[DeTomaso] Pantera Handling 101

[MikeLDrew at aol.com]

In a message dated 2/7/08 17 57 5, seanmundy at hotmail.com writes:


> I have stock sway bars, new poly bushings all around, adjustable
> shocks purchased from PI and 225/45 and 315/35 tires.  I guess I'm just
> looking for you guys to maybe tell me "Hey dummy, its a mid engine car with
> a big lump of V8 back there. Whaddya expect!"   Or maybe my car is just
> setup all wrong.
> 

You just said it.   The problem is absolutely obvious.

Panteras originally had 185 front and 225 rear tires; Ford set them up to 
understeer dramatically, to keep the typical Lincoln-Mercury drivers from 
spinning out approaching the limit.   

You have aggravated the situation by fitting rear tires that are 
substantially wider than the front tires.   You have turned your car into a complete pig.

Fortunately the situation is easy to rectify.   De Tomaso knew that the sway 
bar setup was non-optimal, and when the larger 10-inch wheels with 285 tires 
(matched with 225 in the front) were installed, De Tomaso also specified a 
larger rear sway bar.

Dollar for dollar, this is the single greatest improvement you can make to 
your car's handling.   Keeping the stock front bar and installing a "GTS" rear 
bar (which coincidentally is the same diameter as the stock front bar) will 
transform the handling, and will make it much closer to neutral.   With your 
particular setup, it's likely that it will still understeer, but considerably 
less.

The cost for a new swaybar and bushings is under $200....

Once that's done, you can try juggling tire pressures (easy) or spring rates 
(not so easy) to fine-tune it.

Cheers!

Mike


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