[DeTomaso] Shipping Companies

[Jim Ferrara]

Thanks, Mike. I noticed a number of vendors sell 3-point seat belt systems
for about $300 or so. Unfortunately, no decent photos (or at least none I
could find). In fact, one of the difficulties is that the P vendors put most
of the items on line by part number, and altho' I do have a copy of the
Master Parts Catalog, it still makes cross-referencing a bit dicey.

 

In fact, I often resort to a 10-year old Hall's catalog to see what some of
these parts really look like.

 

Is there I trick I'm missing? There a couple of Northeast-coast car
show/events coming up that should host a contingent of Panteras, so I plan
to come armed with questions (and a digital camera!)

 

Hopefully I'll be smarter in the next couple of weeks. - Jim

 

  _____  

From: MikeLDrew at aol.com [mailto:MikeLDrew at aol.com] 
Sent: Friday, July 20, 2007 2:11 AM
To: tgr289 at verizon.net; detomaso at realbig.com
Subject: Re: [DeTomaso] Shipping Companies

 


In a message dated 7/19/07 7:42:29 PM, tgr289 at verizon.net writes:





Something I'm in immediate need for are OEM shoulder harnesses. I've got the
lap belts, but the shoulder belts are missing. Are they hard to find? 


>>>Impossible to find new; hard to find used.  Also, they suck.

Look upon this as an opportunity.  If you have any performance driving
aspirations, you should upgrade to a set of harnesses (five-point
preferred); if you are just planning on cruising, Pantera vendors sell very
nice, bolt-in aftermarket seat belts that work like 'normal' seat belts.
(All but the 1974+ Panteras used horrible three-piece belts which are
distinctly unpleasant to use).





Also,
the driver belt retraction mechanism doesn't work - I'll look into that this
weekend; hopefully no big deal.



>>>Yet another reason to throw the whole works over the hedge and start
over.




Also, someone installed urethane bushings and the squeal like stuck pigs.
I've got to deal with that too (later).



>>>Fixing them is easy.  Time-consuming, but easy.  The bushing
manufacturers normally include tiny tubes of clear-ish lube; I just found
out yesterday that NAPA auto parts stores sell the stuff in 4 oz. tubes.
It's under the NAPA brand, and they call it Sil-Glyde.  It's basically K-Y
jelly for your car. :>)

Interestingly, they list a host of uses, including brake pads (on the back
side dummy, not on the friction side!), calipers, rubber boots, fan belts,
weatherstripping, trunk seals and bumpers, speedo cables, window channels,
hood strips, and rubber gaskets.  Not a word about poly suspension bushings.
But of course, production cars don't ever use poly bushings (and for good
reason), and since they are geared strictly towards production cars, they
don't bother to mention it.

But I compared the contents of this tube with the contents of one of those
little tiny tubes, and sure enough, it appears to be the same stuff.  So go
ahead and get a tube of it, and lube your heart out.

Normally it's very easy to remove poly bushings from the A-arms.  Just
remove the bolts (ah, now THAT can be a treat, particularly for the rearmost
bolt on the front upper A-arms which is accessed from inside the footwell,
behind the carpet), slide the A-arm out of the yokes, pull the bushings and
lubricate them, then reinstall.  Actually, most of the squeaking actually
comes from the outer faces of the bushings, which rub against the mounting
yokes.  So lubing the outside diameter of the bushing, where it rides inside
the A-arm, isn't sufficient.





>I guess these are just nits, but everything else seems to work just fine.
I'm sure I'll come up with more questions, but for now I just am enjoying
driving it.


>>>THAT is the most important part!  Congratulations on buying a CAR and not
a restoration project.  That said, it will require enough work to endear it
to you in no time. :>)

Mike




**************************************
Get a sneak peek of the all-new AOL at
http://discover.aol.com/memed/aolcom30tour