[DeTomaso] Wiper delay and more thanks to the club

Christopher Kimball chrisvkimball at msn.com
Sun Mar 30 01:25:56 EDT 2008



Today my car was back on the road after a few weeks of being on jack stands, as a new axle, bearings, and other assorted, expensive, bits were replaced.  I certainly can't take credit for the work, however, since the majority of it was done by Pantera Northwest members Doug Braun, Jeff Kimball and President Mike Thomas.  Mike let my car "rest" in his garage, sacrificing his own car's comfort for a good place to work on mine, complete with all the tools I don't yet own.  Jeff let us use his incredible shop to do all sorts of interesting things one can only do with a 12-ton press.  The pizza was good, too!  

Add to that Doug's knowledge of all things Pantera (I believe he's owned his since the '70's), not to mention his patience as I asked all sorts of inane questions ("why do they call it a half-shaft when it's all one piece...?) and you have a great group of very generous, incredibly helpful individuals.  Thanks, guys!

One item Doug suggested I mention on the forum is my wiper delay.  Remembering where I purchased all my high-quality auto parts when I was in high school, I perused the JC Whitney catalog until I found two wiper delays.  The basic model was $19.99, I believe, but I went for the deluxe version for an extra five bucks, because it had a "mist" feature which was supposed to cause one wiper sweep with the touch of a button.  I should have stuck with the basic model, since after I installed the deluxe one, the mist feature didn't work!

Other than the fact the unit won't play misty for me, it works great.  I just followed the instructions and tested the wires going to the stock wiper switch so I'd know which ones to cut and splice, and now I have the option of the wipers doing what they did in 1972, or flipping on the delay switch which gives variable delay from approximately 3 seconds to about 30--quite a wide and effective range.

I hope this helps some of you who may be in a location where your weather is like ours here in Washington--in the last 24 hours we've experienced rain, sunshine, hail, sleet and snow!

Sincerely,

Chris
#3846



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