[DeTomaso] Gated Shifter or Not?

[audionut motonut]

"Whoa! Gated shifter! Take that plate off right away!" 

These words came at me one day not long after I bought my Pantera. I forget now who said them. 

The reasoning, as I recall, was this: the gate forced the shift lever into an "in gear" position that placed stress on the shift linkage which in turn placed stress on the internal gears thereby causing premature gear wear. 

Although this sounded like a possibility to me, I liked the gate and didn't want to remove it. I decided that this might only be a problem if the linkage and the gate were not aligned well. 

I took the car out for a drive and jiggled the shifter a bit in each gear to determine if the lever was indeed being forced into an unnatural position against its' will. 
Even though the shifter did indeed rest in contact with the gate in each gear, it did not feel (to me) that it did so uncomfortably. 14 years later, the gate remains and my shifter is not being sawed in half. It is only lightly scratched. 

Given that the Pantera was hand-built, variations in build quality were inevitable from car to car. Like many of the Pantera's well-known issues, the "gate thing" may have been something common to earlier cars that eventually was corrected by the factory. 
As we all know by now, the old horror stories never die-- apparently, they are kept alive and well via word-of-mouth among car guys who know jack doodly squat about Panteras. 


From: "Pantera Mail List" <detomaso at server.detomasolist.com> 
To: "Corey Price" <coreyjprice at gmail.com>, "Pantera Mail List" <detomaso at server.detomasolist.com> 
Sent: Sunday, January 26, 2020 3:24:22 PM 
Subject: Re: [DeTomaso] Gated Shifter or Not? 

When I got my Pantera 33 years ago, the gate fingers were significantly worn and the shift lever was nearly sawed halfway thru from rubbing against the fingers. 
I bought a new shift gate and shift lever when I had the car restored but I couldn't bring myself to put the new shift gate so as to save the new shift lever from getting scarred up. I had read that some had said it was easier to shift without fingers so I decided to saw off the fingers from the original gate. I told myself that I could install the new shift gate whenever I wanted to show the car but I never did. 
I found it very easy to shift through all the gears without the fingers especially when shifting fast when I took the car on the track. 
Tom5186 


-----Original Message----- 
From: Corey Price <coreyjprice at gmail.com> 
To: Detomaso List <detomaso at server.detomasolist.com> 
Sent: Sun, Jan 26, 2020 4:32 pm 
Subject: [DeTomaso] Gated Shifter or Not? 

I'm sure there are tons of opinions on whether to retain the gated shifter or to go "fingerless" but what do the experts say? In other words, what do the prominent ZF rebuilders say about it? 

Corey 
_______________________________________________ 


Detomaso Email List is not managed by POCA 
Posted emails must not exceed 1.5 Megabytes 
DeTomaso mailing list 
DeTomaso at server.detomasolist.com 
http://server.detomasolist.com/mailman/listinfo/detomaso 

To manage your subscription (change email address, unsubscribe, etc.) use the links above. 

Members who post to this list grant license to the list to forward any message posted here to all past, current, or future members of the list. They also grant the list owner permission to maintain an archive or approve the archiving of list messages. 

_______________________________________________ 


Detomaso Email List is not managed by POCA 
Posted emails must not exceed 1.5 Megabytes 
DeTomaso mailing list 
DeTomaso at server.detomasolist.com 
http://server.detomasolist.com/mailman/listinfo/detomaso 

To manage your subscription (change email address, unsubscribe, etc.) use the links above. 

Members who post to this list grant license to the list to forward any message posted here to all past, current, or future members of the list. They also grant the list owner permission to maintain an archive or approve the archiving of list messages. 
-------------- next part --------------
   "Whoa!  Gated shifter!  Take that plate off right away!"
   These words came at me one day not long after I bought my Pantera.  I
   forget now who said them.
   The reasoning, as I recall, was this:  the gate forced the shift lever
   into an "in gear" position that placed stress on the shift linkage
   which in turn placed stress on the internal gears thereby causing
   premature gear wear.
   Although this sounded like a possibility to me, I liked the gate and
   didn't want to remove it.  I decided that this might only be a problem
   if the linkage and the gate were not aligned well.
   I took the car out for a drive and jiggled the shifter a bit in each
   gear to determine if the lever was indeed being forced into an
   unnatural position against its' will.

   Even though the shifter did indeed rest in contact with the gate in
   each gear, it did not feel (to me) that it did so uncomfortably.  14
   years later, the gate remains and my shifter is not being sawed in
   half.  It is only lightly scratched.
   Given that the Pantera was hand-built, variations in build quality were
   inevitable from car to car.  Like many of the Pantera's well-known
   issues, the "gate thing" may have been something common to earlier cars
   that eventually was corrected by the factory.

   As we all know by now, the old horror stories never die--  apparently,
   they are kept alive and well via word-of-mouth among car guys who know
   jack doodly squat about Panteras.
     __________________________________________________________________

   From: "Pantera Mail List" <detomaso at server.detomasolist.com>
   To: "Corey Price" <coreyjprice at gmail.com>, "Pantera Mail List"
   <detomaso at server.detomasolist.com>
   Sent: Sunday, January 26, 2020 3:24:22 PM
   Subject: Re: [DeTomaso] Gated Shifter or Not?
   When I got my Pantera 33 years ago, the gate fingers were significantly
   worn and the shift lever was nearly sawed halfway thru from rubbing
   against the fingers.
   I bought a new shift gate and shift lever when I had the car restored
   but I couldn't bring myself to put the new shift gate so as to save the
   new shift lever from getting scarred up.   I had read that some had
   said it was easier to shift without fingers so I decided to saw off the
   fingers from the original gate.   I told myself that I could install
   the new shift gate whenever I wanted to show the car but I never did.
   I found it very easy to shift through all the gears without the fingers
   especially when shifting fast when I took the car on the track.
   Tom5186
   -----Original Message-----
   From: Corey Price <coreyjprice at gmail.com>
   To: Detomaso List <detomaso at server.detomasolist.com>
   Sent: Sun, Jan 26, 2020 4:32 pm
   Subject: [DeTomaso] Gated Shifter or Not?
   I'm sure there are tons of opinions on whether to retain the gated
   shifter or to go "fingerless" but what do the experts say? In other
   words, what do the prominent ZF rebuilders say about it?
   Corey
   _______________________________________________
   Detomaso Email List is not managed by POCA
   Posted emails must not exceed 1.5 Megabytes
   DeTomaso mailing list
   DeTomaso at server.detomasolist.com
   http://server.detomasolist.com/mailman/listinfo/detomaso
   To manage your subscription (change email address, unsubscribe, etc.)
   use the links above.
   Members who post to this list grant license to the list to forward any
   message posted here to all past, current, or future members of the
   list. They also grant the list owner permission to maintain an archive
   or approve the archiving of list messages.
   _______________________________________________
   Detomaso Email List is not managed by POCA
   Posted emails must not exceed 1.5 Megabytes
   DeTomaso mailing list
   DeTomaso at server.detomasolist.com
   http://server.detomasolist.com/mailman/listinfo/detomaso
   To manage your subscription (change email address, unsubscribe, etc.)
   use the links above.
   Members who post to this list grant license to the list to forward any
   message posted here to all past, current, or future members of the
   list. They also grant the list owner permission to maintain an archive
   or approve the archiving of list messages.