Past Vegas

What do you mean by bottom bellied? My guess it's completely detailed?

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Originally posted by Kevin Perry:
What do you mean by bottom bellied? My guess it's completely detailed?

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When you look under some show cars, you would probably see smooth sheet metal fabricated accross the bottom (some put mirrors on the ground to show the underside at car shows). That is what was done to this car (except for the area where the cooling pipes travel down the middle, and painted satin black). It looks super nice, but you "never" want to scarape on a speed bump! Not many do this on Panteras (I believe Wilkenson was doing one in his shop when I was there about a couple months ago, but it is pretty labor intensive to get it right). I figured that mentioning this maybe someone may remember the car from Vegas and let me know what class it won & the year. It may have won something at Monteray also.

I thought belly pans were for off road rally cars and intended for the pan to be scraped instead of tearing necessary parts off the bottom of the car??

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Originally posted by Jim:
I thought belly pans were for off road rally cars and intended for the pan to be scraped instead of tearing necessary parts off the bottom of the car??

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Correct, but also real good on show cars for those few meticulous detailed owners. I mean, who is really going to look under the car? I would post a photo of how nice it looks, but would need to get it on a lift, which is why I didn't have a photo to post in the PI article.

Today after hunting through old POCA and PI issues, I found where the car won best of show and best engine in 1992 at Concourse Italiano. I thought it was around 1996 or 1997, but maybe it was in 1992 only. But it sure was fun rustling through old issues (I haven�t done that for quite a while).

That sounds very interesting!

Perhaps the only one in the world!

You have to write a PI article and post some pics! <I know, easy for me to say>

quote:

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Originally posted by Kevin Perry:
That sounds very interesting!

Perhaps the only one in the world!

You have to write a PI article and post some pics! <I know, easy for me to say>

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I think Wilkinson was working on a bottom bellied car too, but takes quite alot of time & effort to get it right (so I believe there may be others than just mine). My car has already been in PI, issue 108 page 65, but like I said, I didn't get a good photo of the bottom of it. I tried jacking it up & crawling under, but the photo just didn't show it well. It was done real well, but like I said, who really looks under the car anyway (except for me, and then the neighbors see me waxing the underside of the car & scratch their heads).

Anyway, I was just looking to gather some history on it, as I know it did win some awards, but wasn't sure when & where. I think it got something at Vegas also, maybe back in 1994 or so.

Did you buy this car in Arizona? I think I met the person who owned his car in Scottsdale, Az many years ago. I knew he was selling and I wish I would have been able to buy. If it is the same car, I am sure it has won before because there was a lot of work was done to this car especially underneath the car!

I promised some photos of the bottom of my car (bottom bellied), and finally got one that you can kind of see on the link below.
http://community.webshots.com/user/does200

DOES200:
Thanks for the photos, I'm partial to the original body style Pantera and really enjoyed the shots of your 'L' Pantera. I'm a new Pantera owner and I have 'Pantera Fever' bad. So, I have a question for you.

It looks like you ORNGUFO Thunder has had the rear bumper modified, I looked at all the photo angles and another Pantera Guy told me how he did his rear bumper mod. He said "take the bumper off, rmove the shocks going thru the body, take them to a machine shop and have them put them on a hydraulic press to'break the pins' then reinstall them on your car with the bumper to measure how far you want the bumper to be from the body, mark the spot and drill new holes and put new pins in."

So, yesterday I did that and the shocks compressed under 60,000 Tons in a press, but the 'pins' never broke, the 5 mph bumper shock did compress and in fact ovaled the mountong holes into an elipse shape, and if these 'shocks' are filled with gas or oil, then they should not be welded on and I don't want to drill through them, even with safety glasses on. It seems to me that it would provide me with the option to 'go back to original' if I didn't modify the shocks at all, but just got some pipe of similar diameter (not critical, just close in measurement), and measured the length I want (stock length minus about 2.5") drill holes, fashion a new mount for the two 13mm (1/2") bolts supporting the horizontal position and install.

But, hey, if you are aware of a 'bolt on kit' I can order, then it probably wouldn't be too expensive, and would fit just right, and allow me to use my time to do other Pantera Projects.

Did you use a kit or can you refer me to a vendor for this mod. Thank you.

ron norman, I am not aware that my Orange car had a modified rear bumper, but maybe so. Photos can be deceptive sometimes. Anyway, I just measured at the rear shock distance from the car body to the inner side of the L bumber, and it measured 1 and 3/4". Maybe post on this board under the heading of L bumber modification for additional help, as the "Past Vegas" post may not get you the hits you need. I only posted here again because there was a previous question about the underside of my Group 4. Good luck with that bumper, and in my opinion, if you can get that big bumper closer to the car, I am sure it would look better (or maybe convert to the smaller pre L bumpers).

Ron, looks to me that the Orngufo has a stock position on the rear bumper and has NOT been modified. Same as my '74L. Since there are thousands of Black Painted rear L bumpers out there, in an attempt to set my Panther aside from all the rest, I had my Rear L bumper Show chromed at great expense. I have seen only 2 cars with the SMALLER TWIN bumpers Chromed, as far as I know this is the only chromed L bumper. As far as completely removing the rear bumper; I think it looks very clean ans sanitary. And I would have loved to have done it. But as one never expects to get into an accident, can you imagine being rear-ended by some idiot, without a bumper in the rear?? They may be "marginal" at best, but they would make difference. I am glad you are having fun with your Pantera, as are we all! All the best, Marlin.

DOES 200 & Marlin Jack:

Thanks for the responses, and taking time to measure your bumpsr distance, it may sound stupid to your bride, but men, I'm a Fanatic about Panteras.

When I walk out into my garage for a "Pantera Moment" and the garage door is closed, when I walk to the back of it and look down, I want to see those 3" exhaust pipes sticking out past the bumpers. I've measured it several times and I'm gonna go to Home Depot and get some pipe. I'm gonna probably buy a Harbor Freight drill press ($99.00) to do it and maybe never need the drill press again. The holes are a bit over 0.5" so I'm gonna need the chuck size of a bench drill (5/8").

I'm also gonna put in my new Hall stainless steel A-Arm covers, chrome the sway bar, and put some stainless steel acorn nuts on the back of the ZF. I just received my new polyurethane A-arm bushings and sway bar bushings, so, with regret, the Cat is going on the jack stands for a while. Gotta paint the A-arms while their off, and probably take them off again later to powder coat them....

I'm thinking of mounting my gas shocks upside down like the dirt bikes do, you guys ever seen that on a Pantera, or any words of caution???? Reduce unsprung weight and all that race car talk.

When I've got the look I like, I'll have to figure out how to send photos on e-mail, not that hot at the computer yet, never a compelling reason to be....

Oh yeah, another reason to move the bumper in by the body is so the hot exhaust gas doesn't heat up the bumper, saw a photo in PI years ago where somebody's bumper paint peeled from exhaust heat, and I just moved the exhaust pipes to 1" below the bumpers.

My bumper is 2" from the body and I never even thought about it until somebody mentioned their modification, then it appealed to me. Alot.