Hey Martin, Thanks for the info. I was actually going to email you and ask if you still had the alpine! Oh well... There are 2 ways of getting a back seat into a DeLorean as far as I can see. Either lengthen the wheelbase, which means making a custom longer center section for the frame, and doing lots of fiberglass work, and custom roof and rear quarter stainless panels. I could still move the battery location and electrics to free up a bit of room back there, which would minimise the amount by which the wheelbase would need to be lengthened by. Or, keep the wheelbase, get rid of trailing arm setup, and build a completely custom rear end for the DeLorean chassis, using twin A arms (double wishbones!). I know the leg room is going to be very tight back there, and maybe its too tight, but with the front seats pulled forward, there might be enough room. Anyway, its more for kids than adults... I'm keeping an open mind on both options until I do more reading etc. Maybe the best way to do it would be a combination of the 2 ideas. I don't know much about the Alpines, having never seen one, but would love to see the frame setup at the rear to see if any ideas from it could be used. Do you have any pics of the rear suspension? Thanks, John PS, in Stainless Steel Illusion, there is an illustration from 1975 of a 4 seater DeLorean. It is based on the lengthened wheelbase method, and actually doesn't look bad. I know a longer wheelbase isn't going to help with cornering ability, but this car will be just used for cruising, not racing. --- In dmcnews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, Martin Gutkowski - DMC Ltd <martin@...> wrote: > > > > On a side note, did you (or anyone else on the list) ever consider > > redesigning the rear suspension completely, and eliminating the > > trailing arm setup altogether? I'm planning on making a 4 seater > > DeLorean next year (2 + 2 setup), with a small back seat suitable for > > children or adults who don't mind being a bit squashed. Similar size > > to the Porsche 911 back seat or Renault Alpine... > > > > > > > > > Woah - hold on there for a moment.... The back end of an Alpine GTA is > very (very) different from the DeLorean. Let's start with the fact that > it doesn't have a backbone chassis, it's a steel/fibreglass monocoque > (yes, that's correct, they can't split their frames from their > underbodies without cutting fibreglass), and move onto the fact that the > car is longer to accomodate the rear seats (more of your legs go under > the dash if you get my meaning). I don't think there's enough room in > the rear of a D for a seat of any sort, even without the trailing arms. > Just look how close the rear wheels are to the back of the seats. A GTA > might have the same engine and transmission but it's a totally different > animal at the rear. You should see the gearshift linkage - it's > comically simple compared to the DeLorean. The hybrid wishbone.trailing > arm setup of the DeLorean is a Lotus design from the Elan/Esprit and > does some clever rear wheel steering when under body-roll (a function > that I still think is the reason for the single shear traling arm bolt > setup). It also provides a lightweight but extremely strong tranfter of > thrust and drag (okay, TABs notwithstanding!). It's not there to get in > the way of back seats, it serves a very definite purpose. Without > redesigning the whole chassis, I think you'd be well advised to leave > them alone. > > > > > I'm just starting to research the Alpine at the moment, but it > > appears to have upper and lower A arms (and rear roll bar) instead of > > the upper and lower links and trailing arm setup of the DeLorean. > > > > > > > We had a scrap Renault Alpine GTA V6 Turbo for a while, and sent it on > its way after pulling the engine and gearbox. It's still being parted > out and the rear end was in good shape apart from being shockingly rusty > (when you're used to DeLoreans that are 10 years older!). The suspension > is referred to as double wishbone > > Best Wishes > > Martin To address comments privately to the moderating team, please address: moderators@xxxxxxxxxxx For more info on the list, tech articles, cars for sale see www.dmcnews.com To search the archives or view files, log in at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dmcnews Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dmcnews/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: dmcnews-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/