[DeTomaso] Oil dipsticks that can actually be checked!

[MikeLDrew at aol.com]

In a message dated 3/2/13 13 30 14, rob at dumoulins.net writes:


> Where do I get a dipstick that routes to the back of the engine?  I'm 
> tired
> of it being a major effort to find the fill hole to put it back in.
> 
> Michael Shortt has exactly what I want, but didn't know where it was
> sourced from.
> 

>>>Rob,

>From my recollection, you have a very early Pantera.   The first cars came 
with standard Ford Mustang front-mounted dipsticks; the blue-covered 1971 
owners manual advises owners to pull the engine screen and then drape 
themselves over the engine in order to check the oil.

Fairly early in production, a more user-friendly dipstick was introduced.   
This was made quite simply by cutting a stock dipstick and brazing a spring 
in the middle and creating an elongated tube which makes a 90-degree bend 
towards the rear of the engine, and allows simple checking without removing 
the screen.

The simplest solution to your problem is just to buy a stock Pantera 
dipstick tube and dipstick.   Wilkinson carries them (I don't know if they are 
Ford-era production, or from the post-Ford GT5-S era, but it shouldn't make a 
difference).    You can see them on his website, here:

http://www.panterapartsusa.com/cgi-bin/detail.cgi?prod_id=08402A
http://www.panterapartsusa.com/cgi-bin/detail.cgi?prod_id=08403A

Note that while I said this solution was simple, I didn't say it was cheap!

Precision Proformance offers an aftermarket solution:

http://www.precisionproformance.com/en3090.php
http://www.precisionproformance.com/en3092.php

These are beautiful and a bit less expensive, but they are also very poorly 
made, in the sense that Bobby makes no effort to perfectly replicate the 
dimensions of the stock setup.   It's a tube, and a stick that goes into your 
engine.   The key question is how FAR it goes into the engine.   What you're 
supposed to do is to remove your oil pan, install this new tube and stick, 
and see how far it goes into the engine.   If you're happy with it, then you 
put the oil pan back on and live happily ever after.   If it doesn't quite 
extend far enough, then you use a tubing cutter and remove material from the 
back of the tube, which then causes the dipstick to penetrate that much 
further into the block at the other end.

And if it goes in too deep, then you just have to make your own marks on 
the dipstick.   It's an unfortunately user-hostile situation, but it does look 
pretty and it saves a few bucks.   That savings is largely absorbed by the 
cost of your new oil pan gasket, and presumes you have already removed the 
crossmember under the oilpan and replaced it with a bolt-in style, an 
additional PIA and expense if not already done.

So, those are your two reasonable solutions.   You get to decide just how 
much you hate your existing setup and proceed accordingly.

Good luck!

Mike