Reply to "Heavy Uprights"

Yes Scott,
You are quite right,the Hall uprights (billet) ARE lighter. Hall says in his catologue that they are 17 lbs.lighter each side. Sounds like alot, but looking at the orginal pieces i believe it.
Boy, thats one aerea where the orginal stuff needs replacing big-time,with new generation,higher-tech.bits.I have for many years (bought my first De Tomaso in 1969) been battling to get my Pantera to handle decently on track day. and then when you got it working reasionably well,the settings 'vanish' into thin air as the geometery changes over time & numeropus bups etc. Notlong time either, espescially when u put some biggish power thru the gumballs and 4.22 C /W & pinion. Body & windscreen starts cracking,(mine has.) suspension goes out of wack etc. This all requiring massive strut bars/strenghting bits (Hall)to be bolted to the body; upper,lower in frt. and rear. More weight etc. I ve even tried the route of bolting the other Hall Kit: heavy bits of metal to the frt. A- arms to try and keep them inline so to speak. More weight where you dont want it. Not good.
My final desision taken awhile ago was to start on a clean page and design the thing from the ground up, so to speak,re.the chassis etc. i went to the best GT40 chassis builder here in Joburg (has built and sold 34 of these and countless other Cobra's) that, by the way, ran rings around everything they have gone up against. Everything first done on computor, then a working, wooden, scale model of the rolling chassis was made and tested before commiting to the first prototype. This was then built and tested with some changes made before imputing everything to PC. Everything is CNC cut & naturally fully jig-welded. I now have a space-framed,fully adjustable,in all directions,- with one Allen Key via the Rose-jointed setup. This set up exhibts NO 'scrub-in' or 'bump-steer' characteristics whatsoever and maintains the entegrity of its geometery as one would hope. This rolling-chassis with wheels & tyres weighs 180 kgs. Really. Built for the road,( for the track the tube walls are thinner for lighter weight.)-not just track Day.
Try this on your Pantera. Slip your jack in at the back and slowly jack the car up and watch as the two wheels/tyres 'tuck-in'as the car rises.. And boy do they tuck in. Just like a frigging swing-arm Beetle. -no not that bad.There is no 'Bump-Steer' to speak of. The prototype blew its motor due to the G-force developed thru the turns causing a oil-surge problem, but not before we blew everything into the weeds.Will go dry sump or at least 10 quart sump & baffles. (Hall) So now we have a excellent handling, accurate looking Pantera with all the latest, hi-tech possibilities along with obviouss advantage of being able to accomodate tall, light-weight wheels and new tyre technonology. Awesome. Prototype weighed 950klgs. on the weigh-bridge at Zwartkops Race track. So, yes, -the lighter weight up-rights are the way to go to. Let us know how u went and what u think. CHEERS, tai.