[DeTomaso] Thoughts from the collective

[JDeRyke at aol.com]

In a message dated 1/7/11 7:15:50 AM, kirby.schrader at gmail.com writes:

> Although the cable shifter shown in the photos looks very pretty, I'd 
> find it hard to justify the expense, personally....
> 
Interesting idea.   I agree with Kirby- there are two problems with a 
properly adjusted Pantera shifting. The first is when you try snap-shifting, you 
can 'beat' the balk-ring synchros inside the transmission. IMHO, this cannot 
be cured externally and it also happens with the very similar Porsche 911 
gearboxes. The second is the springiness of the rod shifter; its possible to 
torque the rod during fast shifts such that the gearbox goes into 2nd while 
the shift-stick goes into 4th and jams in the gate fingers. This is cured by 
removing the fingers from the gate- or slowing down your attempted shifts. 
Possibly, a cable shifter would cure this last while allowing retention of 
stock gate fingers.
FWIW, cables can only pull so you need two for a pull-pull shift system. 
The mid-engined MR2 uses a 5-speed cable shifter. On the MR-2, due to a 
factory misalignment of only a few degrees, the 1-2 shift cable sometimes breaks 
at the swedged end, immobilizing the car- as I found out. New factory cables 
were special-order from Japan for $122; choice of 3 different lengths.
If anyone buys one of these for their Pantera, please write up your 
experiences with it for the newsletter- the system is out of my price range, 
Thanks- J DeRyke, Tech Ed