You've probably noticed this newbie here occasionally, and some of you probably recognize my Pantera #1750 from the previous owners. Some may even know it's shortcomings too from having looked at it more closely when it's been for sale in the past.
It ain't perfect, but pretty much exactly what I expected. The repaint is not incredible, but its decent for a driver, and I'll probably do rotisserie at some point and go back to original yellow (maybe
). Haven't found obvious big rust problems, so if there are some they are not glaring. Looks quite solid overall, now that I've had lot of time to look.I got it here last August and had little time drive it before bad weather in the fall. I took the ambitious goal to participate Charlie McCall's Le Mans classic tour this summer which means more than 3000miles back and forth + all the driving when there. So, I've been busy prepping and debugging the damn thing lately. LOL.
- Battery dead, change
- Clutch fluid mostly in front trunk, worked after fill, but need to strip front trunk next winter. Not good to have hydroscopic stuff laying there.
- Rear wheel bearings changed, found one ball joint loose
nut was there held with cotter pin though... - Front wheel bearing, some slop, tightened, lot less tracking now.
- New hi temp brake fluids of course.
- Suspension fresh with powder coated a-arms, sway bar and Carrera coilovers, need to check alignment.
- Windshield washer bottle gone, system clogged. Fixed with aftermarket bottle and motor.
- Some paint nicks fixed.
- lot of oily crud under engine and tranny. Put Redline heavy into tranny with tiny dose of brake fluid for softening the seals and gaskets. Tigthtened oil pan bolts, valve cover bolts, and intake bolts. Cleaned that oily cake from the bottom of drivetrain to really see leaks. Was sure that the rear main would leak, but incredible enough, zero oil leaks now!
- Heard some rattle inside other valve cover, was mentally ready for valvetrain damage, but it was only the oil baffle and rocker interference. -> clearanced. The bugger still nicks just a little...
- Heater valve leaked, fixed with ideas from this site.
- AC not cooling, but new compressor and part of the hoses changed. The car has been standing a lot, so just topped the system and it works like a charm.
- Checked starter, its new.
- Checked distributor, it's fitted with pertronix I. Need to get another module to the glovebox just in case. Just need to verify if the disty is the original dual point to be able to order.
- Tires are over 10yr old, ordered new to avoid autobahn explosions.
- Carb seems decent 670 holley, but idle may be adjusted little lean. Need to experiment.
- Gauges work according to reputation, but noticed that they behave logigally, when headlights are not on! No apparent cooling problems so far. Fluidyne rad and stainless piping, new but cheapo looking water pump. Gotta look at the gauge grounding.
- Almost started an electrical fire with some unprotected loose wire, need to investigate. This happened today, on the road, without cell phone, and lost the spark when it happened... Glad I happened to have one screwdriver with me. People were staring when I was sitting in the engine bay in the side of the road.
- Alternator seems fresh.
- Small gear noise at certain speed despite which gear is in. Need to look at the ring and pinion + rear end side bearings next winter. No issues with syncro's or gears, which is a relief.
- It was smoking a lot when started up cold in the beginning. After some driving and tightening up intake its clearly less now. May still have small internal leak in the intake gasket, or it's just the umbrella seals with slightly loose stem clearance when cold. Probably that, because it's only right when its cold.
- Still need new plugs and a spare set.
- Need to get spare v-belts and find my spare fuel pump from somewhere.
- Last but not least, I took the car to use early this spring to gain some miles to see how it works. The second day I crushed the driver door to a steel pole when backing up from parking place. What a brain fart. Got the door straightened and painted in just about 3 weeks. Just lucky, because my racing buddy owns a paint shop. Despite the metallic, it turned out better than I hoped for.
Lots of small stuff here and there, but the car feels very solid and reliable when driving, not to mention enjoyable to drive. I feel also spoiled having a nicely working choke for the cold starts and cam that idles nice!
I'll get some pix in the weekend.
Cheers,
Janne