[DeTomaso] Upgrade List

Stephen Nelson steve at snclocks.com
Sun Sep 16 11:08:54 EDT 2012


David, Michael and Ron - thank you for your thoughts and experience on
making these cares reliable.

 

My goal is to buy a car that has already been made very drivable - so I am
in effect looking for a punch list of the things that will likely need
rectified to make the car reliable.  As Michael points out, it can get
expensive in a hurry taking care of the niggling things that can strand one
- and, unfortunately, resale prices don't cover all the really valuable work
that enthusiasts do to make their cars better.  

 

Reminds me of the old question - is a restored car more valuable than an
original?  While the answer obviously depends on what a buyer wants (and
whether there is another person at the auction that will push the buyer to
his limit), reality is that restoring a car in the price range demanded by
Pantera's is typically a money loosing proposition.

 

Between your three's posts, and what I am gleaning by following this forum I
am beginning to understand what I want on a car that I will ultimately use
for long distance driving.  Having already done all the work myself to make
my '69 XKE as bullet proof as I can, I really want to find a car that has
already been upgraded, and has covered at least most of the issues raised by
you gentlemen.

 

One question covering an item not on the lists - Does one typically need to
replace the original coolant pipes with stainless?  I would think they could
be corroded as well as have significant build-up in them?

 

After compiling what I have seen so far, this is my list:

 


Fuel System


 

Manifold and carburetor


 

Fuel hoses


 

Vacuum hoses


Engine belts


Brakes

 


 

Rebuild brake system


 

Upgrade front rotors to Mustang vented


 

Stainless brake lines


 

Emergency brake cable


Clutch slave and flush system


Electrical


 

Replace fuse box


 

Replace ignition switch


 

Update alternator


 

If leaving amp meter - add a circuit breaker


 

MSD Distributor


 

 

Tach adaptor


 

Wires and plugs


Door seals


Suspension


 

Suspension bushings.


 

Shocks


 

Rear suspension lower pivots - often seized


 

Rebuild steering rack


 

Rear axle bearings


 

 

Billet axles


 

Look at wheel offset and make sure not causing steering challenge


Cooling

 


 

Aluminum radiator and new fans


 

Heater core boil or replace


 

Radiator cap


 

Flush cooling system


 

Radiator temperature switch


 

Radiator hoses


Tranny/Differential


 

Second gear syncro


 

Higher final drive ratio


Deck lid shocks


A/C core


Recover seats

 

Again, thank you all for taking the time to give me your thoughts!

 

Stephen Nelson

 

SNClocks.com <http://www.snclocks.com/> 

Click here for our new
<http://www.snclocks.com/TheRestofourWorld/Hammered-Dulcimers/About-Steves-D
ulcimers/19824807_4sHGgj#1558377542_LKmkrT7> Hammered Dulcimers website

Click here for my new blog <http://www.perfectoldman.com/>  on finding
happiness in retirement 

 

  _____  

From: David D Fisher [mailto:fisher95020 at yahoo.com] 
Sent: Saturday, September 15, 2012 9:40 PM
To: Rob Dumoulin; Stephen Nelson
Cc: pantera list
Subject: Re: [DeTomaso] Upgrade List

 

Stephen,

 

I am an owner for just under a year now and bought a pretty solid looking
car, but one that the previous owner had done everything possible to not
spend money on. Still,  it was relatively rust free, ok paint and the older
2 pod dash that I was after.   

 

Since then my priority is mechanical first, beauty second.  I tend to do
more than I really need to to just drive it, but here's my experience:

 

Before the list scares you off,  I should say that I drove the car home for
300 miles, so it was driveable, but it was 40 years old drivable, was not
reliabe, and not tight. 

 

Lastly,  all said and done,  I feel the cars are significantly undervalued.
I was comparing this to a Ferrari of the same kind of money and IMHO the
Pantera is much more car. 

 

What I have done:

 

1) Replace everything rubber - hoses, belt, brake piston seals, tires door
seals, etc.

2) Rebuild brakes - stock brakes aren't bad for street use once rebuilt

3) Replace e brake cable

4) Replace fuel and vacumm lines

5) Replace suspection bushing

6) Replace shocks if not done already

7) Replace clutch slave and flush out the old fluid

8) Update alternator

9) New rad if not already aluminium

10) Replace rad caps and flush system

10) New rad temp switch

11) Steering rack rebuild (not done yet on my car)

12)  2nd gear syncro - not done but needed

13) Rear suspension lower bushing up uprights seized.

14) Rear axle bearing shot - I went to billet axles, but only because I plan
for more power later.  1 bearing was spun

15) I already had MSD, but the distributor advance to seized and the tach
adaptor fried  

16) Door locks gummy

17) Replace deck lid shocks

18) Replace ignition lock

19) New A/C condensor core

20) Recharge A/C  (already converted to R134)

21) Repair split heater core

22) Motor rebuild 

 

Optional:

1) Upgrade front rotors to Mustang vented

2) Upgrade rear axles

3) Recover seats

4) Small headlight kit

5) Big brakes

6) etc, etc, etc

 

Hope this helps,

 

David

 

 

From: Rob Dumoulin <rob at dumoulins.net>
To: Stephen Nelson <steve at snclocks.com> 
Cc: pantera list <detomaso at realbig.com> 
Sent: Saturday, September 15, 2012 6:45 PM
Subject: Re: [DeTomaso] Upgrade List


Stephen, I posed the same topic a while ago and got a rather cold response.
It does seem that there are an abundance of Pantera information spread
around everywhere and some owners have done a great job documenting their
projects. Good as it may be, it does not provide discussions around the
pros and cons of what was done and very few lessons learned. I think a
structured Pantera Wiki site would allow this community to define some
topics and document equipment options and lessons learned in an attempt to
build the ultimate Pantera for:

  - Reliable Daily Driver
  - Show Car
  - Open Road Racer
  - SCCA Track Car
  - Bone Stock replacement
  - Restomod

For topics like flaw with and mods to:

  - Cooling System
  - Electrical (ignition, lights, charging, accessories, fuse box, dash,
  alternator)
  - Engine
  - Gauges
  - Hubs
  - Brakes
  - ZF
  - Lights
  - A/C
  - Heater


On Sat, Sep 15, 2012 at 6:19 PM, Stephen Nelson <steve at snclocks.com> wrote:

> This forum is a great way to start to learn about the finer points of
> owning
> and maintaining a Pantera.  Oh, and about upgrading or updating these
> fantastic cars.  So, wanting to learn more about what should be done to
> bring a car up to current "standards", I did a search for upgrade, update,
> and modification.  And figured out that there is a lot written about these
> cars tail lights.
>
>
>
> Is anyone aware of a previous post or string of posts that covers what
> needs
> to be done to make these cars all they can be today?  I suppose the list
> would need to start off with items that really need done to keep the car
> from having a major oops - like the issue with half shafts.  And progress
> from there to the "wanna-have" items.
>
>
>
> If there isn't such a list - perhaps some of you more knowledgeable types
> could start a listing for us wanna-have-a-Pantera-that-runs-great types.
>
>
>
> Stephen Nelson
>
>
>
> SNClocks.com <http://snclocks.com/>  <http://www.snclocks.com/>
>
> Click here for our new
> <
>
http://www.snclocks.com/TheRestofourWorld/Hammered-Dulcimers/About-Steves-D
> ulcimers/19824807_4sHGgj#1558377542_LKmkrT7> Hammered Dulcimers website
>
> Click here for my <http://www.perfectoldman.com/>  new blog on finding
> happiness in retirement
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
>
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-- 
Rob DuMoulin
904.476.8744
rob at dumoulins.net
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