Standard Suspension

Hi
It sounds like the front has been changed and the rear may be as Original, its not a complicated overall.

Nice car Steeler, you're just up the road, I'm in Newcastle.

the stock shocks are blue, can't remember is the front is black or not,sounds stock to me.
With 15,000 and being a 74 I would keep it a stock as you can, worth more in the future. Get rid of the plastic bushings , squeeks, stock type bushing are availble, better than stock now.

On a stock car I don't think you will notice the change unless you change it alot , like modifing the upper arm. I have done many arms for the power steering kit we offer and it is a bit of work. Chaging the caster will increase the steering effort. The best change for handling will be tires, new performance tires will make the biggest change for now.

Drop in for a cold one if you're passing

Hi, Matt. There are a number of simple things you can do to your suspension to upgrade the handling, depending on how handy you are (or how rich!)
The front a-arm bushings can all be changed to polyurethane, which tightens up the handling by getting rid of the compliance in rubber bushings. Urethane bushings can also be had with thick and thin edges such that the upper a-arms are displaced backward, thus increasing caster. By only doing the upper arms, the caster will increase from 2.6 degrees to around 3.5 degrees. By ALSO doing the lower a-arms, in the opposite direction, the caster increases again- to around 4.5 degrees. With each addition in caster you'll notice an increase in steering effort at low soeeds and a corresponding increase in high speed stability. Most street guys adjust to a comfort level rather than going for the absolute max possible caster. No machining is necessary with these simple changes.
The next step is with anti-sway bars; your Pantera has a larger bar in front and a small one in the rear. By changing to a larger rear bar and retaining the stock front one, the stock understeer progressively decreases. Another step involves adding urethane central bushings for the bars to pivot in, and a type of 'rose joint' on the ends of both bars to eliminate binding. If you really get into this handling stuff, HOLLOW anti-sway bars of 4130-steel will not only increase your handling as above, they remove about 2/3 of the weight of the bars. Again, zero machining is involved with these changes and they are all reversible to stock; it's all bolt-on parts.
FWIW, your black shocks are early ones made under license from Koni and have adjustable damping. They can be rebuilt. The blue ones are later models and cannot be adjusted or rebuilt. Current Konis are high-pressure gas charged and not only have adjustable damping, the spring perches are also adjustable for ride height, plus they are about 1/3 less weight than stock. Gas shocks can also be mounted upside-down for adjusting convenience and a small further reduction in unsprung weight.
After you do these things, write back and tell up how you like driving your 'new' car!

Thank you everyone for your input!

I've purchased the replacement rubber bushes as I've noticed on later model Lamborghini that they still utilise a rubber bush at the suspension pivots. I can see that if I press the bushes into the arms from the same side (fore or aft) that I should be able to effect the longitudinal position of the lower and upper arms relative to each other, therefore changing castor. I might leave machining the upper balljoint until after I've tried the new bushes first. The 'ill fitted' urethane bushes were allowing the arms to move forward and backward under braking making the steering much heavier than it should be with a car with the Pantera layout!

So should the front black Telecar shocks be left black? If they are adjustable, what is the procedure for setting them up? I've disassembled the coil over and have found them to have minimal resistance to compression, but maximum resistance to extension.

Thanks again,

Matt

quote:

Originally posted by 7259:
So should the front black Telecar shocks be left black? If they are adjustable, what is the procedure for setting them up? I've disassembled the coil over and have found them to have minimal resistance to compression, but maximum resistance to extension.

Thanks again,

Matt

If you are interested in doing a shock upgrade, we offer a range of fairly inexpensive kits that gives you one of the best coil over shocks in a kit on the market today. A coil over shock upgrade will make a HUGE difference in handling of your car. The stock Pantera shocks are no way near the quality of our shock kits.

The shocks that we offer are made by Ridetech between a joint venture with Fox Shocks. This combination gives you a coil over that is on par with Penske Racing Shocks used in Indycars! We have a fairly wide range of different shock kits including Non-Adjustable, and Adjustable with 26 clicks of Rebound adjustment. These shocks weigh only 7 pounds each.

We also offer an electronically controlled version that uses the same technology as in the Corvette ZR1 that switches from a touring mode to a sport mode with the press of a button.

All of our kits come with Hyperco Springs and are a bolt on replacement.

http://blog.saccrestorations.n...arts/pantera-shocks/