[DeTomaso] Mine Too Re: SHE RUNS!!!!

[Asa Jay Laughton]

On 3/14/2010 8:23 PM, MikeLDrew at aol.com wrote:
> In a message dated 3/14/10 8:01:46 PM, asajay at asajay.com writes:
>    
>> On the ground yesterday and on the road today.  I spent some time
>> bedding the brakes, whew... what a smell.  I noticed my GEN light was on
>> constantly with the amp gauge showing discharge.  DRAT!  I wonder why
>> that is.... could be a 20 year old alternator I guess, but.....  well
>> I'll have to investigate it.
>>      
>>>> More likely you knocked a wire loose somewhere.
>>>>          
I hope so, I had the whole gauge console out and had to put everything 
back in so I may have pulled a wire loose.  I'll be checking it since I 
know it was working okay before the interior came out.
>>> I -still- have a stinkin' thunk up front over light bumps.  This is
>>>        
>> starting to piss me off.  I currently have the right front wheel off to
>> check wheel bearing play.  So far, I can't find any, but I've just
>> printed a page from the shop manual and will do the procedure again
>>      
>>>> Have you rebuilt your steering rack?   If not, it's definitely the rack.
>>>>          
Um.... yea.... Once at Roger Sharps with you looking on and helping 
(okay so it was 10 years ago and you might not remember) and once more a 
couple years ago.  I don't think it's the rack, but stranger things have 
happened.
>    If you have, check to make sure you tightened the right tie rod enough.
> Another common culprit is the metal cooling pipes banging on the front
> swaybar.   Most people wrap the bar or the pipes with heavy rubber hose to
> insulate them from one another.   You can often get some relief by loosening the
> hose clamps and sliding the pipes further into the hoses, which lifts them
> up off the swaybar.
>    
Tie rod is torqued to spec.
Cooling pipes are padded with old green stripe hose and tie-wrapped to 
the cross member to keep them from bouncing.
>>> I can't seem to get the smell of hot brakes out of my nose.... grrrr.
>>>        
>>>> Are they dragging?   Are you sure?
>>>>          
No, the smell cleared up once I stopped the bedding process and the car 
seemed to "drift" or "coast" on it's own just fine.  Just once I sat 
down to the computer I noticed I could still smell it slightly.  :)
>>> I head for a Tech Inspection sometime this week and hopefully a Driving
>>>        
>> School here in Spokane on April 3-4.
>>
>> Team Pantera Racing is starting to roll for 2010.  Get those cats on the
>> street.
>>>> Indeed!
>>>>          
> I was at a conference in Virginia for the past week, and stopped off in
> Detroit to spend the weekend working on my long lost Shelby GT350 clone, with
> Gary Roys.   Spent two long days and made enormous progress; Gary got my
> short block assembled (the heads are still tied up at an engine shop after they
> lost (!) one of my unique valve keepers and had to order a replacement) and
> I spent ages fiddling with installing the full interior, a pretty major
> undertaking on a fastback.
>
> Hopefully the car will be back on the road in the next few months...quite a
> novelty as it's been in pieces since late 2005!
>
> Mike
>    
And  you are planning on -driving- it home, right?
:)

Asa Jay