stator, used in Navy helicopters
Materials: Aluminum CNC'd
Type: Replica
Made by: James Napier

I have the correct bolt fittings that I will need to drill and tap, and need to locate the cap heads too.

I have some more parts that came in that I need to upload this week too!

- Jeff

 

[Utinni]

Part: Vent Hoses
Area: Rear Deck center.
Original ID’ed part: Mighty Flow Carburetor Pre-heater Hoses 2" diameter 18". x6 hoses. These are ones have the correct measurements
Materials: Metal
Type: Real

Part: Upper console components ( I'm missing the annunciator lights for the black box, x3 orange round button lights, bolts/zip ties, metal plate and metal hook attachments. The long black terminal strip needs to be cut down.)

Part: Upper Console components
Area: Inside upper console
Original ID’ed part:Kulka Terminal Strip 40TB, Kulka 5 terminals (I need to cut mine down). Vintage twisted spectra strip, rainbow spectra strip.
Materials: Plastic, metal, wire
Type: Real

Part: Upper Console Boxes
Area: Upper Console
Original ID’ed part: LMB Heeger Project Boxes.
x1 #15 12" x 2" x 1 3/4"
x2 #850 Gray 8 1/2" x 2 1/3" x 1 5/8"
x1 #000 2 1/8", 3 1/4" 1 5/8"
x1 #406 3" x 4 2/4" x 2".
The 3 larger metal boxes need to be bent to the correct shape.
Materials: Metal and plastic
Type: Real

Part: Green switches for upper black box
Area: upper console
Original ID’ed part: Green goggle switches
Materials: Pastic
Type: These are close to the originals

Part: Upper Console Light Switches (I'm missing the x3 round orange buttons)
Area: Upper Console
Original ID’ed part: Push Button lite switches
Materials: Plastic
Type: Very close to the originals

Part: Steering Wheel pad light switches
Area: Steering wheel center pad
Original ID’ed part: light up switches, wired to a 9v battery
Materials: plastic
Type: Very close to the original parts

Part: VSR box
Area: Inside on the rear bulkhead behind the drivers seat near the door
Original ID’ed part: ZeroCan custom piece. This is a metal Bread Pan with very similar measurements
Materials: Metal
Type: Metal similar piece.

Part: 12an hose with anodized fittings
Area: one on the rear deck on the drivers side near the "hockey pucks" and one inside on the rear bulkhead next to the Flux capacitor.
Original ID’ed part: Hydra flow 12an hose. (no longer made)
Materials: Metal
Type: This is a very similar piece, the end nuts are not tall enough and the center hose is not correct material.

Part: Heatsink on the Zerocan
Area: Rear deck, sits on the tall Zerocan on the passenger side
Original ID’ed part: 421-K Wakefield-Vette Heatsink.
Materials: Metal
Type: Real

Part: Metal ID tag on the Cross-over tube
Area: Rear deck center on the black Cross-over tube
Original ID’ed part: part of the original Weatherhead Cross overtube
Materials: Metal
Type: Replica made by James Napier

More parts coming in soon!!!
- Jeff

 

[Lt Washburn]

One things for sure, whoever this James Napier is, he's very talented.

 

[Utinni]

One things for sure, whoever this James Napier is, he's very talented.

There's a couple builders working with him on CAD files, some real pieces are laser scanned and then cleaned up a bit and he works with a couple different machine shops to manufacture the parts. He does special group runs of parts on FB Delorean Time Machine Builders Group
Facebook Groups

Here's his online shop:

Shop - DTM Props

www.dtmprops.com

- Jeff

 

[Utinni]

New Parts! The Zero cans! Deep drawn aluminum cans. From what I've heard from other builders, these are usually a pain to get from the company, because of the set-up to make them, they don't really want to do 1-offs. Luckily one of the other builders in the FB group placed a large order and was able to get all the cans but 1, the VSR on the inside bulkhead, I guess the company has a hard time with that one for some reason, but my Breadpan will work for now! I'll post more about where these go when I'm working on them.

- Jeff

 

[Utinni]

I also got in the multi-color wire and black tubing for the inside and outside of the car. The original black cables were Bronco 66 Three Strand Cables, but they're getting tougher to locate, a lot of current builders are using these. This is 3,875 feet of wire and 200 feet of tubing, I won't be using all of it, but we'll see! My next project is to measure and cut all the correct lengths for each section. Luckily the guys that did the A Car restoration measured all the wires and released the information and locations of them!

- Jeff

 

[Utinni]

June update, some small parts have come in and I'm waiting on a couple more in shipping, I'll post those soon, but I wanted to see just where I'm at with my build so far. I took all my rear deck parts and laid them out to see.

The major parts for the rear deck I'm still missing are:
1.) Janitrol heater (possibly 2 types of replicas will be an option - machined aluminum version, or fiberglass copy of a real one, but both of these are still in the works)
2.) 3 green tubes with mounting bracket and metal tubes (James Napier is still reworking his file, but those are most likely to be used)
3.) Gyroscope. (I have a bunch of pictures of this part and seriously think I can hand fabricate this piece, I have the correct Zero Can for it already)
4.) Small Esves vent for deck plate (still looking for an accurate one with correct number of slots)
5.) Mounting plates for Automufflers, Capacitors
6.) Accurate black ribbed hose for plutonium chamber (Custom elbows are on order with James Napier)
7.) Accurate elbow fittings and hoses that wrap around the plutonium chamber
8.) 4 hose Fittings with elbows and hose for inner sides of the vents
9.) Mounting brackets for the side vent hoses
10.) Anodized Elbow fitting with hose to back bulkhead
11.) Custom Deck Plate (This will be purchased from Brett Aiken)
12.) Vents (This will be purchased from Brett Aiken)
13.) Plutonium housing (This will be purchased from Brett Aiken)
I'm sure there's some other small details parts left.

Here's what I currently have:

Rear Deck, roughly placed:

Driver's side

Passengers side

Tomorrow I'll post the inside parts, and all other current parts!

- Jeff

 

[Utinni]

And here's the collection of parts I have so far for the inside of the car! The electronics are the heart of the car, there's an awesome TM builder that makes the full electronics set using correct hardware parts, so that's what I'm saving up for now. And then the duplicate parts I already have, like the time switch parts will be sold or traded. I have the Flux Capacitor light board on it's way now!

- Jeff

 

[Jedifyfe]

Are you going to rent it out to help recoup some costs?

 

[Utinni]

Are you going to rent it out to help recoup some costs?

Oh I'm sure I will, these cars get a lot of action for events and parties.

 

[Utinni]

One of the most expensive piles of C-clamps you'll see... They used specialty high-temp purple colored silicone c-clamps normally for airplanes and military uses, to hold the black cables on the side of the car and in a few other places, over time in the sun they turn to a light blue color. To order the real ones you normally need to order huge batches or have special clearance/industry only. These are custom made to be identical, they're aluminum with a thin golden coating, embossed and engraved letters around the hole and on the purple plastic. There's about 40 needed. This was one of those purchases I've been dragging my heels on... but it had to be done. There's NOTHING cheap on this car....lol

- Jeff

 

[Utinni]

Working on some hard to find parts, the orange caps and yellow wires inside of the Flux Capacitor are old Spark Plug Cables that are long out of production and modern ones don't have the right shape.

Supports added and ready for test printing tomorrow!

- Jeff

 

[Utinni]

Fresh out of the printer, washed, clipped, and cured!

 

[Utinni]

I have a parts update coming in the next couple of days!

Until then, here's some Flux Capacitor parts I just created and printed! These are the Torr Relay bases, 3 are needed. I'm using these as a layout guide and will try making them out of brass.

 

[maton]

Incredibly cool thread! Great work. Enjoying the updates. Thanks for sharing.

 

[coatssnare]

Fresh out of the printer, washed, clipped, and cured! View attachment 1471450
View attachment 1471451
View attachment 1471452

Hi Utinni, would you possibly have 3 more of these for sale? I’m building a 2nd FC and the ones I just ordered on eBay cancelled. Anyway I could buy 3 caps?

 

[Utinni]

I'm not a premium member of this board, so unfortunately I can't sell anything here, sorry.