Here’s the new wheels I got at 4:00 today, Friday, a week and four days before taking off for Vegas with the guys coming thru from Atlanta. These wheels solved the problem of the front brake calipers clamping down on the Campagnolo factory rims: the front wheels now spin with the lug nuts tightened down. I was worried about that. I got nothing done last night after work, I was so dog tired I laid down for a nap and slept from 6:00 PM to 7:00 AM. I’ve been trying too hard to get it all done, and my body dictated rest.
I have to say I think the world of the folks who went to bat for me to make it happen and get these wheels to me. I have no idea why they had trouble from their supplier, and it could be a legitimate reason, that is none of my business, like death in the family, or something else that caused the hold up, but words flew, and tempers flared, and it got done. I also must say I’m not proud of some of the language I used, or that I felt I had to plead my case. I can tell you this: I’m a criminal defense attorney, and it makes cops mad when I win cases, but I’ve won their respect over the years and it’s called fighting fair, because it’s always a fight with them when you’re the defense attorney. After it’s all over, we still call each other by our first names (except the new one’s, and that’ll come later). I contribute to their causes, like fund drives when one of them gets shot, and they put heavy patrols in my neighborhood when I got burglarized. I hope we can get along after going thru rough times, and that’s always been the case, and I’m fairly confident I can continue to sort things out with people I have conflicts with and continue right along as usual, in Pantera business, and in the courtroom business.
I does make me really proud the measures people go to for me, even if we have a few struggles along the way. I want these people to know they can count on me, and sometimes they call upon me, and I do what’s necessary to help.
I’m going to have to take my Pantera to the body shop and get a weld done where I found a crack, just below the left rear sway bar mounting bracket, by the place where it’s jacked up from. I don’t know if the body shop is busy, but I know the owner. I rented my first law office from his dad for nine years and was never late with a rent payment. I know the whole family, and I know he’ll do whatever he can to help, because that’s how he is. No guarantees though, so I have to get a little lucky.
My Pantera is still on jack stands, and that’s because I still have work to do underneath it. I fired it up and ran it for twenty minutes, hoping the hydraulic lifter(s) would pump up and cure that whisping noise. Nope. I don’t get that lucky. I got out the stethiscope I use for my high blood pressure and narrowed down the area the noise is coming from. Crawling under the car, I saw the answer: black on the header gasket, on the front exhaust ports, left and right. Mike told me I risk burning a valve if I drive it to Vegas, so I’m going to do that job again. Coz helped me reinstall my headers last time, and it was a struggle getting the headers on, they just didn’t want to line up. We used a phillips head screwdriver to leverage to holes up and get a bolt started in the front headers on both sides. This time, I’ll be doing it alone, but Mike’s lending me his exhaust spreader tool to do it, so with the right tools and experience, it should be easier. This time I’m tightening the headers from the front to the rear. I have these little header locking nuts with c-clips on them that Husker told me about, and they worked to prevent the headers from loosening, but Coz and I had to trim the header gasket to make it fit last time, and it was narrow in that area on the front. Mike said I can’t just tighten it up, I have to use a new gasket, since it is burned. So, this time I’m going to use a separate gasket for that one exhaust port on each side to get greater gasket coverage. The original gasket burned thru in the same area, so I need to address this issue for longer term reliability. A trip to the speed shop tomorrow....
Mike also lent me his air tool that does the bleeding, as I saw was required to use from some other posts on this PIBB a few weeks or months ago. SO, I won’t have that red clutch line burst. I learned that reading Swen Dog’s post on that topic and ordered the same hydraulic hose he did, and it bolted right up, very nicely. If you’re reading between the lines here, you’re seeing that we all learn from each other, and I hope you learn a few tips or techniques from me, too. It works well for all the Pantera vendors too, because no matter who we order from, they all get more business, since reading about me or Swen Dog or Husker or Coz or hundreds of others doing projects serves to motivate those others among us to get going on a project they’ve been thinking about. So, let’s keep each other encouraged and keep teaching each other what we learn. It’s good business for me to get off the couch and do some physical work in the garage, and I get tremendous satisfaction from completing projects, like this brake upgrade kit installation project.
I hope you like my ‘novel’ as one of the Canadian’s, Deeb, called it. It’s just about a completed project, actually it is, except for the road testing phase. There’s just a few more things on my checklist to get accomplished before heading to Vegas and meeting some of you in person. I’ll look forward to being a Newbie there too, like a few of you other guys too. We’ll have fun, and our instincts will tell us: ‘man, that guy is just like me, he goes thru the same efforts to get his cat healthy and hopped up as I do’ and that’s one of the reasons I’m going, besides doing some driving that must feel like it must be illegal...... Like the POCA T-shirts I saw in the grey jacket issue I got this week. (Good article on Dyno Day, wish the Pantera guys in New Mexico were more organized and we could do that too.)
Adios amigos, I guess this story or novel is done. I guess it was Marlin Jack that said he likes a story that goes according to plan. Hollywood likes movies with happy endings, but tjis ain’t Hollywood, it’s real, and it’s a happy ending. Thanks to all who helped and to all who help each other everyday. That’s the Pantera spirit, dude.
Ron a/ka/a VFI
P.S. Thanks Steve, Dave, Mike and Tony (my machinist, whose assistant was scared to work on Pantera parts until Tony said, just do it one step at a time, like anything else.) There’s no way I can mention and thank all the people who have been helping me and motivating me, but you know who you are, and you know I’ll do whatever I can for you anytime I can, so just let me know.
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