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A day in the life of a DeTomaso owner...

noquarternoquarterMember
Warning, contains both total loss of power and lots of smoke in the cabin, not for the faint of heart...

A: Drove my son to the train station in the Champ. When returning towards my car, I noticed a very old geezer in a small crap car parking next to me. He parked with one wheel on the road, clearly not in control. I worried he would open the door into my car, but he got out alright. Then he started looking into the Longchamp. Then at the back. And the other side. And the front. And then he took out a cell phone and photographed it. By then I had reached him, and we started to talk. He said that he thought he knew every car in the world, but not this one. I told him about it. He told me about his 80s formula open wheel race car he still had. Don't know if he still drives it, that would be impressive. Had to run...

B: Stopped at a red light. A group of sweaty runners stopped and pointed at me. They jogged in one place until I could drive, only after they had heard me accelerate (I was a little aggressive), did they run on

C: Took the Pantera for a drive, first lengthy drive after the rebuild. I've got an ICE rev limiter now, adjustable with micro switches from the cabin. I tried to put it at 3000 rpm to test, and it worked fine. Pushed the micro switch 3 times to get back to 6000 rpm limit, and the engine just died. No power! Cars that I had just overtaken with a vengeance piling up behind me. I looked at the box, and saw that I had in fact set the rpm limit to 0 rpm! Funny system, when you push the switch above the number it decreases. Those Aussies, everything upside down... Smiler

D: Less than a minute later I noticed the air from the vents was warm, not air conditioned anymore Frowner. Further, I heard a new sound. And then I saw smoke in the cabin! This time I stopped immediately to get my fire extinguisher. Strange smoke, not something burning, not vapor. Turns out it was A/C, a hose broke. It looks like an original hose, strangely when I found the leak, it was not worn through, it was a very round nice hole, like someone inserted a screw and took it out again. So off to the A/C guy again, I'm paying his vacation for sure. Maybe I should change all hoses this winter...

DeTomaso ownership has its ups and downs for sure. Never boring
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ahudsonahudsonMember
Too bad about the AC. Had a vaguely similar story.

Once, after getting R134A installed in my 'new' compresssor, I was just driving and chillin and loving it.

Then, a loud 'pop!' and a sound like someone just punched a person with one lung in the stomach. A loud wheeze from the other side of life.

I look back to see a hose spew its ozone friendly contents, until every dime I'd spent for it was gone. Hot air ensued. From several locations in fact.

New hoses, new o-rings, new refrigerant, new condenser and fan. All's well.

Hope yours turns out well too.
Pantera 3rd&LastPantera 3rd&LastMember
Mikael,
Very sorry to hear about your experience.

I am still paranoid about adding anything computerized to my Pantera. I am still running the original dual point dizzy. Simple & straight forward.


As for Adams Hudson..................


AC is for WIMPS ! No need for AC in a Pantera.

If it is hot just drive faster !

95 degree heat and 95% humidity in Atlanta, usually for 80 days in HotLanta ! Smiler
Last edited by Pantera 3rd&Last
57545754If you're not kickin' up dust, you're collectin' it!
Mikael,
Glad the 'smoke' in the cabin wasn't a fire and hopefully the A/C guy will fix things up right for you.

That rev limiter with in-cabin control sounds nice, does it work with any particular brands of ignition system, or is it an all ICE system?

Adams, I hope you got out of the car quickly and didn't breath too much of that "ozone friendly" gas - right there is a good reason to convert to fast window motors Wink

Ozone friendly - yes (vs. R12), but supposed to still be bad in terms of global warming. I've read it's to be phased out in many countries in the coming years, and getting rid of the stuff is expected to be a nightmare. There are alternatives cropping up which claim to be (this won't come as a surprise) better at cooling, safer for the environment, less toxic to humans, less stressful on A/C components, and don't cause a particular type of cancer in male rats - some are propane/butane based ... wonder how long until they find something wrong with propane and we have to go back to BBQing with lumps of coal?
noquarternoquarterMember
quote:
That rev limiter with in-cabin control sounds nice, does it work with any particular brands of ignition system, or is it an all ICE system?


I have all ICE.
It's all assembled with multiwire connections, so using it with other systems requires some skill. There's no curve in the dist, it's electronic in a box and the curve can be chosen via micro switches.
And yes, when I get stranded I really get stranded. Unless ICE helicopter's in from Australia to help me, their customer service is actually very good.
noquarternoquarterMember
Got the hose fixed today, new filter as well. So I'm cool again, and the A/C guy could call his travel agent and upgrade his Bali Hotel...

quote:
AC is for WIMPS


To each his own. And I do understand people that rip it all out for weight. But my view: if it's there, it should work.

Last winter I had to drive the Pantera in freezing temperatures. Since this is a California car, the heater is disconnected. Still, I was comfortable in the car. This shows just how much heat enters the cabin, so to me A/C is required. On our recent SpaItalia trip, one nameless individual about to assemble his car w/o the A/C said that he had changed his mind from driving as passenger in a non-A/C Pantera.
Pantera 3rd&LastPantera 3rd&LastMember
quote:
Originally posted by No Quarter:
Got the hose fixed today, new filter as well. So I'm cool again, and the A/C guy could call his travel agent and upgrade his Bali Hotel...

quote:
AC is for WIMPS


To each his own. And I do understand people that rip it all out for weight. But my view: if it's there, it should work.

Last winter I had to drive the Pantera in freezing temperatures. Since this is a California car, the heater is disconnected. Still, I was comfortable in the car. This shows just how much heat enters the cabin, so to me A/C is required. On our recent SpaItalia trip, one nameless individual about to assemble his car w/o the A/C said that he had changed his mind from driving as passenger in a non-A/C Pantera.



Mikael,

My comments were actually meant to be sarcastic.

As I am well in my 50s and it is hot as hell here in Atlanta, working AC would be great. My Muscle car days of my youth with concern over weight and more power are long gone.

Over the 17 years owning #4134 I always found something more sexy to do than fix the AC. But sadly I find myself driving it less and less each summer and enjoying it most in the fall winter and spring.

Maybe this winter I will finally get around to fixing it !

Jeff
noquarternoquarterMember
quote:
My comments were actually meant to be sarcastic.


I know, not offended.

And you're right about sequence. Starting, driving, handling etc., all that comes before A/C.
I have a non-DeTomaso friend (well, sort of, you know how it is), his cars are always always shiny and polished. But they don't always work proper. I could never do that, I want everything working, then I enjoy washing and polishing.
Guess I would be comfortable buying a car from myself Big Grin
noquarternoquarterMember
quote:
A: Drove my son to the train station in the Champ. When returning towards my car, I noticed a very old geezer in a small crap car parking next to me. He parked with one wheel on the road, clearly not in control. I worried he would open the door into my car, but he got out alright. Then he started looking into the Longchamp. Then at the back. And the other side. And the front. And then he took out a cell phone and photographed it. By then I had reached him, and we started to talk. He said that he thought he knew every car in the world, but not this one. I told him about it. He told me about his 80s formula open wheel race car he still had. Don't know if he still drives it, that would be impressive. Had to run...

B: Stopped at a red light. A group of sweaty runners stopped and pointed at me. They jogged in one place until I could drive, only after they had heard me accelerate (I was a little aggressive), did they run on


Maybe I should add that today I was followed home while in the Longchamp by a Toyota crap car, one of those red ones where the paint couldn't stand the sun. Out comes a big guy, did I cut him off? Of course not, "what a great car, what is it?". Then he saw my Pantera which was parked in my driveway, a seldom occurrence, and flipped. He seemed to know about cars, so after talking a bit, I was polite and asked what he had of fun things. First he mentioned his boat, and then we both remembered having raced on the fjord last year (I won! (which should be no surprise having one engine more than him Cool )). And he was assembling a 68 Firebird. Well, I said, then I have something in here you should see, and I showed him my 68 Camaro. Could be my new best friend maybe? Well at least he's a mechanic with his own shop, in my town, good to know if I need a to borrow a tool or something Smiler
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