Painting DeLorean Louvres

Five years ago, I repainted the 'fake vents' on the DeLorean.  I had to look that up, did not realise it had been half a decade since I did this.  Well, it was time to do the same with the louvres.

Grey louvres and swirl mark

One day, I noticed that there was a blemish on one of the louvre panels.  I am not sure if I did this. Looking at the image above, if you can image, it looked like someone (possibly me) used something abrasive to clean what was resting on the panel.  There are swirl marks.  Something must have really been stuck on there to use an abrasive to remove the foreign substance.

Also, you can see that my louvres were fading and getting that old UV-ed grey look.  Similar to the side vents from a few years ago.

Oh, I should mention that there is a correct way of repainting your louvres, which involves removing them from the car, getting the correct paint, and properly spraying the paint in a paint booth with a spray gun.

But, this is me we are talking about. I am only concerned with the exposed surfaces.  I will be using SEM Trim Black...from a can.  And, I will be spraying it in my garage...of course, with the door open (most of the time).

Taping and masking

First step is to tape the areas not to be painted.  I installed a third brake lights, or CHiMSaL (Center High Mounted Safety Light), just under the top panel, a while back, those need to be masked off.  The hardware for the lid also needs to be free of paint.  You can see the green tape used to mask off those areas.  In addition, I covered the back half of the car in case of overspray.

Since I am only repainting the 'outside' surfaces and not removing the louvres, I needed to mask off the underside of it.  Basically, providing a backing for in between the panels.  You can see the brown paper through the 'holes'.  There is also backing on the bottom panel, under the vents.

The taping and masking process took over an hour.

First pass

This is a big area to rattle can, which means multiple coats are required.  One of the issues I had while spraying was the occasional spatter from the nozzle.  Sometimes, there are spots that are splotchy.  Multiple coats help blend these blemishes.

Multiple passes

I spent a lot of time chasing these blemishes.  Luckily, I am going for the textured look as that was what the original finish was.  If I wanted the gloss look, a spray can is not the way to go.  After multiple coats and two cans of paint, I was at a place where I was happy.  Well...more like I was at a place where it was good enough and I did not want to spray anymore.

Freshly painted louvres

The best part and easiest past was removing the tape and masking.  Although it did take about 15-20 minutes to get all the little pieces of tape, and gathering up all the paper.  Total job can be done in a weekend.  But you know me...this took me about a week since I had to get another can of paint to touch up the splotchy areas.  At the end, it looks much better...like a new 36 year old car.  I am happy with the results.

Patching That Hole in the Tub

Missing chunk of fiberglass

Remember that hole and crack I found while installing the Shock Tower Brace?  Seriously, it was last week, just scroll down to previous post.  Anyway, it looks a small child bit a piece off of my tub.  This hole explains why that last screw was not screwing into anything.  I have no idea how long it has been like this, the break looks old.  Time to fix this, even though no one will really see it.

First step is to sand and clean the area.  I used 80 grit sandpaper to give the fiberglass some bite, making sure I got both sides roughed up.

Mesh gives it some backing

I got a sheet of self adhesive mesh to provide backing for the Bondo.  This is great stuff, the mesh holds it shape and it stays in place.   Genius!

Bondo with fiberglass strands

My buddy Jun...yes, that Jun...hooked me up with some Bondo Glass.  It is Bondo with fiberglass strands mixed in.  Perfect for fiberglass repair.  If the fumes do not get to you, the fiberglass should.  You can see that the mesh is in place and ready for the Bondo Glass

Spreading the Bondo Glass

Working with Bondo Glass is quite different from regular Bondo.  The strands of fiberglass make it a challenge just to scoop on to your mixing pallet.  It is a lot like trying to scoop wet noodles with a spoon, most of it gets pulled back into the container.  I mixed a few batches to make sure I do not waste too much of Jun's supply.  Multiple batches also helps with work time as it sets up pretty fast.

I made a small batch to spread on the underside, where the mesh is exposed.  This should help 'lock' down the mesh should the adhesive fail over time.  After a 15-20 minute wait for curing, it is time to sand.

Sanding, sanding, and some more sanding

Pro tip from Jun:  Wet sand the Bondo so the just does not get air born.

Good tip.  I wet sanded the Bondo, working my way from 80 grit, 120 grit, and 320 grit.  This step took a while.  Luckily, I had my laptop in the trunk, just above these images, and I was streaming Netflix while working on this project.

Looks like an orca

I spent about half an hour sanding it down.  A better way to do it would be to shape the Bondo before it totally hardens.  Who says I do things the right way or the easy way?  Still needs a little more sanding before I can paint.

Good old SEM Trim Black

I masked off  and covered some areas and sprayed away.  A few light coats of SEM Trim Black finishes the job. 

Oh wait, I need drill a hole for that final screw.  Since I do not have the threaded insert, the lazy thing to do is to attach a corresponding nut to the hole.  I used some JB Weld to 'weld' a nut on the underside of the repaired hole. There is not much stress in this area.  Heck, for years, there was nothing for the screw to screw into.  So, a glued nut works fine...until it fails.

The access plate goes back in with all the screws holding down the plate.  The shock tower brace goes back on, and we are done.

Total project time was about two hours.  This includes mixing and curing time for the filling compounds.  Oh, and a lot of sanding.

DeLorean Louvre Reinforment Strips

One of the unique features of the DeLorean is the louvres. While there are a handful of cars that have this sunshade, usually covering a rear window, the one the DeLorean acts as one of two engine covers.  The prototype DeLorean did not have any louvres, the rear is left open.  Some argue that it was added for better aerodynamics and aids in drawing heat away from the engine compartment. While others argue that the addition of the louvre was for pure aesthetics.

Because of its original design, with a thinner center rib, it had a tendency to break.  Later designs incorporated a thicker center rib and cross piece to help strengthen the area in hopes to prevent breakage.  Still, if you have weak struts holding up your louvre, it can slam down, causing it to break.  Or, if you have really strong struts, you can put too much torque on it when closing, and snap the center support.  Yeah, it is just one of those things you live with as a DeLorean owner.  Luck of the draw.

I stumbled upon some stainless steel louvre strips that I wanted to try.  Note that DMC offers a different designed Louvre Brace.  Both are designed to stiffen up the center rib and both are around the same price.  The DMC Louvre Brace requires longer struts so the louvre can be opened up more to hook the engine cover on the notch.  This way, you do not need to use the stock brace to hold up the engine cover.  Installation of either brace system should be similar.

DeLorean Stainless Steel Louvre Reinforcement Strips

The kit comes with two laser cut stainless steel strips and stainless nuts and bolts.

Dry fitting the reinforcement strips

These are precision cut to fit.  Since there are two (thin and thick) louver designs, there are two precision cut designs to fit the louvre you may have. Be sure to specify with seller when if you decide to order.  The DMC Louvre Brace is universal.

This is a great time to say this, follow the instructions when installing these strips.  While I did read through the instructions several times, the stupid voice in my head decided to do this a different way.  So what could have been a forty five minute (tops) exercise, turned out to be a two and a half hour workout.  Now, back to your regularly scheduled program to see where I went wrong.

Marking holes

I marked where the holes would do so I can drill them out later.

Spraying strips with SEM Trim Black

I thought about leaving the stainless steel finish, but I wanted the strips to blend in better.  There is an option to have a brushed finished, to match the body panels, at an additional cost.  Since mine were not brushed, I decided to spray them with good old SEM Trim Black. 

Dremel with attachment

One of the reasons I did not follow directs was I did not want to remove the louvre to do this.  Another reason, I did not have a drill that was small enough to fit into such a tight spot.  Luckily, I had a Dremel with flexible shaft attachment.

Drilling out the holes

Event with the attachment, you can see there is barely enough room to maneuver.  I was also limited to the size of the bit, so there was a lot of hand finishing with files.

Look at all that debris

Needless to say that marking the holes can lead to slight misalignment with the holes in the strips. 

Pre-installation of reinforcement strips

One of the obstacles is, you need to line up both holes of the reinforcement strip, along with the hole in the central brace...and you need to do this with all eight holes.  Even if I followed the directions word for word, there is a very good chance that all twenty four holes will not line up.

The laser cut holes in the strips leave little room for error.  If you drilled the holes at a slight angle, it would not meet on the other side.  Obviously, my holes were not at right angles, even with using the attachment.  Good luck getting right angled holes using a standard girthy drill.  To correct the misalignment, I had to dry fit each bolt with both strips in place and re-mark each hole. Then file away at the like I am breaking out of prison.  Luckily, the louvre is made of fiberglass and not steel.

Finished installation of the reinforcement strips

The bolts that come with the kit are a little long and can bottom out on the dome nuts.  These were provided since there are variable thicknesses in the center brace, even on the later wider versions.  To solve this, the instructions suggest cutting the bolts.  I have a tap and die set for such and occasion, but I realised that adding two washers is way easier than trimming and re-cutting the thread in eight bolts.  Last thing I need is to mess up these nice bolts...and I am already going into overtime on this as it is.

Close up of painted strips and exposed nuts and bolts.

The DMC Louvre Brace is one sided, so it would be a lot easier to install.  Although, you would need to factor in the time to swap out longer struts.  Knowing me, it would have taking me about three hours to do, also.

After installation, there is a noticeable difference in stiffness in the louvre.  I noticed that there was always a little flexing and torquing when closing a stock louvre.  With the strips, there is still a little of this flex and torque, but way better than without the strips.  It also seemed to fix the misalignment of the louvre as used to sit a little to the left and I would have to guide it down and to the right.  Now, it can just close straight down without rubbing the sides.

Final review, one less thing to worry about, totally worth it.

Painting Rear Quarter Panel Louvres

Wow, two DeLorean 'projects' in less than a week.

Ever since I got my DeLorean, my Quarter Panel Louvres, or 'fake vents', needed to be touched up.  While the rest of the car is in fairly good condition, especially for a thirty year old car, these louvres were faded.  A few decades of direct sunlight took all the 'bright' black out. Perhaps, everything else got updated and the louvres were never touched up.

As black as Spinal Tap's Smell the Glove

So, for the past two and half years I put this off.  Actually, more like six and half months.  For Christmas, I got a can of SEM Trim Black (39143).  Who gives someone a can of paint for a gift?  Well, I kinda asked a friend to pick a can up for me and he decided just to gift it for me for the holidays.  So, the can has been sitting in the garage since December.  Weather and laziness kept me from painting the louvres...mostly laziness.  Today was the day I finally get around to it.

Masking the louvres

Argh!  I forgot to take before pictures.  Well, you can kinda see that my vents are a little faded in tht photo, like Pantone Gray 11...not black.  First thing to do is to mask the area, I had already cleaned it.  Normally, one would extract a piece before painting.  But, this piece is near impossible to remove without breaking the mounts.  That would leave me 'stuck' with gluing or double sticking the louvre back on.  Also, you know how I am with turning five minute jobs into two hour jobs...I am not going to take off the rear quarter panels just to paint some fake vents. 

This could get messy

Once I got the area taped off, I blocked off a bigger area to avoid over spray.  Junk mail actually came in handy for once.  Time to get the the can of spray ready...shake, rattle, and roll...like The Honky Tonk Man.

Not as messy as I thought

Spraying is pretty straight forward...and back, and from the sides, making sure I get everything.  I sprayed two coats as recommended in the instructions.  Yeah, I actually read the instructions.  It goes on pretty and drys fast, waiting about five minutes between coats.

Unmasked

I waited about thirty minutes before I removed the tape.  Oh, how exciting.  Finally, I have nice black louvres.  I just need to wait 48 hours for the paint to cure and we are good to go.  It took me longer to type this post than it did to tape up and paint the fake vents.