[DeTomaso] My Pantera--back on the road!

[MikeLDrew at aol.com]

In a message dated 2/2/11 1 27 14, shawkins777 at comcast.net writes:


> What was wrong with it?
> 

>>>You may recall that my last Pantera drive on 23 Dec ended with a 
tow-truck ride.   The symptoms were rapidly falling fuel pressure (less than 1 psi) 
eventually accompanied by a very expensive-sounding CHINGALINGALINGA sound 
from the front of the engine.

The theory was that either the fuel pump arm broke, or the fuel pump 
eccentric had come adrift.

Fast-forward to yesterday.   French Pantera owner and ace mechanic Stephane 
Bergeron was on another of his periodic Air France trips to San Francisco, 
so I threw a big butterfly net over him and dragged him to my house.   I had 
previously armed myself with a new pump, and front-end gasket kit.

We pulled the old pump hoping to find carnage, but no--it seemed fine.   He 
then looked through the fuel pump hole into the motor with a mirror, and 
spotted threads.   He theorized that the head had broken off the cam bolt and 
the eccentric had come off. :<(

So we got after the front of the motor.   When we pulled the engine hatch 
cover, this is what we found:

http://www.poca.com/index.php/gallery/?g2_itemId=28729

This is the most idle A/C idler pulley I'd ever seen.   Not a single ball 
remained in the ball bearing; metal shavings were abundant.

Right there, we should have stopped to reconsider the question.   But we 
were fixated on finding the deep internal problem, so we continued by draining 
the coolant, removing the damper, water pump, timing cover etc. and when we 
finally got to the inside of the motor, we found....nothing.

It was perfect inside!

In retrospect, the threads that he saw through the mirror were those of one 
of the water pump bolts!

Anyway, it was good to have taken a look inside to be sure.   A few more 
hours work saw the front of the motor reassembled, a new Holley fuel pump 
installed, turn the key and VAROOM!   The car runs perfectly, with a nice 8 psi 
fuel pressure.   :>)

This morning will be spent fettling things, adjusting float levels etc. and 
then it's back to the airport; he's flying home and I'm flying back to LA 
for Take Two of my photo shoot of Laurie Ferrari's car, along with a few 
stops at the Pantera shops to pick up various and sundry parts for various 
European Pantera guys.   

Whee!!!! :>)

Mike