Hi All,
In process of getting 4879 red 73 Pantera transported to Australia, I see some history on PROVAMO which is great. Buying the car from BHCC is interseting but its not my first time. Would love see some history or talk to previous Owners if possible. The car had some work done at Halls in early 2000's. Once arrived in Australia she will get a clean up and RHD conversion. Will update this page as I go.
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I am not far away from BHCC and went there to inspect and test drive 4879 on behalf of someone on the east coast that was interested in the car. I like the car. Send me a PM if you like.
Hi Steve
sending PM
Some history from ProvaMo. 4879 was built 1/1973 ,originally yellow. Someone painted the engine red at some point, I guess when it was restored in the late 90s.
Current owner (Not sure who that was) purchased Pantera in early 80’s while living in San Diego,
Ca. Car was taken down to frame in mid 80’s to be restored. The Ford 351
Cleveland Engine was blue printed and balanced, transmission rebuilt,
new clutch, and red custom paint were some of major work done. Car was
assembled, but not finished until 1997 when Hall Pantera did final
assembly of electrical and completed work needed to put back on road. A
new radiator and hoses, as well as stainless steel cooling pipes were
added to help with overheating. In 1999 the seats and headliner were
reupholstered. Most recently new tires, new four barrel carburetor and
battery disconnect switch were installed. Car has been driven for
pleasure, but mostly garaged. It probably hasn’t been driven 20,000
miles since put on road in 1997.
Marti report confirms car was originally yellow. The search continues.
Well the car finally arrived in Australia and has been delivered to me.
Initial impressions the car is good and worth buying. Ive had my first drive of a Pantera and loved it.
Starting to prep for registration inspection.
Signal switch wouldnt stay engaged -see thread below and fixed
https://pantera.infopop.cc/top...er-wont-stay-engaged
I need to workout why the signals flash fast -when engaging left or right but flash at normal speed when hazard lights on, I suspect the flasher unit may be faulty, it has an EP36 heavy duty flasher fitted, may need to change to a EP35 from research
Speedo doesnt work- Sigh this is teerible...lol. Work through system and find the speedo cable has seized, the right angle broken internally and the shaft that goes into the gearbox has a broken drive tab....nothing left to fail. Im planning on changing to a Speedhut Speedbox which has a small electric motor that drives the stock Speedo and gets the speed from GPS , essentially transforming to GPS speedo. expensive but easier than replacing all those bits.
Does anyone know what the thread is on the end of the speedo cable that joins to the gauge?
https://speedhut.com/accessori...ive-speed-converter/
Initial bad engine vibration- When I picked the car from the transport people the car had a bad vibration when revving the engine, found one of the exhaust mounts had broken, welded up mount and all sorted.
I was very happy the trans is in great shape, shifts lovely no crunching or whining noises. Has some oil leaks
EP35 signal relay fixed my fast flashing signal issue for the record.
"Does anyone know what the thread is on the end of the speedo cable that joins to the gauge?"
The threads on the speedometer appear to be M16-1.0.
I can't find the post, but someone posted that the Speedbox "VW Thread-On" cable option fits the Veglia speedo. Call Speedhut to confirm.
John
Can anyone confirm if the Generator light is meant to light up when the ignition is turned on? My car is charging ok when engine running but the light doesnt seem to light up when first turned on.
Waiting for the speedbox to arrive, maybe a week and will report back how it works.
I've ordered a Thermo fan controller to stop the fans running all the time.
Ive removed the seat height spacers from out of the rear of the drivers seat, that has laid the back down, much more comfortable.
Yes it is meant to turn on when key on engine off; however, if someone has installed a one wire alternator you lose this function.
forestg you were right the car has a different Alternator fitted with a one wire Alt conversion. Charge light blankedoff with plugs.....a mystery solved, learning a new car.
Just curious because I don’t know…. Why do they call that a “1 wire” alternator?
I think I see four in your picture….
Thanks
The green / red stripe wire should connect to the "GEN" light in the speedo.
John
John I would like to get the dash Gen light working so might try wire as you say, is there a wiring diagram incase other changes need to be made?
Check out this link for numerous downloadable Pantera wiring diagrams:
Pay the $50 to join POCA and get access to the full technical library and newsletters online!
The wiring diagram below shows the charge indicator light wiring. Magenta circles show a white wire connected to the tach +12v (red) wire and extends to the charge indicator bulb socket in the speedo. The other terminal of the socket connects to a blue / black wire that extends into the engine compartment and will connect to the green / red stripe wire from your alternator.
The Charge indicator's bulb socket is a TWO terminal socket. It does NOT ground the light bulb. There is a 15 ohm, 10 watt resistor soldered across the socket's two terminals. In normal operation, this resistor gets very warm, usually too hot to touch.
As an alternate to the above socket and resistor cludge, Pantera Electronics offers a modern replacement which can use either an incandescent bulb or an LED bulb.
John
Speedbox
As previously discussed, my speedo cable, right angle drive and gearbox internal shaft had all failed. I didnt want to fit used parts to continue the cycle. I found the speedbox by Speedhut. Its an electric drive that connects to your speedo via a custom cable. This seemed to be the answer I was looking for.
I bought the kit and selected the VW thread on cable option, When the kit arrived I found the speedo nut would not fit my Pantera speedo, was easy fix to swap the nut but in hind sight I would send my old cable nut to speedhut to fit to new cable.
It's a very system to set up. I connected the drive to my speedo and carried out calibration procedure, press a button wait for the speedo needle to line up with the 60mph mark and let go of button, all went well. before fitting the system in the Pantera I set up the system in my daily driver to test accuracy against my dailys speedo, all worked well. Fitted the unit to my pantera and road tested very nicely. smooth needle, no bouncing and very accurate. I have the gps option but the system will work via a wheel speed sensor or EFI speed signal from an ECU.
Im very happy with the results, my car gets to keep its original speedo with original miles and I can ditch the speedo cable. Will report back after I have put some miles on the car.
A few updates on the Pantera.
Been driving the hell out of the Pantera, loving it.
@albanygt40 posted:I found the speedbox by Speedhut. Its an electric drive that connects to your speedo via a custom cable. This seemed to be the answer I was looking for.
I bought the kit and selected the VW thread on cable option, When the kit arrived I found the speedo nut would not fit my Pantera speedo, was easy fix to swap the nut but in hind sight I would send my old cable nut to speedhut to fit to new cable.
It's a very system to set up. I connected the drive to my speedo and carried out calibration procedure, press a button wait for the speedo needle to line up with the 60mph mark and let go of button, all went well. before fitting the system in the Pantera I set up the system in my daily driver to test accuracy against my dailys speedo, all worked well. Fitted the unit to my pantera and road tested very nicely. smooth needle, no bouncing and very accurate. I have the gps option but the system will work via a wheel speed sensor or EFI speed signal from an ECU.
Im very happy with the results, my car gets to keep its original speedo with original miles and I can ditch the speedo cable.
Sounds like a great solution! Do you have a part number/link to share so others don't have to reinvent the wheel?
And glad to hear you're driving the hell out of your car! They were meant to be driven and are a joy to drive!
Thanks!
After 6 months of having my Speedhut gauges, I still do not have a speedometer that works. Two cables later and numerous trips to the shop, replacement by Speedhut of several modules and harnesses, and I still don't know how fast I'm going. I think I'll call them again about this solution.
Update on the Pantera- Set it up for an Historic event , the factory brakes with upgraded pads, fluid and so on just werent up to the event, gave the wall a slight rub in the second last race. Loved racing the car. I need to upgrade brakes. Im in Australia, I was looking to buy a kit from SAAC but the freight is thousands of Australian dollars alone, So I need to go it alone peace together a kit. For the rear Im thinking of vented rotors in .810 so I can use the factory brake caliper as a hand brake and a wilwood 4 piston caliper with a custom mount.
Fronts I was looking at PanteraDoug's Thunderbird set up with Wilwood calipers.Not sure withch thunderbird rotor to get (Doug if you're reading this please contact me)
Dave,
Hi-Spec in the UK make a nice rear caliper with integrated handbrake, it's UK IVA/MoT compliant so has to hold on a rolling road.
For the Group4 to be vintage legal, I had the original spec rotors shipped from the UK and yes shipping was as much as the rotors! If you ever need anything from the US, we have a Summit Racing store across town, just drop me a PM.
While Im prepping to paint after the race crash, Im changing to Euro bumpers. I bought some fibreglass versions as they are going to be black but wish I bought steel now. Welded up all the big bumper holes.
where did you buy the fiberglass bumpers ?
I am looking for a set of fiberglass front bumpers.
Simon
Simon
@simon posted:where did you buy the fiberglass bumpers ?
I am looking for a set of fiberglass front bumpers.
Simon
I got them from a guy in the UK. He was very helpful. They are going to need a lot of work. I can find you his contact details if you PM me.
Stripped rear uprights, Changing to a vented rotor, The rotors I have lined up need a bit of machining to fit. Torn between fitting front mount rotors or just fitting them behind as per factory? The rotors a re vented and have the same offset as the factory. I am replacing the little factory brake calipers at the same time. News bearings and nuts going in. Im lucky as someone in the past rebuilt my uprights and did it right.
RHD conversion- Started on this, first thing is to fit the RHD steering rack, it's very close to the LHD rack, the rack and mounts need a little bit of dressing to fit.
what Dash are you planned to use ?
a couple of weeks ago there was a RH drive dash on Ebay UK .
this was pulled from a RH Pantera and converted to a LH Gr4 conversion.
Simon
I got a RHD dash from Tony, Ferrari rack fitted nice and splines and threads are the same, fitting up dash then can mount steering column.
and the heater A/C box ?
Center console ?
how do you fix those?
maybe use a modern universal heater-A/C box ?
Steering done, shroud fits nice to dash, all connected and running smooth. Onto pedals next (The hard part) .
Great work so far, are you cutting the pedal box out and relocating or duplicating on the right?
Im running a Tilton Pedal box with twin masters, I prefer the manual pedal feel. Will look similar to standard but I have also moved the pedal box as far forward to get more leg room. Templates made, steel tomorrow.
Most of the hard is done now, I need to to do battery tray tomorrow. Also need to move hand brake and modify rear firewall hump for more seat space
because you already modifie the front trunk maybe an idea to lowwer the battery try under the trunk floor ?
like the 9000 series ?
I got the car resprayed and the RHD conversion finished, so much better to drive and the Tilton pedals very nice.Ran the car in this years Round the Houses race meet, the day started ok but by mid morning was pouring with rain.
