[DeTomaso] centering device of shifter, different opinion

Roland Jäckelz pantera874 at t-online.de
Sun Mar 18 10:17:25 EDT 2012


there are always different ways to maintain a car, the europeen (technical) and the american (simple) way. Some times both have the same result.
I prefer the europeen way.

Roland

Am 18.03.2012 um 14:44 schrieb "Mikael" <mikael_hass at mail.tele.dk>:

I beg to differ. I  know I'm walking through a minefield now, but I'd say:
leave it in. We're talking about two centering devices, one in the gearbox
and one in the shifter. They both try to do the same thing, line up your
shifts for 2-3rd gear. So why do a lot of people want to remove the
centering device? Probably because if the multilink rod from the shifter to
the gearbox is not 100% correctly aligned, then the two centering devices
can work against each other, and give an inaccurate and sloppy feeling
shifter. But if they are aligned, you get a precise centering and a firm
feeling shifter.

Here's what I did on my Pantera: Take out centering device at shifter,
clean, grease, reinstall (beware it's spring loaded). Ensure car is in
neutral. Loosen link rod, right next to cylinder 8. Make sure both gearbox
and shifter is in center position and tighten the link rod adjustment. Now
you'll have a firm centering feel in the shifter, something I like.



Mikael
-----Oprindelig meddelelse-----
Fra: Charles Engles [mailto:cengles at cox.net] 
Sendt: 17. marts 2012 15:36
Til: 'Bob Lehmann'; detomaso at realbig.com
Emne: Re: [DeTomaso] centering device of shifter

Dear Bob,

       Ah, I know this one.   I will see if I can find the article about it
and send it along to you.

      The DeTomaso Pantera shifter linkage has a built in German engineered
internal detent for the gears.  The Italian shifter housing up front has a
redundant gizmo that is meant to function as a detent, but only adds
mechanical friction to the linkage action.  It isn't necessary and it's a
bit detrimental to function and it is easy to remove.  If for some reason
you determine that you don't like the modification, then you simply replace
the bits and you easily restore it to factory stock function.

      IIRC, you need to remove the center console, which likely means that
you'll need to remove the seats and bulkhead cover.  With the exposed
central tunnel visible, you will see on the shifter housing, a round
approximately 3/4" diameter dealo on the rear aspect of the housing.
Visible on the top is a C ring.  Remove the C ring.  I believe that there is
a round disc below that, which you remove.  Beneath that is a basic spring
that you remove.  Beneath the spring is a metal cup. It's internal diameter
is a bit bigger than the standard adult male index finger.  You need to
remove it.  On my two cars, one plunger was a bit challenging to remove
digitally.  The other came right out.  If it doesn't come out easily, then
either keep after it with a little spray lubrication or try a magnet to
encourage it to come straight up and out, or both.  Once the metal cup is
out, then you will see the nipple on it's undersurface that  fits into a
groove on the shifter rod and via the spring, which puts pressure on the
shift linkage.  Simply, clean and tidy things up.   You can replace the top
cap and C-ring while leaving out the spring and plunger.   You could, I
suppose, leave everything out.  


       Bolt your seat back in and proceed to take a test drive.  You should
notice that the shifting is less clunky, easier and--------better.   If
you're satisfied, then replace the interior, decide what you want to do with
the unnecessary stock factory spring and plunger and take off for Phoenix!



                  Warmest regards,  Chuck Engles



-----Original Message-----
From: detomaso-bounces at realbig.com [mailto:detomaso-bounces at realbig.com] On
Behalf Of Bob Lehmann
Sent: Saturday, March 17, 2012 8:07 AM
To: detomaso at realbig.com
Subject: [DeTomaso] centering device of shifter

I read in Cheap Fixes artcle, to remove the centering device of the shifter.
How does one do that?  Is it worth doing?
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