Factory Original Luggage Rack

As I have stated in other areas of this site, the DeLorean suffers from a lack or storage space.  The luggage rack came about because of the demand placed on the company to come up with a method of transporting a rear tire...other than in the front seat.  Instead of announce to the world that the car had a storage "flaw" the company marketed there solution as a "Luggage Rack" even offering a ski attachment.  Here are my experiences with the installation.

Total Installation Time: 3 1/2 hours (including a run to the hardware store and 2 young "helpers")

Click on a picture for a larger image

Here are all of the components that come with the luggage rack.  You get the rack its self. The bottom attachments are removable to make stowing in the trunk a little easier.  There are 4 hinge type things that you have to mount under the louvers to support the rack when it is installed.  Also included are two luggage straps to secure luggage...or a wheel.  I will probably leave these untouched in the storage bag and just stick with bungee cords.  The picture to the right shows the car before the installation of the rack.  Here are a couple of things that you will need to have in order to install the rack: A good drill with a nice sharp 1/4 inch drill bit (I actually went through 3 drill bits trying to get through one of the welds.  You will also need a hammer and a good metal punch.  Without a punch there is no telling where the hole you are trying to drill will end up.  I used a scratch awl and then had to hammer a few times on a Phillips screw driver to get a good "dimple" in the stainless steel where I was to drill.

The first step is to take off the weather stripping that is on both sides of the car (where the louvers rest when closed).  Be careful here, the strips are almost 20 years old and crack easily.  The use of an adhesive remover might be helpful.  Although the directions specify placement of the hinges lining up with rivets, my car had welds instead.  The welds should be at about the same location that the rivets were supposed to be, but test your location before drilling. Place your top two hinges as specified by the instructions and close the louvers. (Make sure that the hinges are pushed as far to the outside of the car as possible).  Place the rack on the bolts and see if it lines up like the the picture on the left. The top bar of the luggage rack should be just above the bottom of the top louver.  Once the hinges are aligned correctly, mark the placement on the stainless steel with a sharpie. Use your metal punch or awl to pound in a dimple at the location to drill.  Drill your first hole, and then replace the hinge to make sure that the hole did not drift at all.  If so, remark your second hole and repeat the drilling process. As shown in the picture to the right, I didn't have room between to get under the louver with the drill so had to remove the louvers....not recommended if you are working alone!  This is not the funniest part of the car to reinstall.  The placement of the top hinges is pretty critical.  If improperly placed, you may not get the luggage rack onto the bolts.  Mine is very close to not fitting!

The hinge attaches through the stainless steel to a small plate with two threaded holes that will hold the hinge in place.  Once you have these hinges installed, close the louvers and put the rack on.  (You have more leeway with the lower hinges since the lower pieces of the rack will slide in and out and rotate). Place the lower arms on the rack and place where they will sit when installed.  I used a vis-à-vis marker to place dots on the fender in the middle of the holes.  This type of marker will just wipe off of the stainless steel.  With my dots on place, I removed the rack and aligned the lower hinges based on where my dots were.  If satisfied, mark your drill points and start drilling.  Again check your hinge after each hole to make sure you are still on track.  Once these hinges are installed, put on your luggage rack, screw on your retaining thingies and admire your work....but you are not done yet!  The weather stripping needs to be trimmed to fit around the hinges and reinstalled. I have heard of people just cutting a notch in the bottom of the rubber, leaving the top part complete...however this would force your to leave the hinges up and visible at all times (even when the rack is not installed).  I cut the bottom piece of the rubber to fit from the lower hinge down, and then cut a slit in the top piece to allow me to lift it when opening or closing the hinge.  Due to it's age, this didn't work.  When I tried to lift the flap, the rubber just snapped of in my hand (put at least it did it right where the hinge started).  Once I had my pieces all cut, including a small triangle shaped piece for the top I reattached them using "Marine Goop" basically because it sounded cool....

With the rack piece done, you can focus your attention to the trunk, where you will probably be storing the rack when not in use.  With the rack comes a bracket to secure the rack.  Take out your trunk carpet and find the are in the picture to the left.  We are going to drill a 1/4 inch hole through the fiber glass between the top two screws.  BE CAREFUL.  there is a tank just under this panel that you probably do not want to drill into.  The picture to the right shows the hole that I drilled.  You then have to take the provided screw and feed it through the hole from the bottom.  With my long skinny fingers, I figured I could do this without removing the panel (WRONG).

I ended up taking most of the screws out and lifting the panel up (breaking the nice factory seal...oh well).  Screw in the bolt and you have a nice....well, screw and bolt sticking up from the floor of the trunk see picture to the left).  Replace your carpet and mark where the bolt hits the underside (I wiggled the carpet around a little to make a mark).  The directions say to "cut a hole in your carpet," screw that...drilling is much more fun.  Take the same 1/4 inch drill bit and make a nice hole from the underside. Replace your carpet and feed the screw through the hole.  You can then add the metal restraining piece and secure it with the wing nut (right).  This is, again, used to lock down the rack when not in use to ensure that it doesn't rattle all over the place.

The picture to the left shows the rack all stowed away and ready for traveling.  When removed the extra pieces fit nicely into the supplied storage bag and I was able to make this fit in with the tool case in the front storage compartment of the trunk.  To the right is one of my helpers (and part of the reason the install took me so long...along with a trip to get more drill bits).  I was at a co-workers house and his sons (ages 3 and 5) had never seen a DeLorean before.  My doors sure got their stress testing that day...The drivers side door was opened and closed about 500 times....but I can understand the appeal!

NEW Click here to see the directions that came with the luggage rack (in all their glory)