wheels and tires

If you were to damage one they can always be re-hooped by a professional shop.

I am dying to see what EVOD comes up with as a Pantera wheel, preferabley in a 17" front 18" design.

quote:

Originally posted by Daniel #9191:
... its that time to get back on the Pantera. First is to install the new engine that was so late in arrival

Daniel:

I'm glad to hear you have your motor, and I will be very interested in how you like it. Keep us posted. Better yet, start a photo album here on the PIBB and post photos of your progress as you go along!

Particularly if you are installing a stronger motor, have you taken care of reinforcing your rear frame rails at the lower control arm pick-up points?

- Peter

Peter,
I will photo as I as I go, I have not chose which reinforcement to use yet...but it will get it.

thanks
Daniel

In my (admittedly unqualified) opinion, the common lower rear chassis braces offered by Precision ProFormance and others will do the trick by acting as a very large washer to distribute the load. The Pantera Parts Connection brace is not built the same way, and so I do not think it will work.

For a definitive view on this, you should contact Mike Drew and/or Kirk Evans, who actually cut frame rails apart to compare the internal reinforcement in earlier cars to the absence of it in later ones.

You know I worry a lot. Here's a photo of what can happen without reinforcement of some kind:

Daniel, Larry Stock is selling 10 spoke GT4/5 rims (Kodiak) for a very reasonable price. They are 18's front and 19's in the rear. Roughly $3300 for the set. Much cheaper than the other vendors and you can order them with any offset you wish.
Will

Thanks, thats a scary picture Peter, thanks for the leads I will contact them.
Will, thanks also, do you know anyone with a wide body and kodiak wheels? Panter east refers to the "fuuny car look" with narrow front wheels. I agree with him, mine has the funny car look and is one of the reasons for wanting new wheels.
Thanks
Daniel

Daniel,

Julian has factory GT5 with Kodiak wheels, hopefully he will post a pic for you.

John
#2647

Looking in my files I'm surprised how few side on shots I have. Hopefully this will give you a taste of what they look like. The GT5 has the FX design in 17" all round. For the GP4 conversion on the '74 I went with the RT design, same offsets but 17" dia. front and 18" dia in rear as I think it accentuates the rake on the GP4 cars. Unfortunately those are still in their boxes.

Take a pic of one of the new ones in boxes!

Here's another one....

http://pantera.infopop.cc/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/1510042044/m/4930042283/p/2


John
#2647

I thought you may find this interesting. I had been looking for 10 spokes for awhile and I found Kodiak 3 piece 10 spokes for sale on Ebay. They were made for Larry Stock in GT5 specs 18x10"fr and 18x13" rear. I mounted 255/35/18 and 335/30/18 Michelin Pilot Sport 2's. I mounted the Hall center hubs and knock offs for personal taste. The wheels are lightweight and nice. Larry is a great guy to deal with!

Another view

Another

some more

Inside

I like your entire set up, very, very nice... beautiful car

Know that is a thing of beauty!!!!!

Great look...love the centers, I really like 18's front and rear, I was thinking 18 rear and 17 front, but those look fantastic
Thanks for posting the pic's
Daniel

Yes, awesome setup. And a great look.

I looked on Kodiak's site but have not found these wheels or other options for Panteras anywhere. I also looked on Larry's site but could not find anything other than stock 15" wheels.

Can someone direct me to the right link?

David,

Larry went through development with Daryl at Kodiak for the 10 spokes, sending him original Campi's as a pattern. He has them in both a GT5 and GT5S offset (slightly different). Give him a call, he has a new full color catalog out on CD, which is worth having anyway. He's working to get it on line, but that may be a while.

Kodiak's general wheel styles are on the website Kodiak Wheels The FX, RT and STX styles are what most choose for the Pantera and he custom makes the wheels to order based upon your specs. If you need specs I can send you what was used on mine when I get back from the UK. I'll also takes some photo's of the RT style wheels.

Thanks Joules. I have not seen the Kodiak 10 spokes anywhere except on pics like this nice black cat.

Are they any different from the 10 spokes available from all the other vendors?

WOW Black GT5S that is a thing of beauty!
The wheels fill the openings perfectly not too big not too little.
I had been looking for pics of the Kodiak 10 spokes also. Thanks for posting the pics.

Daniel, I think your avatar looks very cool. Is that your car? If so the existing wheels look nice to me.

That GT5S is wicked. That's exactly what I need in my stable next to my narrow body. What a car!

Show us more pics?

Dave (green with envy...)

black gt5s that has the perfect wheel gap up front. That is a beauty. Can't wait to get into greenville so I can check it out.

Thanks Fellas for your kind comments! I am very happy with #9259. Not to mislead anyone but this is a 1983 GTS that was converted to GT5S specs by Hall Pantera using ALL of their "Ultra Pantera" and catalog goodies. It has a 408 Fontana 9.5" deck stroker motor, Brembo brakes, Hall aluminum suspension, factory dropped pans, carbon fiber pieces, a/c condenser up front, etc. I have made numerous changes since finding her.
I desperately searched for 10 spokes for the look but also to show off the Brembo cross drilled and slotted brakes. I talked with Larry Stock originally and he relayed he had a problem with Kodiak delivering wheels for him. In fact these are the only 3 piece Kodiak 10 spokes on a Pantera from what I have been told by Larry. They were made for an owner with a GT5 project in England. He decided not to do his build so he listed them on Ebay. I was lucky to come across them. Good Karma!
David, you asked about these 10 spokes vs. other 10 spokes? Pantera East's were made by Boyd Coddington who sold to American Racing. Those and Wilkinson's were one piece billet centers. These Kodiaks have hidden hardware on the back of the wheel. They are forged centers with a slight dish. Lighter and supposedly stronger than one piece. I know they are lighter which is great for less unsprung weight and the benefits of that. My car has Hall's GT5S steel fenders which I have been told are notorious for not being symmetrical in width. My left rear quarter is 1" wider than the right. The wheels were GT5 specs. Larry said they would work but may need massaging. I took a chance and bought them. The right rear backspacing was perfect. The right then was 1" too outboard. I had my friend and fellow Pantera expert Jerry Pentaleri machine these wheels for me to work. Jerry lathed off almost an inch on the right rear to change the backspacing to bring the wheel inboard. That is why when putting flares on a car, decide on your wheels/tires first and build to them. My fronts have the Hall aluminum hubs and Brembo rotors/hats. The grease caps over the bearings came through the wheel centers so I had to machine the centers out some and then use a cover to hide the caps. Fortunately I have always liked the Hall faux knock off centers. My previous wheels were 17" Hall Ultra MK IX with black centers (Which I need to list for sale if anyone is interested with 255/40/17 and 335/35/17 Michelin Pilot Sport 2's) I have the knock nuts as well but no pics yet with them on versus the spinners. I wanted to use them on my wheels and they worked great. To do this you need the longer studs Hall wheels require and I used 2 lug nuts per stud. One to torque the wheel down and one to hold the center hub on. My car sits low as is so the stance is aggressive. It has the double adjustable Aldan shocks and Hall springs. I had really wanted 18"fr 19" rear 10 spokes but didn't want to raise the car with the OD of the 345/30/19 rear tire. George Pence has some nice threads on the PIBB on this and he helped me with advice. Alex has some great looking 18/19 ten spokes made by Dennis Quella recently posted.
I have gutted the Ansas, recently added the billet gas cap, added leather Sparco Torino 2 seats with shoulder harnesses from Bob Byers, and Jet Hot coated the exhaust. Everything is polished or plated.
For now I am working on an air shock front end system to allow me to get her into places. It is LOW and I love the look but functionally it is a pain! Also I am working on carbon fiber side mirrors, scoops, dash insert, Pantera Elecronics engine management system with push button starter, and a few other secrets for the future shows.
Sorry for ranting but I love Panteras! This car is loud with an aggressive cam and is an absolute beast! I have learned so much from y'all and I thank you. I will add some more pics.

Thanks again,
Don Hunt

Seats and gas cap. I have better seat pics but they need to be resized for this PIBB. I don't know how to upload multiple pics?

Front wheel close up

Rear wheel view on lift checking fit

Front wheel/brakes

Rear wheel/brakes

Rear wheel view

one more view

Beautiful. Thanks.

Hi Don. Great looking car!
What size tires did you run in the front and do you have any clearance/rubbing problems? Your fronts are 10" wide,correct?
BTW, my Kodiak 10 spokes (18's and 19's) are on order. It's been a long wait.
Will

Wow! Outrageous!

Thanks Daniel, David, Will and Doug! The wheels absolutely change the look of the car from before. Will, the wheels are 18x10"fr and 18x13" rear and my tires are 255/35/18 and 335/30/18 Michelin Pilot Sport 2's. My previous tires were Michelin Pilot Sport 2's as well in 255/40/17 and 335/35/17 which gave an outside diameter of 25.2" fr and 26" rear. I wanted to keep the same ride height so I was able to keep the same widths but drop the profile and end up with the same outside diameter. I wanted to maintain the slight rake rear to front. I also thought it was important to have a larger sidewall height in the rear to give the car that muscular look without having the rear sidewalls anemic. I am not sure of the backspacing? I measured them but I don't know if I did it right? I had adjust these with machining regardless.
I had a Pantera vendor direct me on the measurements they wanted as I was going to have a set of dished 10 spokes made before I found these. At weighted ride height I measured from the ground to a repeatable spot in the bottom of the lower A arm for ride height. Then I put the car on a lift, removed each wheel one at a time and placed a jack under the lower A arm and lowered the car back down to full weight using the jack to support the a arm until it was at the same ride height. Then you drop a weighted plumb line taped to the fender straight down to use as a perpendicular reference for your fender lip. You then measure from the center of your hubs and rotor hats to the plumb to give you how much depth you have for the wheel clearance. Do this for each wheel. Mine was different all around. I hope I am explaining this correctly?
I still am toying with wanting 19" rear wheels but It may be too large for the lines of my 5S body? The only sizes I know of is Michelin PS2 in 345/30/19 but that is about 27" od and Pirelli makes a 355/25/19 which is a shorter od.
The only thing I would change on mine is I like a "Soft" lip on the wheel instead of the stepped lip. That gives a bigger center section and longer spokes. Of course then you have to go to larger rotors to fill the wheel. Always an expense! I really like Alex Stoffer's new wheels http://s461.photobucket.com/albums/qq337/alexstoffer/ and the thread on the PIBB is http://pantera.infopop.cc/eve/forums/a/albumcomments/f/3350045562/m/9470035475
Those have the soft lip and look more modern to me. Of course he waited a year and they were expensive as well.
Will, I am sure you have been waiting and frustrated as I know Larry is with Kodiak. Please keep me posted about your 19" as I may want to try a pair for the rear if they ever do a soft lip.

Warmest regards,
Don

Please tell me about your IR EFI setup. You snuck that in with the wheels you tricky little devil you.

Don,
Your car is very similar to Does 200's Black Hall Ultra Pantera.

He mentioned his Velocity thread that he has air suspension on his.

Maybe he will post a pic of his Black car here.

Both are awesome cars.