[DeTomaso] Fwd: Re: Upgrade List

[Will Kooiman]

There will be opinions, of course, but here's my list...

Pull the engine, do a normal performance rebuild, deck the block (mine
were off, a bunch), Pantera specific pan, new roller timing chain, roller
rockers and check, recheck, and double dog-dare recheck the
rocker/pushrod/valve geometry.  Name brand, stainless one-piece valves.
New, modern, vacuum advance distributor.  Don't get a Mallory.  MSD is
good.  Get a good carburetor.  Everyone has their favorite.  I like real
Holleys or tuner Holleys - not Demons or Edelbrocks.  I prefer mechanical
fuel pumps, but it's tough to get a good one for a 351C.  Rob Macquarie
makes an excellent pump.

If you have the budget, change to a new block - SVO, Dart, etc.  If you
are not racing, it won't matter.  If you are racing, a 351C might hold up,
but an SVO or Dart WILL hold up.

While the engine is out, remove the fuel tank.  I've seen a stainless
tank.  If you can afford it, buy it.  The stock tank rusts on the inside,
and it tends to plug up the fuel sock.  If you stay with the original
tank, clean it out really good, and check the lines/sock.

You can't remove the tank without removing the engine.  That's why you do
it when you pull the engine.  When you pull the tank, clean out the
garbage behind the tank.  Mine had about 2 pounds of dirt piled up.

The stock brakes are very good, but they are also very old.  You can
rebuild the calipers yourself.  The rebuild kit is inexpensive.  You
simply remove the calipers, disassemble, clean really well, replace the
o-rings, and reassemble.  Replace the master cylinder.  Flush the brake
lines.  Switch to braided stainless hoses at all 4 wheels.

You can upgrade to Wilwoods or Brembos if you like.

Wheels, wheels, wheels.  I really like the stock Campys, but the Pantera
East Campys look much better, plus they allow me to buy real tires.  There
are a few others that I like as well.  Of course, that's a personal
preference thing.  17" Kodiak wheels look good on the front.  17" Campy
clones look too big.

If you stay with the original wheels, use 8" wheels in the front.  They
make a huge difference.  The extra offset gets rid of a lot of bump steer.
 It makes driving the car a lot more enjoyable.

Decent seats.  I bought Corbeau LG1 seats.  I haven't driven it yet with
these seats, but I like they way the feel in my garage floor.  Yes, I was
making broom broom noises.  I even fishtailed a time or two.

Not really an upgrade, but replace the wheel bearings.  If you have the
PNs, it is inexpensive - just time consuming.

Replace the water pipes with stainless.  The original pipes are fairly
thick, but they rust.  The kit comes with new hoses, so you take care of
that at the same time.

New overflow tanks - stainless.  I actually removed my swirl tank, and it
works okay.  I would have kept it, but the vendor was out of them when I
ordered the other tank, so I just went without.

Decent steering wheel.  Preferences again.  I had a Lecarra, but I'm
switching to a Momo.  To be honest, I'm thinking about trying an original
wheel - just to see if I'd like it.  I gave mine away years ago.  It was
pretty grungy.  I'll try the Momo first, though.

I can't say enough good things about the Pantera Electronics (Jon Haas)
fuse box.  He has lots of products, but his fuse box should be a mandatory
upgrade.  I haven't seen the other alternatives out there, so maybe they
are good too.

I like the frog-eye look.  If you stay with it, buy the headlights that
Mike Drew found.  I think they are made by Cibie.  I will have to search
my notes to find the PN.

Get good radiator fans, and a good radiator.  I have a Fludidyne radiator
that I like.  There are others that are better.  Until my engine is
overheating, though, I'm staying with what I have.  If you don't upgrade
your fans, you will overheat.

Moseley relay kit to drive the headlights and fans.  Or, I have Pantera
Electronics for that.

Taurus window motors.

Not really an upgrade, but new carpet, new headliner, new rubber, cat
whiskers, etc.  All of the stuff that wears is available.  I think.

Carpet in the front trunk.

Remove the undercoating in the engine compartment, smooth, paint.

Better spreader bar over the ZF.

Hollow rear sway bar with poly bushings and sphere bar ends.

A-arm bushings from Quella.  I'm not advertising for him, but I think he's
the only one that has the type that I like.

Bulkhead reduction kit.

Move the battery to the engine compartment behind the passenger seat.  It
shortens the battery cables - a bunch.  I can deal with the inconvenience
given the frequency of having to get to the battery.

Oh yeah, and new shocks with adjustable springs.  I really like the set I
got from Quella (don't mean to be advertising again).  I have heard good
things about Larry Stock's shocks/springs.  Others may have good stuff.
Just ask around before you spend a lot of money.  If you stay with the
stock springs, remove the spring spacers.  They were added to meet US
bumper height requirements.  I left a small spacer in the left rear to
level the car.  And then a month later, I bought new springs.

I cut open every wiring harness, checked the wires, repaired broken wires,
and retaped.  I found several broken wires, a few loose connectors, one
corroded wire, plus I removed all of the door open/seatbelt warning buzzer
wiring.

There might be more, but I think that's enough.



On 9/18/12 6:47 PM, "MikeLDrew at aol.com" <MikeLDrew at aol.com> wrote:

>
>In a message dated 9/15/12 15 33 10, michaelsavga at gmail.com writes:
>
>
>> What issue with half shafts?
>> 
>
>>>>Not the halfshafts, but rather the stock U-joints.   The stock
>>>>original 
>U-joints would rust and fail internally, leading to catastrophic failure
>under load, which at a minimum results in sheetmetal damage in the engine
>bay, 
>and at worst, causes the car to spin backwards off the road into the
>trees.
>
>For years the factory U-joints were so expensive that the vendors sold
>replacement driveshafts made with US components, but those are
>dramatically 
>overpriced and have had their own failures.   Now replacement U-joints of
>good 
>quality are available quite reasonably, so there is no reason not to
>rebuild 
>an otherwise-good set of stock driveshafts.
>
>Mike
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