Can anyone suggest where to purchase new, stock looking interior parts like door cards, carpets and engine bulkhead panels and recommend a good upholstery shop near Charlotte, NC?
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Door cards, I am not aware of any vendor that offers these.
Door card upholstery, smsautofabrics.com. Give them a call as I don’t think it is listed on their website
carpet from any of the vendors but having purchased two sets in the last 10 years I highly endorse those offered by Pantera parts connection in Carson City Nevada,
firewall bulkhead - I believe at least two vendors offer the flat firewall kit if you are interested in reducing the center hump and enabling the passenger seat to move all the way to the rear as the driver seat does. And because many owners such as myself have made that upgrade, there are numerous OEM firewalls sitting in garages.
Larry
The closest knowlegable Pantera shop is Jack Sharkey's in Miami, FL. Any reputable hot rod upholsterer can handle the job of making them fit or customizing to taste.
Thanks for info.
Bobby Byars used to do fiberglass door panels, so at least one vendor has done them, I'd call around as often they are all sourcing from the same pool.
Kirk Evans has all of the interior parts available in very high quality ,hand laid, fiberglass.
Ron
Thanks!
One more thing, Mike. Its quite possible to use new door upholstery right over a cut door panel with a speaker hole chopped in it. And in fact, if you install the door speaker from the backside of the steel door frame, without a protective speaker cover on the outside. It will play right thru the thin upholstery, although those that are serious about their tunes often punch a series of small 1/8" holes thru the new upholstery- often in the shape of DeTomaso's 'isis' logo - to allow unmuffled air transfer for better quality sounds.
Mike, you probably know this but Kirk Evans is here:
https://www.amerisportindustries.com/products
Great excuse to do bulkhead reduction!
Thanks everyone!
Does the bulkhead reduction require any front accessory drive modifications?
I haven't assembled the front drive yet so I have nothing to measure. Has anyone successfully installed a serpentine belt system?
With the simple use of countersunk flathead allen screws to replace the 4 waterpump pulley hex bolts, you gain 1/4" of clearance. They have not come loose in 20 years. Another thing that increases clearance a bit is to remove the shims from the ZF mounts in back, loosen the motormount bolts (ALL of them) and lift/pry the whole powertrain backwards, using the sloppy fit drill holes to their maximum.Then use washers to reshim the rear ZF mounts as necessary. That gains another 1/8".
The actual bulkhead 'reduction' using your stock panel is combined with sawing the bubble part of the big panel free. Being leatherette covered thin fiberglas, a wood saw or any other kind can be used. The bubble's upholstery is done by the factory as a separate part, so the saw-cut line goes in between the stock upholstery pieces. This semi-factory mod has been written up in numerous POCA articles, available from the Archives. Upholstered Gr-3 cars often had this done for frequent maintenance convenience.
Once done, the bubble/fiberglas section is usually held to the steel door with a few patches of velcro. The main panel can now stay in place forever while the bubble-only is pulled off for access to the steel door. For our car, I use only two steel door screws in the top corners- the door is not structural and doesn't need to be fastened that securely. Makes door access a matter of a minute or less and looks stock -if that's important.
Thanks Bosswrench, I will check out the POCA articles. Would you happen to know the distance from the front of the cylinder heads to the bulkhead, assuming it's a flat plane? I'm investigating front drive options and don't have the car here to measure.
4280 (search for Markiv4280 posts here) has a serpentine belt system on his motor.
I believe there are also pictures of the system on ProvaMo.
Originally , Wade’s plan was to put a Whipple supercharger on the car, but unfortunately, that didn’t come to fruition….
If you search on his username, you will pull up a thread on pulley ratios where he (Wade) talks about his setup.
There’s at least one picture of his engine .
Rocky
Mike, the so called rear firewall is mostly flat but it's not vertical. Instead it slants backward at (I'm guessing) maybe 15 degrees between the floor and the back window. So clearance at the floor is quite different than clearance up at the bottom frame of the back window. Clearance would likely be measured from the engine front, which itself is extremely irregular.
Interferences are from the lower rear window framing to the distributor cap up top, the protruding water pump shaft & bearing support and especially the alternator & its pulley in middle. All of these are addressable individually. Ford Performance used to sell a 'Street Rod" water pump for the 351-W that is 2-1/4" shorter than stock pumps, and can be made to bolt on a Cleveland. It was once sold with its own short pulley but that was discontinued decades ago, so such short reach pumps will need custom pulleys and adjustment of the alt & AC belts..There are racing water pumps (Davies-Craig) that could also be adapted.
The alternator can be mounted on a stock wide-body alt/AC bracket in the area where '85-'87 Panteras had a smog pump. This rig uses a belt up from the inner pulley sheave on a stock A/C pulley, which itself is driven by the stock pulley sheave from the crank. And one vendor (D Quella) builds a bracket to mount the alt offset far to the front-right-outside, behind the non-removable part of the rear firewall. A bit complicated to change vee belts on this rig but do-able.
My choice 20 years ago was to swap the engine's lower motor mounts (they were drilled asymetrically due to the block's cylinder offset). Doing this shifts the whole powertrain backwards about 7/8". The shifter rod need only be readjusted and a 10-qt pan still clears the mid-mount crossmember under the engine. All the cooling lines & wiring still fit as stock. The only adaption is for the rear ZF mounts, and that can be done by bending the rearmost mount tabs into a shallow 'S' and making 2 new spacers. Combine some of the other li'l mods and you have a 'flat firewall'. Plus, the engine can now use a more modern big distributor cap,.
Some of these mods almost or fully remove the need for a bulge in the rear firewall cover, hence the term "almost-flat-firewall". Once the alt is shifted, the need for a bulge mostly disappears, and the right seat adjusts back so far, even tall passengers' feet can't touch the front toe board! I don't understand why ALL taller British, Australian and Japanese Pantera owners (with right hand steering) don't use some of these mods more often just to be more comfortable driving.
And as far as serpentine belt drive adaptions, note that most use a reverse-running water pump. Used with a stock pump will often result in an engine that "inexplicably" now runs hot. NONE of this stuff is very simple.,...
This is the custom bracket that allows the alternator to be moved down and outboard. It is designed for a Sanden rotary compressor
Made by Mark Johnson at IPSCO, a great guy to do business with. Check out his website for the other Pantera items he fabricates.
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Thanks everyone for the input.
I do know the firewall slanted towards the back at the top. I have read as much info as I can find about the front drive components. The goal is to start the engine before it goes into the car. At this point the engine is all together except for the timing cover, front drive components and induction. The engine is an all aluminum 9.2 inch deck Clevor built around the Ford M-6010-Z35192 block (basically a Windsor with Cleveland journals) and Edelbrock Clevor heads. There are a couple of serpentine drive systems that look reasonably compact that might bolt onto the engine. Since I haven't purchased a timing cover yet, going with a short reverse rotation water pump and appropriate cover is still an option. At cylinder head height there needs to be about 6 inches between the front of the cylinder head to the firewall at that height. If a distributor cap barely has clearance then it seems unlikely this front drive assembly will fit.
I have purchased a few items from IPSCO. They do very nice work. I forgot about that custom bracket. That looks like a good option. I will have to ask Mark if it bolts up to a Windsor block and the pulleys line up. Does that allow for a flat bulkhead cover?
No, actually the term “flat firewall” is incorrect.
you will still need a center hump because of the water pump pulley. What does happen is the passenger side of the center hump gets smaller, allowing the passenger seat to slide all the way back in the same manner as the drivers seat.
Larry
Thanks Larry.
A narrow hump centered between the seats is very acceptable.
Mike
Do you have a photo of the IPSCO setup on the engine with all accessories in place?
Thanks!
IPSCO aluminum flat firewall conversion bracket with Sanden compressor and GM alternator
Gray bracket is the stock bracket with the now unused alternator bracket pieces removed
stock bracket incorporates the IPSCO idler pulley modification
IPSCO kit to add idler pulley on water pump belt
IPSCO overdrive water pump pulley installed
only practical approach to adjusting alternator belt or to service is from underneath ☹️
but if you are small enough and can find a curb to drive upon, raising the passenger side of the car, side of the road work is likely possible
I will always remember my adventure doing just that at a Texas rest stop, replacing a bottom of the tank fuel line, during the thunderstorm, lying in a puddle of gasoline. Not my car. Good times😂😂
Larry
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Tight fit!
Thanks for the photos.