ZF parts etc

THE vendor for everything ZF is Lloyd Butfoy.

His father, Roy Butfoy, was a member of the Ford GT team and worked on the ZF. He started a SoCal business centered around the ZF. When ZF was through with our 5-speed model, Roy bought all their parts- several Seatrain's full.

Son Lloyd continue to be the source for new parts, and supplies all the vendors. The parts have never been known as cheap. More so down in Oz.

http://www.rbttrans.com/index.html

Larry

Firstly, after reading your previous excitement in obtaining your dream I'm sorry to hear you have discovered this, unfortunately the ZF is the most expensive part of a Pantera to restore.

That said I have a spare ZF-2, previously rebuilt by RBT, and safety wired, does not include clutch fork as it was used in a hydraulic setup previously. It is currently painted with a ppg black which could be stripped if you so desired. It is stored in a shipping tote, ready to go and I'll sell for $6.5K.

Only reason I'm selling is because I now decided I want a 3.77 Ring & Pinion for open road racing, so it makes more sense to rebuild the original than tear a perfectly good box apart.

Drop me a PM or e-mail julian_kift(at)hotmail(dot)com if interested.

Julian

That sounds like a good deal, I like many others here can vouch for Julian's integrity.
Out of curiosity is it far to transport the box to Texas ? as that is where my next container is leaving from. And if red Terra get it my guy will prob bring it in.
Although your initial problem sounded more like clutch not releasing to me.due to the cost of the zfs it would take a lot to get me to pull mine apart !!
on a lighter note got mine back today, always fun to drive

6.5k is a great price. (buy it before someone else does). i just laid 9.5k for one from rbt and that was after searching for months. the only differnce is the case on the one i bought was polished but, cracking the case and removing all of the paint and polishing it will run you around a grand. still, for around 7.5k you can have a beautiful zf and if you are not into the polished look you could save even more........
rodman

Thanks for the offer of the new ZF and the names of suppliers.We are in the process of pricing parts and delivery costs.Once we know these we will be in a better position to decide on a new ZF or just parts.

Thanks again for all your assistance.....FWIW this has in no way dented our love for such a classic car!

Paul

Red-Tera, what is your car's serial number? There are several ZFs that may be in certain Panteras either originally or as replacements, and parts for some are almost non-existent rather than 'just' expensive!
There is a transition ZF that uses the lower-geared Mangusta gearbox flipped upside-down & mounted on a Pantera differential case. Piece-parts for this ZF are almost non-existent; Ford scrapped many of these early in production due to the low gearing leading to engine over-revving and many warranty claims. They can be spotted by their sand-cast bellhousings, and two inspection holes up top. THere may be attaching dog-legs from the bellhousing to the diff side-plates. They are usually found on early-serial '71s.
There is a so-called 'super-ZF' that was originally used on very late Panteras and BMW M-1s. It has a cast-on curved plate on top of the diff case that apparently acts as a reinforcement for the ring & pinion gears. None of the innards on this uncommon ZF will interchange with the more common third type, without lots of machining. They were originally delivered with CV-joint axles but std u-joint axles will interchange or can be adapted.
Somewhere in Western Australia was a shop that was once factory-authorized for ZF overhaul, and several Oz-owners have had favorable reports on their work over the years, but I've lost track of their name & location. Have you tried contacting your 'neighbor-owners' in your country on the subject?

Would be curious to know exactly what parts your ZF needs. I've never heard of a ZF in a driving/drivable car that needed so much work/parts that it cost less to just buy another ZF (unless it was grenaded with split case from too many dragstrip launches, or going airborn at high speed and being destroyed on landing).

Ok, the car's VIN is 4115 and the ZF is a 5DS-25-2.

With reference to the price for the parts please note that to import parts into Australia through a business means you have to add 45% duties/taxes plus another 15% mark-up for the mechanic plus shipping costs! This adds almost 70% to the purchase price that you guys can get it for.

Our mechanic has been decent enough to allow us to try and get the parts ourselves to avoid some of these costs. Also, the mechanic we're using, Leo from Ciliberti Motors, will be the one that BossWrench is talking about as he was referred to us by the ZF company themselves.

As for the symptoms, there was severe crunching when changing into 3rd and it took multiple goes to get into reverse. When the ZF was taken apart the mechanic found that the casing was cracked (someone had tried to glue it!) and that the synchro for 3rd gear was badly damaged. As for reverse, parts were missing altogether. The gear shift operating shaft and the clutch disc were badly worn. The other synchros were showing signs of wear too so the mechanic suggested that we replace a few bits while we had it apart. His price to us was $5,330US but we've already had one quote for $3,300US +shipping which is a big saving.

Whilst we appreciate the offer of the new ZF we have to work out the economics of shipping etc and just come up with the most economical, most convenient option. A whole new unit might still end up being the way to go?!

Having said all this, even though the car is jacked up with the ZF out it is still an awesome looking car and still drawing attention!

Thanks guys and any other input greatly appreciated

It's unfortunate that there are some unscrupulous sellers around, but I'm gald to see it hasn't dampened your spirit for the car.

If you have a parts vendor that is willing to work with you on the declarations (low $$ value), then maybe parts are your best solution.

The duty game brings back memories as I got caught out a number of times when living in Australia and importing parts, never did figure how they do the duty calculation! I was working in S. America and actually bringing most of it back in my luggage at one point, even a full carbon exhaust system for my Ducati of the time. Trick was to take back a couple pounds of Coffee and declare them, then they didn't touch the rest of your luggage on the assumption you were being honest Then they installed those scanners that all arriving luggage had to go through too and my game was over....

I'm sure you must have competenmt TIG welders there to fix the crack. Unfortunately the ZF is next to worthless in it's current state, so you wouldn't get much back on it. Fixing it is still probably the best option by the sounds of it.

Good luck,
Julian