No first-hand knowledge, so no recommendations or certainty on who carries what.
P.I.M. motorsports, Jerry
Panteras by Wilkinson, Steve
pantera parts connection, Larry Stock.
there have been some small production, true carbon fiber panels being made for our cars, a search in these archives might provide some contact information.
Be aware, most of what you find being described as carbon fiber will just be a carbon fiber overlay on fiberglass pieces
Larry
This is exactly what I want! Thanks @davidnunn. Just ordered a fiberglass one from PIM👍🏼. Hoping Jerry can modify it like this.🤞🏼
A word of advice. Get some kind of guarantee as to the fit of the fiberglass deck lid. If PIM won’t give you one, cancel the order. I know of one Pantera owner that spent thousands of dollars in body shop time, just getting a fiberglass deck lid to fit. You’re probably assuming you could just paint it and bolt in on but I doubt it’s that simple.
@davidnunn spoke to Jerry at PIM and he's done a bunch over the years and he says they fit just like stock. I'll keep everyone posted. My CV's get here on Saturday from Pantera Performance!!!
Do you have a link for the CVs? I was hoping to go that route too
With a much lighter fiberglas deck lid, you'll need far softer decklid shocks to open it. Stock strength shocks might warp the thing over time. With some aftermarket decks, one shock (mounted on either side) will open the lid just fine. Also helps to clean up more engine bay clutter. The swap loos fine from the back- how does it drive?
@tajon Pantera Performance.
@bosswrench still waiting on Holley for a computer to run it
Got 4-6 week wait for deck lid. Thanks for the advice on the shocks.
The clearance of the shifter rod is a tad greater with the CV’s, but hindsight, probably not necessary to swap CV’s
The computer is on the way! I was starting to think I’d never get it😬. Ordered in March. Some other updates. I had the rear firewall reupholstered. It’s worth noting that some time should be spent evaluating how the piece should be fabricated to close the firewall. I’m now on my 3rd version of the piece and made this one out of aircraft aluminum at the plane shop. The issue that I have now, is the upper water hose needs to be shortened a little and I can’t use the super sweet t-bolt clamps there bc they hit. It’s still going to be tight, but I’m going to run it like that until I get a wear spot, and then emboss with some cool tools. Hoping I can leave the upholstered part flat without a bulge.
Hindsight, I would have re-fiberglassed the top of the panel that hooks to the firewall PRIOR to reupholstery, but I didn’t even think about it, so had to work backwards a little bit to avoid redoing upholstery. If anyone wants a nice custom firewall piece, my old one will work for someone who just edits the top of the fiberglass prior to upholstery(the ideal way to do it)
Got it! 3/4 taken off upper elbow. Fits perfect👍🏼
Coyote is all wired up and idles! Decided to Go with HP computer to be able to have L&M cams and 8 stack tunable.
I placed I wired the fuel pump and Tach adapter from Pantera electronics through the computer.
big thanks to Jon Haas at Pantera electronics for helping me through this. Tact adapter is perfect, and was super easy to install.
We are going to tune it this week, hopefully.
The fiberglass deck lid from PIM wasn’t a slam dunk. I had to remove the weatherstripping and adjust the rain gutter rails, where the hinge mounts to get it to slide forward and latch. We have spent hours trying to get a good alignment with chims and wrap our brains around how to not grind on the car pinch welds in order to get it to fit. The idea was to use this deck lid and be able to place the other deck light on if I get rid of the 8 stack. Haven’t adjusted/cut/ground the lid at all bc might have to return it😥 and cut the flawless stock one.
Does anybody have any experience/ideas how to get the “wing part”/rounded forward corner as it turns into the roof line higher without bodywork? Both sides are sub 1/4 inch. See pics. Thanks!
I had a feeling you'd run into these issues with the fiberglass decklid. They are fine for a race car, where weight is the primary concern and fit is secondary. It is always a ton of work to get them to fit like an OEM steel decklid. Just return it, if you can.
Cutting a notch in the original decklid isn't "the end of the world". Just make sure you save the piece you cut out. There are lots of good sheet metal fabricators out there, that could weld the notch back into the decklid, so no one could ever tell it had been cut out.
I'm surprised that you needed a tach adapter for the HP. My tach worked fine without an adapter, with my Holley Dominator ECU. I assume the tach output on the HP is the same. Oh well, as long as it works!
Hopefully, we won't have to wait too long for a posting that has a video attached to it, with sound!
Call Larry Stock at PPC and ask him who he had build a 6061-sheet deck for a guy racing in Europe a decade or two ago. As I remember, it was complicated but I never saw the thing. The GR-4s had aluminum door skins crimped onto stock steel frames, but DeTomaso never went further with hood & deck, maybe because "other" race factories in Gr-4 lobbied a weight that didn't require more aluminum. Allessandro never spent money he could save....
@davidnunn posted:I had a feeling you'd run into these issues with the fiberglass decklid. They are fine for a race car, where weight is the primary concern and fit is secondary. It is always a ton of work to get them to fit like an OEM steel decklid. Just return it, if you can.
Cutting a notch in the original decklid isn't "the end of the world". Just make sure you save the piece you cut out. There are lots of good sheet metal fabricators out there, that could weld the notch back into the decklid, so no one could ever tell it had been cut out.
I'm surprised that you needed a tach adapter for the HP. My tach worked fine without an adapter, with my Holley Dominator ECU. I assume the tach output on the HP is the same. Oh well, as long as it works!
Hopefully, we won't have to wait too long for a posting that has a video attached to it, with sound!
Thanks David! I tried again to get it to fit and no go for like the 10th attempt(spacers, adjustments of rain rail, latch, trim, etc. An exercise in futility, but needed to take a video of how far it was off for PIM so they could maybe help me get it to fit without bodywork. Good buddy is an aircraft mechanic who specializes in bodywork on aircraft(metal, fiberglass, composite etc). He said it's a no go again, and got a little irritated when I asked him to help me try again...haha. You're right, it's close, but I'd have to do a lot of grinding and add fiberglass to all the edges etc... They should over size these a little b/c much easier to cut down the edges than add. I'm going to have him cut out the notches in the deckled. He recommended following the contour of the 8 stack into the decklid.
Dave at Autotrend EFI will be remotely tuning it as so as I get my Synchrometer; should be here today! Video to come!
Tuning is happening on Friday!
It’s alive!!!!
Wow, that is really nice. Congratulations.
Time to button it up! We did install a 160 degree thermostat and that seems to keep the CHT at around 190. Firewall panel fits perfect. Tony at Cutterbilt Aviation made it. https://www.cutterbiltaeroservices.com/services
@USCDOC13 posted:Time to button it up!
With all the beautiful installation work and custom fabrication of the new firewall cover, I think you would want to get rid of the manual heater shutoff valves, which will require removing the interior panel and firewall cover to open or close, and replace them with an electric valve so you merely hit a switch on or under your dash.
Here's the Thermotion 354-69494 that someone else on this list installed: https://www.amazon.com/Thermot...69494/dp/B07119TY9Y/
Available for less at: https://www.truckac.com/heater...354-69494-t4037.html
And even LESS EXPENSIVE direct from Thermotion: https://www.thermotion.com/4-p...l-valve-pn-354-69694
I'm thinking of installing one of these myself.
Following are some other inexpensive electric heater bypass valves. Note that I have NOT verified if the ports on the following valves are sized correctly for our heater hoses.
4-port valve from a Cadillac: https://www.1aauto.com/chevrol...hcx00004/535137/1997
Or a pair of these from a Ford F-350: https://www.amazon.com/KarPart...495AB/dp/B09HY2PBW9/
This looks like a generic version of the same thing: https://www.amazon.com/Four-Se...Valve/dp/B001TPSXDG/
Pretty sure the Cadillac, Ford and the generic versions are not electric. I see no electrical contacts on any of them. I highly suspect the round device on them is a vacuum canister and it is engine vacuum that operates these valves
Larry
