Wayne's GT5-S rebuild

Does this mean that Howard Renshaw's car is now done?

I will be looking forward with great anticipation to your taking us through the process, Kirk. Hopefully you will include a lot of photos. I have heard that you have done amazing, standard-setting work on this car, and so I am sure your posting the details will be a great learning opportunity for us all.

- Peter

Here's a shot of the engine's new emission control air box. I'll post some of the design renderings later on.

I work alone and will be on Howard's car one week after Wayne's car leaves next Monday-Tuesday with a re-start date November 9-10.

Thanks Peter---I do have many pictures---one of the e-break drag fix that you may be able to use. Your wing came out great---FYI

Kirk

Here is the start of the air box cover. Lots of chips flew on this carve-out.

Assembled in the raw after several weeks of work.

Another view of the assembled raw air box. The front has additional caution lights and full sweep mechanical gauges with custom faces matching the dash set. This additional front gauge section is removable for better engine access and can be viewed up to 5 feet away from the original mounting position.

This is the unmounted gauge cluster viewed close-up off the main box. You can see the full sweep vacuum, oil psi., water temp and fuel psi. and the oil, water and run lights.

Engine mounted view as seen through the back window.

Here's a wider view of the assembly. The black snorkels on either side of the box pull fresh air through the bottom of the new rear engine side covers. They seal off the quarter window opening utilizing the side scoops outside air access.

No alternator or A/C?

The front accessories were left off until after the install which give me more room. I install the engines alone and prefer to add the compressor, alternator and in this case the air pump after the engine has been set in.

Is the engine cover modified to see the gauges? What are the idiot lights for?

You can see the gauges through the back window. The important issue is they are mechanical gauges including fuel pressure and vacuum to help with diagnostic issues. There is 14 pounds difference between the full sweep back-up oil and electric oil pressure gauges.

The lights are for

BLUE--water temp at 210--watch the gauge RED--oil at 0 to 10 psi--shut it off
GREEN--power to the distributor--key is on

Hope this helps.

Here is a view of right side fresh air snorkel before assembly. They seal around a matched opening in the bottom a new design fresh air side engine cover system.

Beautiful Kirk. Great work as usual!

Here is the snorkel welded before being installed on the inner are box.

Here are the snorkels tacked on the inner air box ready to be finished tig welded. The box is needed to maintain Holley evaporative emissions at the correct level for the 1986 time frame.

Here is a view of the box just finished and installed with the paint complete. The box and engine still need detailed before the combo installation into the car.

Before

After

Some details

More details

Getting it together

close up just about ready to install

Rear before

Rear after

Absolutely beautiful work Kirk, like everything you do. The air box looks fantastic.

Johnny

Thanks Johnny---would have loved to work with you but as some plans go---OOOOOPs.

I'll post some of the early 3-D designs on the air box and the AC condenser fan shroud I made for the back. The new condenser fan housing and rear shields really cleaned up the back tail-light panel inside the compartment. (post some build and finish shots later)

Kirk,

Looks great! Very impressive work. I love the airbox design.

Thank you---here a view of the box installed in the car. One of the most difficult pieces to build were the new side covers and canter engine screen. The side covers seal on the air box snorkels and feed air from the side scoops installed in the quarter windows. The center screen mounting war a real trick---it only uses 2 fasteners which are only visible with the deck open---mounts were very difficult to build.

Close-up through the screen.

A view from the deck.

Through the back window.

Here is a view of the primed side covers, engine screen and camber bar cover just fabricated. The side covers have a air cavity pocket inside. The difficulty was making the window area meet the window plate seal surface and sill have the removable from inside. You can see the screen mount design and fasteners from the rear. The camber bar cover is just cosmetic.

Sorry for the type-Os earlier---that would be center screen not canter screen and "still have the COVER removable".

How about a view of the side cover under construction. The door opens to a twin cap pressure and overflow tank. The steal tank door cover uses a magnetic pop-up latch to keep it clean looking from the top once the cover was finished and painted black.

Here is the door open to the twin cap tank. There is plenty of access room for cap removal and tank filling.

Final test fit before paint

Here is a close-up of the right cold air engine cover showing the screen mount detail and coolant tank access door removed.

The screen mount tab was hollow made the same way the screen surround lip was made. I made a grommet that is larger which mounts inside to center the screen tap so it will not scratch the side cover divot during installation. The fastener is original---tried to keep the original flavor.

Here is the tab detail.

The tab is locked in place with a factory fastener. The gold color is plating for internal protection.

Here is a detail shot.

The locks were difficult to build. first I had to cut 2 washers the same thickness as the factory lock, weld the half's on, regrind the assemble into a circle, drill hole and tap for studs, install/weld the studs, grind and polish the face for plating---and the entire part is not more than an inch in diameter.

Do you have a good picture of the camber bar cover and how it is secured? Your details look very nice.

Here is a shot of the camber cover underside. The end plates welded in set the height on the working camber bar and it is held on with industrial Velcro. It takes two hands to remove it.

some of the air box cover design studies. the box went through 3---here is the first.

Gen 2

First gen file was to big sorry. Second gen had ribs on the side and the third gen has a color change on the emblem and GT5-S grandsport in black like the finished piece.

Exploded view

Rich Hallett of Hallett Design Image worked with me all through the AmeriSport years. He is very talented graphics illustrator and designer. If any of you need such services including home design, building design, idea graphics or what-ever, drip me a note and I'll put you in contact with Rich.

Exploded view of gen 3 from the rear

Bloody hell Kirk! I am impressed. You have put some time into that engine screen. Your fabricating skills are getting better and better. I love the attention to detail - just my cup of tea. I made a crazy air box for my friends Pantera a few years ago that sucks air from the ears. I will post some pics sometime. The sound it made was quite amazing from inside the car. 427 DART induction roar in stereo!
Johnny

quote:

Bloody hell Kirk! I am impressed. I love the attention to detail - just my cup of tea. I made a crazy air box for my friends Pantera a few years ago that sucks air from the ears. I will post some pics sometime. The sound it made was quite amazing from inside the car. 427 DART induction roar in stereo!

You always make me smile my friend---thank you. Frankly Johny, if I had any real money and was to build a car, I'd rather send it to you than any one state side---and I mean that sincerely. There are may capable builders here but I trust you with not to overlook the details.

Here are some shots from the bottom side.

Gas tank side snorkel sealed into the side cover induction opening on the underside.

Here's a better shot of the right painted side cover installed. Building function is often easier that building style with function. This is my attempt at both---hope you like it.

This picture shows the side scoop installed without the louvers. The engine cover is installed mating up to the window seal plate. There is a seal gasket around the side cover opening which is hard to see. The louvers are made to install with 2 line-up pins at the top and one allen bolt at the bottom for a quick in-out solution so you can access the air box/distributor/gauge cluster assembly with the engine cover off through the louver opening without removing the entire scoop.

I build new GT5-S front split bumpers which are body specific. The S is not symmetrical so the bumpers vary from side to side. In my opinion, the pictures do not do the item justice---they look far better in 3-D on the S body.

A different view

the pair

Here is a primed view showing the fit and shape.

How about this shot---the master model of the split bumper plug mounted on the old front plug I pulled back in the day to build the 1989 new full front bumper---I'll post a shot of the old design later.

quote:

p

Night view

Shortened version for the new tube frame car. This project on hold since 2005

Top view with the new windscreen in place. No more memory lane shots---back to Wayne.

Kirk,

You're a true artist. The split bumpers look fantastic. I wish I had half of your abilities.

Thanks for all the posts. It lets the rest of us know what can be done with some talent and ingenuity. Keep up the great work.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Garvino:
Kirk,

You're a true artist. The split bumpers look fantastic.

Thank you---If I can be of assistance, please call if you need support on any part of your car.

Here is a shot of the deck bottom before installation. The lid inserts glued to the deck were first made in 1979 and I may be putting them back into production soon. The material is the same as the trunk insert and front trunk was lined with. this material can be installed seamless into both the front and rear areas and with the lid inserts makes a great looking combo.

Here's a hood shot with inserts. The emblem is embroidered into the liner material and can be any color---I chose a dark gray.

Close-up

Here's a shot of the front trunk finished seamless with the liner material.

Some break line details.

Front trunk latch with fresh plating just before the final install.

To many details---last shot

At the other end of the car, I built a new AC condenser housing with a larger fan shrouded from the outside so there was no visible motor and the fan blade was behind a screened billet shroud. The first gen design of the fan cover is pictured. The shroud assembly and rear side covers as a stand alone unit was quite a project. I'll post more shots of the shroud construction later this week.

Here is a view of the finished AC condenser shroud and hidden fan shot from the roof. I started with a larger condenser and built from there. The shroud and side cover plates are steal painted, color sanded and polished. I post some shots of the build and assembly procedure later. You can better see the camber bar cover at the bottom of the shot. The center ribs are painted and spaced to match the valve covers and air box.

Here's a close-up of the fan shroud showing the blade set into position for viewing.

Here is a view of the shroud freshly tacked together with the fan motor and blade installed at the correct position.

Here is a view of the box looking down from the rear of the car. The motor mount structure runs parallel with the center rib fan shroud trim so you can barely see the motor mounting ribs. Looks simple---not so much. This is one of those items you need to see in 3-D.

Here's a shot of the shroud installed as I'm just starting the side shield patterns. There is a base piece underneath which provides the support for the pattern strips on top. This is the best way by hand I have found to make panels like this.

Finished patterns ready to transfer the shape to sheet steal.

Here a shot of the side covers, camber bar cover and a small filler piece used to cover under the latch---ready to finish prime and paint.

How about this hick-up---The transaxle move back slightly after the real-deal engine was installed and just touched the new shroud---bummer! So I had to figure out transaxle clearance and this was the fix. I cut the end off a 2" 180 deg. U-bend, found the correct location of the clearance needed and installed the tube section.

Here's a close-up of the trans with the clearance piece installed.

The box in primer---boring stuff I know just thought maybe a few of you maybe can use the build techniques.

Here is the final rendering of the fan shroud and cover. The center cover the fan hub.

Here is a side view of the assembly---bad reflections---sorry. You can see the gearbox intruding into the shroud divot. $#It happens but I'm just glad it wasn't painted before the clearance issue was discovered.

Here is a valve cover view which is how/why the rib spacing was used on the air box and rear fan shroud. Motorsport covers were OE on the AmeriSport assembled cars.

Beautiful work Kirk!

I really like this thread.......

Mark

This is just beyond an immaculate build. Great work Kirk. Half the time I don't even know what I'm looking at, but it is always gorgeous!

quote:

Originally posted by DeMopuar:
Beautiful work Kirk!

I really like this thread.......

Mark

Thank you Mark. I appreciate the support.

If any one reading this thread have any questions, ideas, likes, don't likes, suggestions, or even the "what were you thinking" opinion, please, please, please post your thoughts.

quote:

Originally posted by A Hudson:
This is just beyond an immaculate build. Great work Kirk. Half the time I don't even know what I'm looking at, but it is always gorgeous!

Thank you---If you're curious or do not recognize something, please ask and I'd be happy to explain better. Sometimes I look at the pictures and don't know what it is---and I built the stuff so no worries.

quote:

Beautiful work Kirk!

I really like this thread.......

Amen brother!!!

Top notch work Kirk! Can't wait to see pics of Howard's car soon.

Cheers!
Garth

Hey Kirk, are those bumpers on the black car like mine?

Robert,

They are similar but S fronts are body specific. Yours are fitted to the early fenders like the picture below. The rears are also different--the inboard surface is fitted to the AC opening hole and are designed to go better with the front splits.

Overall view of the early split bumpers mounted.

Here is a shot of the rears being fitted to Wayne's car.

Full shot of the split rear bumpers fitted and mounted. The paint stripped air box at the top of the picture was the original one installed in 1986---quite a difference from the new one.

Here are the bumpers painted and installed just after a bath.

On occasion the Pantera can act like the Wicked Witch of the West---but I have never yet seen one melt so yes I do hose beat them with the water when needed.

How about this bumper for what I had hoped would the 1991-92 Pantera. Another trip down memory lane. This 3-D master model still sets in the corner of my shop waiting for the right customer.

Maybe you'll read this and call----Of coarse I'd like be become a Ninja to---probably won't happen.

This was the first late model engine compartment I finished---done allot of early ones. The undercoating was extremely thick---thicker than even the 72 cars. Here's a shot of the stripping process. I use aircraft stripper---many coats and lots of scraping. This is a job Americans will not do so I have to pull out my Italian passport when the stripper flies.

Here it is freshly sanded and ready for DP-90 epoxy primer. I do not use filler on bare metal any longer---always over epoxy which eliminates any rust devolving and bubbling the filler.

Had to skin coat the entire surface to make it straight.

Here it is with 2 coats of Rust Defender primer. Bottom coat is baby poop yellow and the top coat is primer gray. This way when you do the initial blocking with 240, you know when you need to slow down as you cut/sand into the yellow coat. Next is a black color coat and 400 wet---ready to seal with DP, base-coat with DBU black and clear with 2021 PPG. Sounds easy but not so much painting inside the compartment up-side-down.

Here it is sanded and ready to shoot.

Very fresh base coat and clear.

Now for the hard part. First we sand with 600 then 1200 then 2000. Now comes the many hours of buffing to bring it back. You can see some of the buffing just started on the left.

Here it is---freshly buffed and ready to start the assembly. That's all tonight---my grandson Alex is calling.

I am not worthy!
GREAT WORK!!!

How many hours in that engine compartment refinish?

quote:

Originally posted by larryw:
How many hours in that engine compartment refinish?

several weeks Larry. The biggest problem was trying to make it side-to-side symmetrical. The car varies so much detail shapes of equal proportions were tough. The stitch welds had to be ground and some of the sheet metal needed to be persuaded. Here is a shot of the inner fender ground and DP-90d ready for the filler.

Here's a better shot in primer---you can see the challenge. One of the more difficult areas was the taillight panel and AC shroud mounting surface. To mount the new shroud to the existing straps, I had to raise the left side by 7/8" and build a mounting bar to keep the upper shroud visually straight with the top of the inner taillight mount panel. Sound simple---not so much.

This area was tough to match side to side. Later I removed the dryer mount studs and installed it into the right rear wheel well after the new rear condenser shroud and side cover panels were built. The condenser mount tab in the picture was at the right location---the other was very low. Frankly I surprised the condenser mounted without fracturing from the twist stress---good thing the shroud was plastic instead of tin.

A better detail

This area is always a pain to make nice.

Here it is with blocking black color ready to be sanded. Remember the body paint was original which made this work much more difficult to do---always keeping the outside protected. It's like trying to build a house from the top down outside in.

quote:

Originally posted by TomCat:
I am not worthy!
GREAT WORK!!!

Thanks Tom? 2 great stories--one about the F-14 shot. I was driving east to west in June through Colorado or Utah and crested a hill on the expressway to see an aircraft sitting in what appeared to be a field. As I got closer I could clearly see it was a F-14 so being a big war-bird fan I quickly grabbed the off rap and chased down the big old girl. Sure enough it was sitting in a small park alone, engines pulled for all to see. Interesting the caps were off the holes and you could crawl into the after burner holes.

Second is about the "I am not worthy!" I have a good friend who has a somewhat famous rocker background and he is a Pantera owner from 1972---with his original car. He and one of the other band members had to introduce either Aerosmith or Tyler (can't remember exactly) at a function---maybe was their Hall of Fame induction. Back stage right before they walked out to do the introduction, Craig said we have to drop to our knees after the intro and say "we're not worthy". It was the funniest part of the night.

Wayne and I had dinner with him Saturday before Wayne left---lots of laughs!

Thank you for the nice complement.

Kirk

Here are a couple of details showing the new twin cap tank. There is a pressure cap which fill the system and the main storage overflow cap which keeps the system full. This eliminates the two tank requirement and is a bolt-in to the overflow location so you can remove the wheel-well mounting bracket and add a shield to mirror the gas tank shield and keep the header heat off the fire-wall electrics.

You have to modify the thermostat and lower pipes to mate without the pressure tank. This is how they look.

Here's a shot of the gauge cluster off the box. The stainless braided cover is for protection of the internal lines and wiring needed to light the gauges and lights.

This is how it the other end or the gauge cluster lines look as it connects to the engine. Various lines going to oil pressure, fuel pressure, vacuum, water temp and electric. The wiring hanging on the air-pump belt ultimately plugged into the wiring that fed through a grommet-ed hole just above the shifter rod and connected to several locations in the dash.

Here is a better detail---you can see the water pump mount loop for the oil and fuel pressure lines. The fuel pressure is connected and the oil pressure feeds to a connection just above the oil filter.

The gauge cluster can be removed and located as far back as picture shows---rear of the trans axle. If you are working the engine, this gives you great info at your fingertips and a great back-up if the power fails to the main gauge console.

A better shot f the gauge cluster off the air box. You can actually be looking a the mechanical gauges from either side of the car when your working on the engine.

The cluster cable viewed here exiting the gauges and entering the engine front lays off the right side fire-wall behind the right side polished heat shield on the car.

Here's a couple of detail close-ups

the slave---I made the inlet fitting

EGR valve

The oil cap hook-up feeds from the front of the engine through a factory style breather for the PCV in the other valve cover.

The original wires were laying on top the valve covers and got into the way of the air-box fresh-air feeds.

This shows the new wire looms and changed the color to black. This shot also shows the inner air box with the vapor seal flapper valve vacuum control pod on top. At the back of the box, you can see the stainless fitting the a bit of the tube which feeds the break booster up front.

Wayne has original paint on his car. I had to repair some door dings and of coarse the front spoiler was damaged---fortunately blending the paint from the damaged area into the original color was successful.

We sanded the entire car with 600, 1200, and 2000 grit in sequence. Once sanded, the buffing started and rubbing out 25 year old paint is not easy but was well worth the effort. The improvement was amazing--clarity improved 10 fold just by getting rid of the orange peal.

Here it is sanded---first stage 600 wet work.

This shot shows the repaired front spoiler ready to mask and paint.

Here's a fender after some of the buffing. You can not really tell in pictures about paint so those of you who see the car in 3-D will be able to look and see the original paint sanded and buffed. Wayne and I were both very pleased.

Here is the last airbrush work I did from the era. This was an add I painted poster size and the car was placed into the background---cut and paint tec. unlike today where you can just plug in any item conceivable. You can barely see the Pantera GT5-S in the stars on the left---maybe I can manipulate the brightness using today's technology. MANY YEARS AGO.

I would have never guessed that Wayne's GT5-S had the orginal paint. Once again, your work is very impressive.

let me bow to you in all humility!
Not my style but what a craftmanship !!

Thanks for all the kind comments.

Wayne

I second the thank you.


Here is a shot of Wayne's exhaust. The muffler catalytic converters were black porcelain finished and the tips were kept black. I did my best to talk him into going totally black with everything---even wheels.

Here is a lid detail. I quad pined the corners so the lid re-indexes on the box without issue. Allen bolts were used with small turned aluminum sleeves as the contact material inside the air-box lineup holes. The bolt heads were tapered for easy indexing. Now for tapering the head---put the thread into a cordless drill and use a 6" grinder with a DA pad and 240 grit paper. Spin the drill into the spinning grinder at the right angle---there it is.

You can see the allen taper and aluminum sleeve mounted on the lid bottom in this shot.

Here is a shot of the right rear AC shroud cover shield. It covers up the condenser hoses that lay along the rear valance. Short link-up hoses from the condenser that connect the dryer and compressor were needed because the new box hid the connections on the condenser.

Here is a shot of the connection hoses. I know---not so interesting stuff although it may help a reader with a similar issue. Make everything first and fit your hoses after. You can see the shroud cover mount bar towards the top center. Allot of reflections in this pictures---only two hoses---not seven.

I found a few AC shroud shots in the wrong folder. This louver cover was one possibility we looked at for a hide the fan solution. we did a similar cover many years ago.

Here is a shot of the AC fan mounted ready for the condenser. The shroud was built for Byers thick replacement condenser.

A different view.

Here's a different shot of the porcelain covered cat/muffler. The color was slightly different than the body black but still looked great!---IMHO.

Emissions of the day required air to be pumped into the cats. The engine started with airflow into each header for about the first 5 minutes and then diverted to the down stream location pictures. You need to divert the air or the cats will get to hot and could melt.

Here's a shot of the light-up cat which served as the header collector. They could be bolted on directly a header flange in case of future replacement needs.

One thing about the emission system exhaust---It tested out as the best flowing mufflers out of the 6 sets tested and the cat headers lost only 2 hp over an open Headman set. The overall emission tested exhaust had less then a pound of back pressure at wide open throttle making it very efficient for the time. Back in 1984, the system took a great deal of time and $$$$ to develop with most of the testing done at the Bendix lab in Troy, Mi. All of the parts that hours of testing devolved were later manufactured in house and instaled on every AmeriSport car. Many direct import cars aslo used this system including all of the Shelby Panteras. The fixtures for the headers, mufflers, and other emission related parts are still packed away for thar California customer that may need a system to keep their car.

The complete AmeriSport emission system had no negative effect on the overall performance of the engines we built during the 80s production and Wayne's car is running proof for those who may get a ride.

This pile of headers and mufflers were tested several years ago. You can see the various types we ran on the dyno combining every muffler on every header. (I modified the various muffler and collector flanges for the bolt-up combos) The engine was a 30 over standard crank Cleavland with cast quench heads and a Parker Funnel Web making an average HP of 488.