[DeTomaso] The latest adventures in the garage

Wed May 9 13:53:36 EDT 2007

Chris,

  I replaced the stock 2W with 5W bulbs and it made a huge difference in my car. The 5 watters are available at schucks, autozone, etc. and it only takes a few minutes to swap them all out.

  John

Steve Hawkins <shawkins6 at houston.rr.com> wrote:
  Yes, installing extra lights is the way to go on stock gauges.

Steve
Space City Panteras

-----Original Message-----
From: detomaso-bounces at realbig.com [mailto:detomaso-bounces at realbig.com] On
Behalf Of Charles McCall
Sent: Wednesday, May 09, 2007 2:04 AM
To: 'Christopher Kimball'; mikeldrew at aol.com
Cc: detomaso at realbig.com
Subject: Re: [DeTomaso] The latest adventures in the garage

Chris -
Congratulations on getting the car running!

A couple of comments:

1) Installing the rear deck lid struts upside down is actually desireable.
It helps keep the seals from drying out, which means they'll last longer.
I've switched mine around, for example.
2) With the bulkhead cover off, your car will be REALLY loud. It will quiet
down quite a bit with that installed. Don't worry - it's still a Pantera -
but it will be a lot quieter with that installed. 
3) There are other bulbs that help, but if you are serious about seeing that
gauges WELL at night you may want to consider what the Texas boys have done
(I think it was them) and install extra bulbs instead of just stronger ones.
The stronger ones help, but don't make it like a "normal" car. 

Enjoy!!! 

-----Mensaje original-----
De: detomaso-bounces at realbig.com [mailto:detomaso-bounces at realbig.com] En
nombre de Christopher Kimball Enviado el: Wednesday, 09 May, 2007 7:23 AM
Para: mikeldrew at aol.com
CC: detomaso at realbig.com
Asunto: Re: [DeTomaso] The latest adventures in the garage

Thanks, Mike.

By the way, today my mechanic came over and we timed the car and when it
still had problems idling a bit, he replaced the carb with an almost new one
he had (he paid $100 for it, which I'm going to reimburse). He said the
carb that came with the car had been rebuilt at some point and painted, and
the paint had gotten into the inner workings somehow (I can't remember
exactly how he explained it) but, anyway, he put his on the engine and it
runs great!

I managed to get the driver's seat in the car and I took it for a spin
around the neighborhood.

I haven't replaced the bulkhead engine cover yet, so while driving I managed
to whack my elbow into the spinning engine pulley, but luckily it was a
minor tap and my arm didn't get ripped off by the belt...

Anyway, it's LOUD (which is OK with me) and seems to run well, although
there may be a small coolant leak up front. I'm taking it into the shop
tomorrow so they can examine the brakes and check for other safety-related
issues (and leaks).

I have heard about the dim lights on the dash and boy, I sure found out
about that tonight! I can barely see the dials, and the oil pressure gauge
doesn't seem to have any light at all.

I'm thinking there must be some sort of extra bright bulbs available, thanks
to modern technology, that I can insert in place of the stock ones. If
anyone knows what they are, let me know and I'll buy some.

Of course, there were the usual glitches during the reassembly--for
instance, I managed to install the pistons that hold up the back deck upside
down (and I had a 50/50 chance of getting it right, too!) and while trying
to switch them managed to screw up the nice paint job I had done on the
coolant bottles. Then I even managed to whack the body of the car with a
pair of pliers and put two big chips in the nice paint job. At that point,
during the subsequent yelling and screaming, I think I may have actually
uttered a few words I hope my kids didn't hear...

I'm still waiting for a few more items to arrive in the mail to finish the
interior, and I can see that the more I do to the car, the more I'll want to
do. But the nice thing is, even though it's not completely finished, I
actually drove it this evening, and that's cause for a celebration around my
house!

Thanks again for you (continuing) help with my project.

Sincerely,

Chris

>From: mikeldrew at aol.com
>To: chrisvkimball at msn.com, SOBill at aol.com, detomaso at realbig.com
>Subject: Re: [DeTomaso] The latest adventures in the garage
>Date: Tue, 08 May 2007 22:42:04 -0400
>
>
>Chris wrote:
>
>(snip) he
>told me their technician said there is no way to get the generator
>light to work with the alternator I have, and that I need to take it 
>out and just use the ammeter, or maybe add a volt meter for monitoring 
>the electrical charging.
>
>Anyone have any comments about this? Does it sound right?
>
>>>>If you hook the one-wire alternator up using only the one wire, then
>yes, what they are saying is true--which is an excellent reason to hate
>one-wire alternators.
>
>However, most one-wire alternators have provisions for two more wires,
>which add much-desired functionality to the system, including proper 
>voltage sensing and a functioning GEN light.
>
>Mike 
>_______________________________________________________________________
>_ AOL now offers free email to everyone. Find out more about what's
>free from AOL at AOL.com.

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