Pantera parts ! (Page 35/75)
PaulJK APR 20, 03:28 AM
I believe the linear actuators from Dakota Digital are 110#, so they may do the trick for you. Bad news = they are $199 each
motoracer838 MAY 04, 08:57 PM
bump
fierogt3800 MAY 05, 12:16 AM
any idea on a price for this kit yet? are you going to have a chop top version of the kit too? i would be interested in the chopped version


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85 GT, bright blue met. fastback, chrome 16"s, 3800 swap, (soon to be SBC)
85.5 Porsche 944 euro *for sale*
73 VW Karmann Ghia convertible (sold to finish SBC swap)

[This message has been edited by fierogt3800 (edited 05-05-2006).]

opm2000 MAY 05, 09:57 PM
Well, a lot of good work has been done. I've made up four new wheel flares. The molds I make have a two elements built in: a large flange surrounding the part on the outside edges, and a trim line, which is imparted onto the made part. These have been working out very well. I'll get some pics of this stuff up later this weekend.

Meanwhile, the front clip was turned upsidedown onto sawhorses, and the front grill and front turnsignal cutouts made. A 1 1/4" lip was left inside the grill cutout, for mounting the steel grill to, but it may be reduced down to as little as 1/2" when it's all done.



Here you can also see I've marked lines for sanding of the gelcoat, for the attachment tapes. Doing this upside down works great, since the airdam easily rests on the clip, and fine tuning the fit can be done. Mostly, I used a 4" welding grinder fitted with an 80 grit sanding flap to trim to the parting lines I mentioned. Then it's just a matter of beveling that edge to match the contours of the clip. The larger sanding disc makes it much easier than trying to do it with a dremel tool, which can dip & dive as you are sanding along.



Here you see the airdam trimmed and setting in place, with two clecos holding it firmly in position. A bit of vasaline is dabbed onto the shafts of the cleco before inserting, and the attachment tapes can be glassed right in. The vasaline acts as a release, and after a few hours, the clecos can be removed.

Once the fit was achieved and the marked areas sanded, the whole works was moved back indoors, and the airdam was attached using two layers of bid cloth, along the entire underside edge of the airdam, where it meets the front clip. I also used a squeezeout of a mix of resin, cabosil, milled fiber, and 1/4" chopped fiber. This stiff mix was used both as a gap filling squeezeout and as a valley filling fillet, and applied just before the attaching tapes. This cured to an incredibly strong attachment. The next day the whole works was turned right side up, and a purely cosemetic layup was sone on the outside to cover the joints, using two layers of 1 oz. mat.



And these badboyz arrived. I have to round up a couple of relays, but will soon be replacing the gas struts.

On tap for this weekend is attaching the four wheel flares. That said, it is Derby weekend here. And my daughter is going to her first prom, so I'll try to get more posted by late sunday.

David Breeze
opm2000 MAY 05, 10:16 PM
Fierogt3800,
I'm sticking to the kit prices which are in a couple of places, further back in this thread. I've pretty well proved the molds to my satisfaction, and discovered what areas need extra or special reinforcement, while in the mold, to yield a good stout product.

While I imagine that the only turnkey or rolling chassis Panteras that I build will all be choptops, I still don't think I'll be producing a mold strictly for a choptop. Two reasons: each choptop done by a different builder is going to be demensionally different, just a bit. That might just throw off the fit of a "choptop fiberglass body", and I just don't want to sell anything to someone who is going to be disappointed. The other reason is that I found it very simple to modify the stock fiberglass rear clip to fit a choptop chassis. I'll be including the pics & text to walk the builder thru that process, if they go that route. Plus, I'm only a phone call away, whenever a bit of help is needed.

On a side note, if you happen to live in the eastern half of the US, I will be willing to work out a delivery method to help defray the cost of shipping, as much as I can.

David Breeze
bobm MAY 11, 10:28 PM
Dave,

It's been a while since I've posted. I guess you never made Carlisle. Do you have any estimates of completion at this time? and, when kit production will begin?

Thanks, Bob
Philphine MAY 11, 11:01 PM

quote
Originally posted by opm2000:

I did talk with a shop that specializes in widening aluminum wheels. They can easily widen the "backside", moving the inner rim inboard. With the shallow faced rims found on most front wheel drive cars, they are hesitant to try widening the outer rim outboard, mostly for cosmetic reasons. This may work out for the rears, once they are moved out with spacers. We'll see.





is this place somewhere in ky? did you or could you ask about filling in and redrilling aluminum wheels for a new bolt pattern?
opm2000 MAY 12, 09:34 AM
Philphine,
They are in Michigan. http://www.weldcraftwheels.com/ is their website. And james@weldcraftwheels.com is their email tech questions. They can give you a better answer with an indepth email or chat from you, the devil is in the details you know

Bobm,
Hello again. Yes, I missed Carslile. To make it I was faced with either starting to take shortcuts in the build of the choptop Pantera, or just not taking it.

I decided to continue the process I've been following: building and documenting each step, trying to troubleshoot the build process or part fabrication process, so that the new builder has as easy a job as possable. I like stout parts that fit. I'm sure we've all seen extremely thin fiberglass parts, or parts that looked cratered like the face of the moon, or even entire kits where most of the body panels have to be re-cut and re-sized to fit the Fiero chassis, or where the chassis has to be cut and resized or even entirely replaced.

I'm looking at rolling the choptop pantera out of the indoor workspace by the end of this month or by the middle of next month at the latest. I've been gearing up the molds and materials to starting the first for-sale kit then. Pretty much on the same schedule we had discussed earlier.

There will be a one week layoff in mid-late july when my son & I go fishing in Canada, before he goes to Iraq. Other than that, it will be full time, one kit at a time

[This message has been edited by opm2000 (edited 05-12-2006).]

motoracer838 MAY 27, 01:06 PM
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blackrams MAY 27, 06:27 PM
The fender flares have just been glassed to the body, those of you that like the wide body look are gonna love this. Dave, is a magician when it comes to taking a concept to reality. Dave's Choptop is really cool.
Now I just have to get him to quit playing with, oh, almost let the cat out of the bag.
I guess you'll just have to follow the thread. When Dave's ready, he'll post pics.

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Ron
Freedom isn't Free, it's paid for with the blood and dreams of those that have gone before us.
My imagination is the only limiting factor to my Fiero. Well, there is that money issue.

[This message has been edited by blackrams (edited 05-27-2006).]