ATL to NJ: Moved in and settled

My last post was right before we sold our house in Atlanta and moved to Ridgewood, NJ. As you can guess, that takes a LOT of time. I am happy to say everything went well and I am now finding myself some time to work on the cat. It took about 2 months to get the new shop ready as it needed everything done (painting, electrical, flooring, lift, etc). It really came out great (you will see new pics soon). Registering wasn't too bad. I didn't register the pantera as a classic so I went through emissions. It passed....but I will most likely do the classic plates next

I took the Pantera to a car show in Ridgewood and got an offer from an online newsletter publisher to make it a monthly feature car. Will post more when I know more.

So what is next on the Pantera?

1.) I am still getting a rattle in the right front...I replaced the steering rack so it must be something else

2.) Passenger side mirror: I almost side swiped our family car because of the big blind spot on passenger side. I bought a passenger side mirror to install to avoid that tragedy

3.) Dent Removal: Want to have some of the dimples looked at and possibly pulled out

4.) Carpet: I want to replace the carpet in the front luggage compartment

That is probably it for now.

Tuning the fuel system- Lemar Walden Automotive

I was wisely guided to Lamar Walden Automotive for advice on tuning my system. Lamar is famous for his high performance 409's but he can work on anything...even a Ford. During our discussion, Lamar suggested that I go back to the 650 CFM carb and wanted to address the carb angle. The carb in a Pantera actually leans forward due to the engine placement which makes it challenging to adjust the floats, etc. Because Lamar has a full machine shop, Lamar took off the intake and machined it so that the carb would sit flat. He also hot tanked the manifold and got it nice and clean. Now the Pantera is running just right without any flooding issues. We did have some issues with the idle, we looked for a vacuum leak and couldn't find one. It was also very cold and the car seems to idle OK now that it is warmer. Anyway, I was very happy with Lamar's service, prices and workmanship.

Final Alignment....more problems...

After I finished the fuel system, I brought my car back to Gran Turismo to get the final alignment. As you may have read before, everytime I take it to Gran Turismo East, I find something else wrong with the car. During this trip, I realized:
1.) Brakelight switch was out
2.) The carb I got was way too big for the motor and I was running way to rich

Well, at least I got the car aligned with no issues! Now to address more problems.

Fuel Lines & Pump

For this project, I wanted to replace all the fuel lines from the tank, to the pump and from the pump up to the carb. I also wanted to install a fuel pressure gauge and wrap the fuel lines in heat wrap to control any vapor lock. I also changed the glass fuel filter between the pump and the carb to a metal fuel filter.

While I was in the mix with the fuel lines, I thought I would change out the old fuel pump. The old pump was in good shape

My first replacement was a beautiful pump from RobbMc Performance. This pump is a work of art. Unfortunately, I couldn't get it to fit due to a clearance issue with the coolant line. Others suggested that I just relocate the line but I didn't want to deal with bleeding the cooling system, etc.

As a result, I went to a trusty holley fuel pump and it installed without issue.

Been a while...

You have probably noticed that I have been dark for some time. We decided to move back to New Jersey from Atlanta which has kept me busy. However, I have had some work done to the car. The Pantera is now in New Jersey in storage awaiting the purchas of our new house w/ garage of course! I'll do some quick updates.

Fuel Tank Side Fuel Hoses Retrofit

I decided I wanted to get the first part of the fuel system retrofitted with new hoses. Nothing like 36 year old hoses cracking and spewing fuel on hot headers! I started with the fuel filler neck hose…..OH MY GOD..what a pain in the a$$. It literally took me a few weeks to get the right combo. The wining touch was some clear racing cell filler tube and my wife’s uncle, Sotiris. This was definitely a one man job and without his help, I wouldn’t be writing this. Next up was the fuel pump hose. I do have a new fuel sender gauge but I am not installing it yet. I cleaned up the wiring to see if there maybe was an issue with corrosion or something. Will find out soon. I wrapped the fuel hose in a heat resistant mesh cover. I wanted to avoid vapor lock so that will be a nice addition to the engine compartment. I also have a new fuel pump because the car was stalling. It might be a float level issue or it might be the pump. Either way, I’ll go through a process of elimination. My goal is to just make this a driver at this point. Pics below:

Exhaust Install

The exhaust system was looking rough but solid so I decided to give them a similar Jet Hot Coating as the headers so there would be more continuity in the system. I bought all new brackets, seals, bolts, etc. Jet hot did a good job not coating the chrome tips. The system installed great and I can’t wait to start it up and hear the new headers with the stock tailpipes.