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Pantera ergonomics

noquarternoquarterMember
I know what you're thinking, how can he put those two words in the same sentence? Clearly ergonomics were not a priority back then. Well in typical DeTomaso owner style, then we have to fix it ourselves.

Clearly the pedals are far to the right. Steering wheel is also a bit to the right, and even angle of steering wheel itself, side-wise, indicates I should be farther to the right. And IMO the gear shifter is also too far to the right. Well, moving those things do require quite a lot of work. So why not move me instead? There's (normally) plenty of room to the right of the driver's seat. So that's what I decided to do. I also decided to do it in a reversibel way if I or another owner in the next century wanted the seat in the original position.

I'm sure this would also make me able to drive faster around Spa because I move center of gravity towards the center of the car... Cool
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noquarternoquarterMember
Thankfully the wiring was long enough to find another place for it. I put it on the right side instead of the left. Coincidentally I can now better see the value displays and they're not upside down for me (I guess most things Australian are designed to be upside down Wink).

The less than perfect wiring is hidden by the seat

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noquarternoquarterMember
Off to the local hardware store for some metal thingies that I could use. Wasn't sure what I was looking for, but I found these to be perfect. They were the right size, the elongated hole was the right size, and the elongated hole actually made my seat adjustable left to right, what other car has that?! Maybe I should fix a small electric motor to the side ways movement?

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noquarternoquarterMember
Installed, as a test. Yes all bolts fit the holes. And yes the seat could be moved right to left before tightening the nuts under the car. And the seat can still go back and forth.

Then it was time to sit in it. What a difference. The pedals are still to the right, but you feel a connection with the steering wheel that wasn't there before. And shifter is in a more natural place. I look forward to a nice long trip in it.

Will take the seat out again and give each bracket 4 welds more. And maybe paint the brackets black, haven't decided yet.

Any disadvantages from doing this? Only that the left rail becomes visible, so if the carpet around the rail wasn't cut exactly with this in mind (like on mine) that becomes visible.

Next step is to lower the steering wheel, I'll get to that when I get my dash reinstalled. Ergonomics Made Easy Razzer

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tsolotsoloMember
Mikael,

I did a similar thing when putting the Ferrari seats in my car. In a conversation with Dennis Quella he metioned that angling the drivers set towards the pedals makes a big difference. I did this and am very happy with it. A little angle points the drivers feet at the pedals and its not really noticable otherwise. That would require you to adjust your tabs though.

Steve
noquarternoquarterMember
No regrets at all. I just feels natural to sit in the center of the steering wheel and closer to the center of the pedals. It's so good, on my last almost 600 mile trip to Spa, I didn't notice. When you don't notice, then you know you have a good seating position.

I've made mine adjustable, but always have it at full right position.

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