DeTomaso Mailing List: February 00, Message #132

Mike Drew wrote:
	> [snip]
	> David (Pratt)...has WEBERS
	> [snip]
	> and features late-model Corvette seats
	> which I now think are probably the BEST seats
	> you can fit in a Pantera

Let me fill you in on David Pratt's car: a real GTS, black, but with
GT5 flares, and of course, the above mentioned additions.  He bought
it in Vegas a couple of years agi for the princely sum of $20K
(gasp!).  There is not a speclk of rust in this car, and all that
David has done to it has been to redo the cockpit, and go through the
motor fo an additional $6k.  Now that is a bargain!

Getting into the car for the first time I noticed the seats, and
was informed that they came from a C5 Corvette, and hed been reupholstered 
with cloth trim and leather bolsters.  Theye were extraordinarly 
comfortable, but may not be so for people with a big bum, as they are quite 
narrow.  The seats were very easy to get into and out of (unlike 
Recaros/Sparcos/Scheel/etc), and "looked" like they
came with the car, and were not an after-market addition.  David had
installed the flat firewall, which moved the passenger seat back a few 
inches.  Now I'm 6', and sitting in a normal Pantera passenger seat
is really horrible, because my forehead is less than 2" from the top of the 
window.  In Dave's car, it was like sitting in an ordinary car, and I did 
not feel claustrophibic at all.

The seats held me very well as we sampled a few freeway
on-ramps (the only way to sample non-linear roads in Florida).

Dave tells me that fitting the 'Vette seats is quite easy, requiring
only a small tab to be welded to the rails, because the 'Vette rails
are just slightly different to the Pantera rails!  He bought both
seats for $150, and spent some money on the upholsetry.  He even
retained the air bladder for custom fitting the seat to its
occupant.

Overall, I've never sat in a Pantera that was as comfortable
as these.

I consider this a must-do option for people looking for an after-market 
seat.  Many folk know that I have been looking for decent seats for the 
Kitty for a few years; now I am convinced I have found the seat for me.  
Damned shape it has GM stamped in the frame.

The Webers and Inglese manifold came fully polished.  David had absolutely 
no experience with Webers, but wanted to learn.  Picking
up Inglese' own 15-page "How to Tune Webers", and a few phone calls
to Ingelese, he had them sorted out in about 2 days.  Apparently
the BIG MUST HAVE for Weber owners is a long-duration cam with short
lift; Webers font have much vacume associated with them, and the
long-duration cam goes a long way to satisfying the vacume requirements.

On the road, they were awesome.  It was pretty chilly (45F) when David 
started the car from cold, and the motor lit up with less than a second on 
the started-motor.  The throttle had to be treated gently until warm, as 
David told me thatthe Webers had a tendancy to cough until warm.  He must 
have been pretty good with juggling the thottle, becausr they coughed only 
once while I was in the car.

Once underway, the Webers performed flawlessly, chugging from near-idle in 
top with very minor stumbling.  Davids car was very quiet
(compared with mine), and we could hold a genteel conversation at
all revs, no doubt due to Dave's extensive use of space-age insulating
material in the cockpit.  The Webers contributed to the most sound, a
rapid staccato that sounded like very-rapid machine-gun fire.  I could
hardly hear the exhaust!

David's only complaint is that the Webers give abysmal gas milage;
about 12mpg on tour, which isn't too bad in my book.  He has not touched 
them in a couple of years and very regular use.

Shane Ingate in FlatLand...errr....Florida



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