[DeTomaso] Sierras fun drive

Mike Drew MikeLDrew at aol.com
Mon Oct 30 15:20:50 EDT 2017


So, a funny thing happened the other day.  Garry Choate and I had dedicated a day to sorting out a bunch of niggling issues on Lori's Pantera #1765, most importantly the ignition wires shorting to the air cleaner (I posted a Youtube vid of that the other day).  By happenstance, Garry had a drop-base air filter base with slightly less drop, and there was enough vertical room between the top of the air cleaner and the underside of the screen to accommodate it, so that was the simple fix there.

The throttle pedal in that car has always been unusually stiff and unpleasant, down to both a new (and very stiff) stock replacement throttle cable w/spring, and the too-stiff secondary spring.  Shortening a compression spring will effectively stiffen it, but in this case the spring was under compression at all times when the throttle was at rest; we shortened it an inch so it is only under a little bit of compression at rest, enough to ensure the throttle closes.  We also fitted a lighter secondary spring, strong enough to close the throttle, but not ridiculously strong as the old one had been.

We were also dealing with an oil leak (turns out the fuel pump bolts hadn't been tightened by the engine builder and I failed to check before installing the motor in the car), and through the course of the day we started the car numerous times.

Then, around 5 p.m. I asked Garry to turn on the battery switch so I could start it again.  But the car was still dark, no dome light, no GEN light, nothing.  It seemed as though every electron had made a successful bid for freedom--the car was completely dead!

Battery was fully charged, so we worked our way back and finally arrived at the ammeter.  Despite the fact we had been working on the air filter and the fuel pump, of its own accord the ring terminal connecting the main power wire to the input side of the ammeter had simply broken!  The ammeter was just fine (no evidence of overheating) but the power wire was just sitting there, an inch away from the ammeter, doing no good at all.

By happenstance, Garry had a single replacement ring connector of the appropriate size, so we changed it out and tightened everything up, and all should (hopefully) be fine now.

How odd that it should fail while the car was completely static, sitting in a fully-equipped workshop?  It could just have easily failed while the car was moving down the road, leaving us stranded.

We also fitted a SACC Restorations underdrive water pump pulley, which proved challenging, because belts were only available in two configurations--too long and too short.  One size wouldn't fit around the water pump, crank and idler pulleys (aftermarket IPSCO idler setup intended for use with flat firewall kit) and the other one was so long that the idler needed to be adjusted so far to the outside of the car that it ran smack into the too-small Amerisport engine cover.  What to do?

Eventually I fitted a 7295 belt between the water pump and crank, doing away with the idler entirely.  It's a tight fit, but even as it wears, it will still be a tight fit, plus it has loads of surface area working on the pulleys so it doesn't have to be crazy tight to work.

The next day, we set off for a scenic drive through the Sierras.  Reno-Tahoe Panteras was meeting up at Bassets Station (those who went to the Reno-Tahoe POCA Fun Rally may remember the scenic drive there in the rain) and we wanted to tag along.  Lori was driving for the first hour and a half, but just as we turned onto the tight, twisty and almost totally empty Hwy 49, the water temp gauge spiked full hot!

I figured my belt solution had failed so we pulled over to investigate.  Out with the tools, remove the interior panel and engine cover to look at the front of the engine, and all is well with the belt?  However, the wire for the temp sender (which just slips over the stud on the front of the sender) was a bit loose.  Removed it, the gauge dropped to zero.  Reinstalled it, and it read 180, as normal.

Hmm.  It's possible it may have backed off the sender and grounded out against something?  In any case, it was fixed now, so we put it all back together.  By this time, we were late, and Lori wanted to stare at the water temp gauge which precluded driving, so I took the wheel.

55 miles of totally empty pavement, on a beautiful fall day, with people waiting for us at the other end that we didn't want to be late for?  I guess the only solution is to drive unreasonably fast.  Oh darn. :>)

Simply put, the car drove beautifully.  It's got just shy of 100K miles on the stock springs and shocks, but they are still working just fine.  Everything else in the suspension and brakes has been rebuilt in the last 5000 miles or so, and the Dan Jones/Dave McLain engine is just barely broken in, with perhaps 3000 miles or thereabouts.  Steering effort is a bit high thanks to the 245/45-16 front tires, but traction seems to be unlimited in the corners.

I was hammering away on the car, pedal to the floor again and again, double-pumper secondaries opening fully in 2nd, 3rd and occasionally 4th gear.  I wasn't braking desperately heavily, but instead seeking something approaching smoothness, coasting into corners, heel-and-toe downshifting while brushing the brakes, turn in, roll into the throttle until the pedal won't go any further, accelerate out of the corner, upshift and then lift as the next corner approached, repeat.

One of the best drives I've ever had.  Along the way we passed through Downieville, a small 1800s mining town that has two one-lane bridges as the only means across the Yuba river.  We pulled up to Bassets just a few minutes behind schedule to find the rest of the guys standing in the parking lot--they had heard the car coming from miles away!

We had a terrific lunch and caught up a bit with one another, then took a brief drive to a scenic overlook where we posed for photos--once again we were the only cars on the road.  The day marked the end of the season for all the restaurants and stores in the area which were shutting down until April, so we just made it!

The Reno guys left eastwards for home, and Lori took the wheel for a spirited, although not frantic drive back towards home.  We detoured a bit to avoid the heavy freeway crush normally found on a Sunday afternoon as Bay Area residents return home from the Sierras, and instead stuck with two-lane roads the whole way, which was delightful.

Along the way, we passed through the scene of the Yuba/Butte wildfire from a couple of weeks ago, which got much less press than the big fires in Santa Rosa and Sonoma, but which were no less devastating to the residents there.  It was oddly surreal, driving on a very nice road, with seemingly untouched trees all around, but the ground completely blackened and scorched.  Randomly, we would see the rubble of a burned-out house, with nothing but the chimney left standing, but neighboring houses were untouched.  One can only guess at the actions taken that resulted in some homes being lost while others were saved.  But it served as a stark reminder of the importance of enjoying what we have, while we have the ability to do so.  As Pantera owners, we are all uniquely blessed, but it could all be taken away from us in an instant--whether by illness, accident, or natural disaster.

By my very rough calculations, we burned about 42 gallons of gas over the course of the two days, all but 75 miles on the second day.  And every single drop was well-spent!  Between fixing minor issues with the car (and one potentially catastrophic one), spending time in the company of fine friends, seeing beautiful scenery, and driving a really fun car really hard on magnificent roads, I can't imagine a better way to have spent the weekend!









Mike

Sent from my iPhone
-------------- next part --------------
   So, a funny thing happened the other day.  Garry Choate and I had
   dedicated a day to sorting out a bunch of niggling issues on Lori's
   Pantera #1765, most importantly the ignition wires shorting to the air
   cleaner (I posted a Youtube vid of that the other day).  By
   happenstance, Garry had a drop-base air filter base with slightly less
   drop, and there was enough vertical room between the top of the air
   cleaner and the underside of the screen to accommodate it, so that was
   the simple fix there.
   The throttle pedal in that car has always been unusually stiff and
   unpleasant, down to both a new (and very stiff) stock replacement
   throttle cable w/spring, and the too-stiff secondary spring.
   Shortening a compression spring will effectively stiffen it, but in
   this case the spring was under compression at all times when the
   throttle was at rest; we shortened it an inch so it is only under a
   little bit of compression at rest, enough to ensure the throttle
   closes.  We also fitted a lighter secondary spring, strong enough to
   close the throttle, but not ridiculously strong as the old one had
   been.
   We were also dealing with an oil leak (turns out the fuel pump bolts
   hadn't been tightened by the engine builder and I failed to check
   before installing the motor in the car), and through the course of the
   day we started the car numerous times.
   Then, around [1]5 p.m. I asked Garry to turn on the battery switch so I
   could start it again.  But the car was still dark, no dome light, no
   GEN light, nothing.  It seemed as though every electron had made a
   successful bid for freedom--the car was completely dead!
   Battery was fully charged, so we worked our way back and finally
   arrived at the ammeter.  Despite the fact we had been working on the
   air filter and the fuel pump, of its own accord the ring terminal
   connecting the main power wire to the input side of the ammeter had
   simply broken!  The ammeter was just fine (no evidence of overheating)
   but the power wire was just sitting there, an inch away from the
   ammeter, doing no good at all.
   By happenstance, Garry had a single replacement ring connector of the
   appropriate size, so we changed it out and tightened everything up, and
   all should (hopefully) be fine now.
   How odd that it should fail while the car was completely static,
   sitting in a fully-equipped workshop?  It could just have easily failed
   while the car was moving down the road, leaving us stranded.
   We also fitted a SACC Restorations underdrive water pump pulley, which
   proved challenging, because belts were only available in two
   configurations--too long and too short.  One size wouldn't fit around
   the water pump, crank and idler pulleys (aftermarket IPSCO idler setup
   intended for use with flat firewall kit) and the other one was so long
   that the idler needed to be adjusted so far to the outside of the car
   that it ran smack into the too-small Amerisport engine cover.  What to
   do?
   Eventually I fitted a 7295 belt between the water pump and crank, doing
   away with the idler entirely.  It's a tight fit, but even as it wears,
   it will still be a tight fit, plus it has loads of surface area working
   on the pulleys so it doesn't have to be crazy tight to work.
   The next day, we set off for a scenic drive through the Sierras.
   Reno-Tahoe Panteras was meeting up at Bassets Station (those who went
   to the Reno-Tahoe POCA Fun Rally may remember the scenic drive there in
   the rain) and we wanted to tag along.  Lori was driving for the first
   hour and a half, but just as we turned onto the tight, twisty and
   almost totally empty Hwy 49, the water temp gauge spiked full hot!
   I figured my belt solution had failed so we pulled over to
   investigate.  Out with the tools, remove the interior panel and engine
   cover to look at the front of the engine, and all is well with the
   belt?  However, the wire for the temp sender (which just slips over the
   stud on the front of the sender) was a bit loose.  Removed it, the
   gauge dropped to zero.  Reinstalled it, and it read 180, as normal.
   Hmm.  It's possible it may have backed off the sender and grounded out
   against something?  In any case, it was fixed now, so we put it all
   back together.  By this time, we were late, and Lori wanted to stare at
   the water temp gauge which precluded driving, so I took the wheel.
   55 miles of totally empty pavement, on a beautiful fall day, with
   people waiting for us at the other end that we didn't want to be late
   for?  I guess the only solution is to drive unreasonably fast.  Oh
   darn. :>)
   Simply put, the car drove beautifully.  It's got just shy of 100K miles
   on the stock springs and shocks, but they are still working just fine.
   Everything else in the suspension and brakes has been rebuilt in the
   last 5000 miles or so, and the Dan Jones/Dave McLain engine is just
   barely broken in, with perhaps 3000 miles or thereabouts.  Steering
   effort is a bit high thanks to the 245/45-16 front tires, but traction
   seems to be unlimited in the corners.
   I was hammering away on the car, pedal to the floor again and again,
   double-pumper secondaries opening fully in 2nd, 3rd and occasionally
   4th gear.  I wasn't braking desperately heavily, but instead seeking
   something approaching smoothness, coasting into corners, heel-and-toe
   downshifting while brushing the brakes, turn in, roll into the throttle
   until the pedal won't go any further, accelerate out of the corner,
   upshift and then lift as the next corner approached, repeat.
   One of the best drives I've ever had.  Along the way we passed through
   Downieville, a small 1800s mining town that has two one-lane bridges as
   the only means across the Yuba river.  We pulled up to Bassets just a
   few minutes behind schedule to find the rest of the guys standing in
   the parking lot--they had heard the car coming from miles away!
   We had a terrific lunch and caught up a bit with one another, then took
   a brief drive to a scenic overlook where we posed for photos--once
   again we were the only cars on the road.  The day marked the end of the
   season for all the restaurants and stores in the area which were
   shutting down until April, so we just made it!
   The Reno guys left eastwards for home, and Lori took the wheel for a
   spirited, although not frantic drive back towards home.  We detoured a
   bit to avoid the heavy freeway crush normally found on a [2]Sunday
   afternoon as Bay Area residents return home from the Sierras, and
   instead stuck with two-lane roads the whole way, which was delightful.
   Along the way, we passed through the scene of the Yuba/Butte wildfire
   from a couple of weeks ago, which got much less press than the big
   fires in Santa Rosa and Sonoma, but which were no less devastating to
   the residents there.  It was oddly surreal, driving on a very nice
   road, with seemingly untouched trees all around, but the ground
   completely blackened and scorched.  Randomly, we would see the rubble
   of a burned-out house, with nothing but the chimney left standing, but
   neighboring houses were untouched.  One can only guess at the actions
   taken that resulted in some homes being lost while others were saved.
   But it served as a stark reminder of the importance of enjoying what we
   have, while we have the ability to do so.  As Pantera owners, we are
   all uniquely blessed, but it could all be taken away from us in an
   instant--whether by illness, accident, or natural disaster.
   By my very rough calculations, we burned about 42 gallons of gas over
   the course of the two days, all but 75 miles on the second day.  And
   every single drop was well-spent!  Between fixing minor issues with the
   car (and one potentially catastrophic one), spending time in the
   company of fine friends, seeing beautiful scenery, and driving a really
   fun car really hard on magnificent roads, I can't imagine a better way
   to have spent the weekend!

   image1.JPG

   image2.JPG

   image3.JPG

   Mike
   Sent from my iPhone

References

   1. x-apple-data-detectors://0/
   2. x-apple-data-detectors://1/
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