'72 #3427

June 4th, 2011
Mmmmmm, Forgeline wheels. I have waited soooooooo long for these (17 weeks to be exact). This is the first time they’ve done nickel plated deep dish lips of this magnitude. Satin black, center-lock centers. Titanium fasteners. This is pic taken while the wheels were being assembled. I’ll post new pics soon.

More progress in the engine bay too. Axles are back in. Chassis brace is polished and installed. New motor mounts, pulleys, belts, etc. AirCon condenser and new fan in place. I thought I had new velocity stacks, but the company sent me steel stacks instead of the aluminum ones that were advertised. Uh, no. Ordered another set from a different company. Fingers crossed.

July 6th, 2011
I worked with Josh over at PIMotorsports to come up with this design for the new engine cover. Webers always require a little trimming of the deck lid, and that’s where most Pantera owners leave it. Cut a hole and call it good. But I wanted it to look finished, as if the car was designed to have Webers from the beginning. I wanted something that would sit flush with the top of the velocity stacks and we also needed the engine cover to remain rigid.

So this new engine cover evenly wraps around the velocity stacks (not pictured) and ramps up to their max height. It ramps down and sits flush with the deck lid at the back. It’s seen here in bare fiberglass, but it’s off to paint this week so we should see the finished product next week. So exciting!

July 22nd, 2011
We are very close to being able to drive the Pantera home. Looks like next week everything will be buttoned up and ready to go. I have some new pics of the engine cover for you. Once I get it home I’ll smooth and paint the trimmed pieces of the deck lid, and get to work on a bunch of other little bits and pieces.

August 15th, 2011
Two years ago this month we were putting fender flares on the Pantera. How crazy. It seems like just a few months ago.

I’ve been working hard on the Pantera for the last two weekends. Nothing terribly visual, just a bunch of important odds and ends. I have a good number of cuts, scrapes and bruises, and I think a separated rib.

Swapped in a new 100 amp alternator. Got the timing and fuel pressure set properly. Have the carbs pretty close. Put the rest of the interior back together. Painted the under side of the decklid and cleaned up the cut-outs around the webers. Re-painted the engine cover semi-gloss black. Moved the throttle cable to a higher position on the gas pedal, etc, etc.

Drove the car around all weekend to put some miles on the motor. The ol Pantera gets tons of attention and drinks plenty of gas. Every time I parked the car people were taking photos or asking questions about it. I took a couple quick pics myself to show the finished engine cover and decklid set-up.

I've got to do a photo shoot soon. Get pictures of everything as it sits today. It's come a long way since 2004!

I was just going back over the pics. The car is incredible! You and Jaime have a great eye for what is going to look good. Which Vintage Air unit did you end up using?
Mike

It's the small unit with the three vents. I believe a four vent would work too, but it's a tighter squeeze. Three seemed fine to me. I'll dig up the actual part numbers this week and get back to you.

Absolutely beautiful. Love that dash/A/C. Super craftmanship

Absolutely beautiful indeed! Love to see it in person and really relish the craftsmanship.

This car is totally awesome and the amount of dedication, time, expense and love clearly shows in your finished show stopping masterpiece. Once day I will be like you my friend!!! Bravo and simple brilliant!!!

MacMan,
Are you just going to run w/o an air cleaner? Doesn't that shorten engine life?

As with everyone else you car came out amazing.

I too was wondering about which vingtage air unit you used like ktmike asked?

Are the electronic controls for temp and flapper setting part of the vintage air unit or sourced seperately? Looks like a good solution to eliminate those pesky sliders.

quote:

Originally posted by Corey Price:
MacMan,
Are you just going to run w/o an air cleaner? Doesn't that shorten engine life?

Real men don't need air cleaners! It gets parked in the garage, it doesn't rain in SoCal and I don't put a ton of mileage on it, so I don't expect it'll be an issue. Whiplash has never run filters on his either, and I got a ride in it a month or two back, and the thing still screams.

I just put screens on them to keep anything big out.

I'll keep an eye on the oil and see if I can get a sense of it getting dirty more quickly.

quote:

Originally posted by pantera2077:
As with everyone else you car came out amazing.

I too was wondering about which vingtage air unit you used like ktmike asked?

Are the electronic controls for temp and flapper setting part of the vintage air unit or sourced seperately? Looks like a good solution to eliminate those pesky sliders.

Thanks!!! I'm still gonna dig up those part numbers for you. All the AC related parts, the vents and the controls are all Vintage Air stuff. That was my big concern for the AC, was getting rid of the cable sliders. :P

quote:

Originally posted by MacMan:

quote:

Originally posted by Corey Price:
MacMan,
Are you just going to run w/o an air cleaner? Doesn't that shorten engine life?

Real men don't need air cleaners! It gets parked in the garage, it doesn't rain in SoCal and I don't put a ton of mileage on it, so I don't expect it'll be an issue. Whiplash has never run filters on his either, and I got a ride in it a month or two back, and the thing still screams.

I just put screens on them to keep anything big out.

I'll keep an eye on the oil and see if I can get a sense of it getting dirty more quickly.

Please let us know how it goes. It doesn't rain that much here in Utah either, but we definitely have dust... I was under the impression that air cleaners can be a fire hazard if the webers aren't tuned correctly.

It does look great, by the way!

Wow, beautiful build. I really like what you did with the fiberglass Weber plate -- looks factory.

The carburetor inspired dash ducts look nice too -- did you make these too? I am interested in what you used for the Vintage Air unit as well. Does it interfere with your A/V equipment? Do you have any A/V stuff in your car -- I cannot remember from the photos I just looked at 2 minutes ago; scary.

Looks Great!

Mark

So we used the Compac Gen II system. It has heat/cool/defrost. Part number is 68000-VUZ-A.

Those carb inspired vents are optional Vintage Air bits. I love em. I really want to take the blades off and have them brass plated to complete the look.

I don't currently have any audio equipment in the car (besides the mufflers), but my center console has plenty of room. I have a pocket where the radio would go.

We DID loose the glovebox. That was the only sacrifice. The dash was totally smoothed over there. I don't have any gloves anyway.

I've been watching this thread and don't know where to start on my comments.....the original car was nice to start with... then it started to transform into THE DREAM. Where do you start your compliments: the paint, the flares, the engine, interior? I can only imagine the time you have spent on the car. Absolutely outstandingly beautiful work!

Isn't it illegal to run an air cleaner on Webers! Well maybe immoral, the horns look way too cool. LOL The sound they give is amazing. You can run a screen to keep the big pieces from going in the engine or a screen and a foam dust catcher. I've seen full blown air cleaners run on Webers but that kills the look. I ran the foam dust catcher type and it was pretty good protection, maybe not for dirt roads but I don't think they'll be driving much of that.

What size chokes are you running? Is it dialed in? I remember it was an experience dialing it in.

Thanks Chris. I am leaning towards a Vintage Air unit as well. They are just up the road in San Antonio. I like how the unit is basically self-contained and they have options for style of control panel,vents and knobs etc.
Mike

Car is looking better everytime I see it. Love the details. The pinstriping on the edges of the carbon really helps too.