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The most famous car in cinema history is powered by the PRV V6: a rear-mounted 2,849 cc of 130 bhp, code ZMJ-159 — K-Jetronic mechanical injection with Lambda control for the American market, 12 valves, first-generation non-offset crankshaft. This page tells the DeLorean's story from the engine side.
DeLorean never struck an engine code of its own: the ZMJ-159 is a variant of the ZMJ, the K-Jetronic 2.7-litre of the Peugeot 604 Ti — here in 2,849 cc. 91 mm bore × 73 mm stroke, 8.8 compression, 130 bhp SAE net at 5,500 rpm and 220 Nm at 2,750, per the DeLorean training manual. Same displacement as the Volvo B28 — and, give or take the displacement, the Volvo 260 engine already certified in the United States.
Three engines were considered before it: the Comotor twin-rotor, the Wankel of the Citroën GS Birotor, dropped with Citroën's 1974 bankruptcy; the Ford « Cologne » V6 of the Capri and Granada, long the favourite; and the Citroën CX's 2-litre four, judged too weak. The PRV cost more than the Cologne, but it was lighter and more powerful, Renault had spare capacity at Douvrin — and above all this engine was already certified in the United States: it was, give or take the displacement, the Volvo 260's. At DMC's bankruptcy, Renault claimed 17 million dollars « for engines »: the largest creditor, settled at about 3 cents on the dollar.
The full story — how many engines for Belfast, the K-Jetronic's hot restart, the three gold DeLoreans and glory three years after the bankruptcy — is in the Journal: « DeLorean DMC-12 — a Douvrin V6, a 17-million-dollar bill, and glory three years too late ».
In Back to the Future (1985) and its two sequels, Doc's time machine is a DMC-12 — so the engine that takes Marty McFly to 88 mph is the Douvrin V6. A detail for connoisseurs: in the first film, the menacing growl was dubbed with a Porsche 928's V8. Under the stainless steel, though, it really is the PRV. The engine's other screen appearances are gathered in Pop culture.
Judged too slow, the DMC-12 was to be beefed up: John DeLorean personally entrusted the PRV to Legend Industries (Long Island, NY), which rebuilt it around two turbos — specific pistons, rods, gaskets and head bolts — for an output never published: around 200 bhp by rumour, about 230 according to the owner of a restored car. DMC's 1982 bankruptcy swept the project away: only four cars were converted — two twin-turbo (nos. 502 and 530), two single-turbo (nos. 528 and 558). The first production twin-turbo PRV would wait for the 1994 Safrane Biturbo. The file is on the Tuners page.
The Dunmurry workshop manual derives very directly from the Alpine A310 repair guide: same dimensions — liner protrusion 0.16 to 0.23 mm, base shims blue 0.087, white 0.102, red 0.122, yellow 0.147, thrust washers 2.30 to 2.50 —, same gestures, down to shrink-fitting the gudgeon pin at 250 °C with a piece of solder as a witness. And the head is torqued as at Dieppe: 60 N·m, slacken, 20 N·m, then 115° — the same final angle as Volvo's 113-117°.
The engine being hung out back and turned the other way round from a saloon, the manual designates the flywheel end as the front of the engine: the timing cover and pulleys are therefore at the back of the car, the piston arrow points rearwards, and cylinder no. 1 is the flywheel one. A convention heavy with consequences when reading a procedure.
Eight answers drawn from the Dunmurry workshop manual and the 1981 training manual — the FAQ has nearly ninety on the DeLorean.
The Dunmurry manuals — workshop and network training —, in eight excerpts readable page by page: Workshop manual — engine section · Workshop manual — fuel, emissions and exhaust · Workshop manual — ignition · 1981 training manual — the engine explained · Training manual — K-Jetronic injection explained · Training manual — emissions and Lambda control · Training manual — settings, tests and diagnosis · Specifications and capacities
The DeLorean has its own section on the forum — presentations, restorations, questions to members who drive one. DMC section →
ZMJ — the K-Jetronic of the 604 Ti and the DMC-12, code by code — and the other American PRVs.