[DeTomaso] Water temp. sendor

[JDeRyke at aol.com]

In a message dated 1/21/11 12:24:46 AM, dnunn at telus.net writes:
snip....
> ...It also uses an Italian water temp sending unit, presumably made by 
> Veglia and presumably a perfect match with the Pantera's water temp gauge. 
> Has anyone ever adapted one of these units to their Pantera? It appears all 
> that would be needed is a 16mm x 1.5 to 5/8" NPT adapter and a different 
> wiring connector....
> 
One of the first things Ford did when they got control of DeTomaso and the 
Pantera project, was to 'rationalize' its production. An engineer was 
assigned to analyze every part and substitute Ford- or U.S-supplier (read, 
"cheaper")- parts as much as possible. This is standard procedure in any assembly 
where one factory designs something, builds a few prototypes, then a bigger 
company buys them out. 
Thats why the halfshaft bolts and nuts were changed to U.S. SAE as well as 
the sender- and likely a few other things that don't come to mind right now. 
Needing thread and electrical adapters to fit the Veglia sender to Ford 
blocks likely made this one simple to decide. There were at least 3 Ford 'fixs' 
for the sender mismatch but none cost them more than a couple of pennies. I 
suspect Veglia was browbeaten into redesigning their gauge for a more 
rational 0-260F range as well as a better match to the Ford sender. I found the 
0-260 gauge needed nothing for a correct reading in our Pantera.
On the same subject, Ford was seriously investigating the use of a cheaper 
Pantera ZF transaxle with only 4 speeds, another one with no LSD and a 3rd 
with C-6 guts to make a 3-speed automatic. The ZF was the single most 
expensive part of the Pantera- and that hasn't changed to this day. Details in your 
Feb newsletter- now in the mail. My best guess- J DeRyke