DeTomaso Mailing List: October 97, Message #124
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Dear Jim, Harboring two Panteras is the first sign of irreversible high horsepower encephalopathy, an incurable disease. As I am similarly afflicted to the same extent, perhaps I can help you. My '74 had all systems upgraded and I ran it at the track often, but not in the fastest company that I would like. Last winter I finally threw in the towel and had Pantera Performance Center put on new springs, shocks and wheels at the 30,000 mile point in the car's life. Afterwards there was a new firmness in the ride, but better. At the track the car is now less scary, easier to handle and, in situations of throttle oversteer, it is catchable and hasn't gotten away from me once. Major improvements in track times and feel. The improvement is so notable that a shock upgrade on the milder car is on the list of things to do (which necessarily doubles in length when there are two in the stable and easily solves that old problem of what to do with your spare time), Go ahead and put some good springs and shocks on at least one of 'em and I think that the shock-spring budget may double at the Dimick household. Zoom, Chuck Engles ---------- > From: DtomasoCat@aol.com > To: Detomaso@wgate.com > Subject: Shocking question! > Date: Sunday, October 05, 1997 2:16 PM > > To All, > > I am currently working on two Panteras. My '71 and a '72 Pre-L. I have both > of the rear suspensions completely removed as I am replaceing suspension > bushings and generally going thru things. I decided to do some detailing on > the shocks on both cars and removed the coil springs. When I pulled the > shocks out of the coil, I found that they were both original equipment shocks > on both cars. > > My car as 85,000 miles on it and the other car has 25,000. I pretty much > figured that my shocks were probably long gone and thought I was right when I > did the following test. I compressed the shock by pushing down on it and > found it collapsed with almost no "tension" at all. I then tried pulling it > apart and found it had lots of tension. In fact it was difficult to get it > apart. I then tried collapsing it again and it just compressed with very > little resistance (if any). > > I then tried the same proceedure with the shocks off of the 25,000 mile car. > I figured they would be much better than mine. Dead wrong. They were > exactly the same. Tension when you pulled the shock apart, no tension when > you compressed it. > > In fact, neither of the shocks would push themselves back out once > compressed. I am much more familiar with gas shocks which will "rebound" > back and extend the shock completely when compressed. These original shocks > will not do that, but should they? The original equipment shocks are air > shocks, aren't they? Do they operate differently? > > What I am trying to figure out is if each of the cars need new shocks or > what? How can I tell if the shocks are bad? With the coil spring tension on > the shock, wouldn't it make a bad shock work just fine? > > I have driven my car for over 35,000 miles with the original shocks and never > had any weird tire wear or similar problems associated with bad shocks. I > know that I have a weak spring on the left rear, due to a slight "sag" in the > car on that side. I am planning to replace the springs on my car, but if the > shocks are OK, I don't want to have to spend money where I don't need to > (especially with the price of Pantera shocks these days!) > > Can you help me? > > Jim Demick >