Reply to "Advise on shocks and springs."

I sure do love my steel body gas filled Konis equipped with the optional spring pre-load adjusters and Hyperco springs, but I'm a little prejudiced. I have installed Koni shocks on every car I've ever owned if they were available for that car. Koni's provide a well dampened ride without ever being harsh, it suits me very well. I have no idea what the spring rates are of the Hyperco springs.

In general you'll find 300 to 400 lb/in front springs and 400 to 600 lb/in rear springs paired with modern gas shocks. These spring rates are about 50% greater than the spring rates of the oem springs. Some owners fear that heavier springs will make the car ride too harsh, but that is not the case. The modern gas shocks have far less "stiction" than the old school shocks. The car actually rides better with the new set-up, stiffer springs and all.

The long standing recommendation for lowering the Pantera is to set the rear control arms paralell to the tarmac, and then lower the front to level the car, or a bit more to give the car a nose down attitude. The nose down attitude helps the aerodynamics of the car significantly. But if you do so, you'll find you're running out of front wheel travel, and getting to a point where its easy to bottom out the car, so you can't go overboard with the nose down setting. Also, the handling of the car gets twitchy as you lower the nose, because there just isn't enough caster, so it would be recommended to have Pat Mical do his upper front control arm mod if you are going to lower the nose of the car. I would like to lower the front of 6018 a bit more, but I'm waiting until I get the control arms modified, because the steering is already too twitchy for my tastes. Add the spherical ball ends to the anti-sway bars and you have the beginnngs of a good handling Pantera.

For the benefit of others, I would like to mention that the US Panteras were spec'd by Ford with a 3/4" rear anti-sway bar, the Euro Panteras had a 7/8" rear anti-sway bar. The US cars need to be upgraded with the rear anti-sway bar from the Euro Panteras.

cowboy from hell