The Pantera Place
"Your de Tomaso Connection"

Pantera Shift Linkage Modification

By Mike Drew

All of the technical information and product information posted on this website is offered as general information and is not recommended, endorsed, guaranteed or presented as professional technical information.  It is recommended that you seek professional help for the repair or maintenance of your car.  Improper self-maintenance or repair of your car can result in serious injury and or death.  Use of this information is done at your own risk.

Click images to view

Mark Tamburello arrived in his new 1972 Pantera L at about 10:00 a.m. We originally intended simply to perform a steering rack bushing installation, but first we decided to adjust his shift linkage because the prior owner had let it get out of adjustment and it was wearing badly against the fingers of the gate. While we were at it, I suggested we remove the superfluous shift lever centering mechanism, since the ZF has its own internal centering mechanism, and the two can sometimes "fight" each other.

 

Although this job can be simply performed inside the car, we removed the shifter lever support box for the sake of clarity. Also, we weren’t smart enough to figure out we could do the job with this still in the car until we had it sitting in the driveway!

Mark uses snap-ring pliers to remove the snap ring which holds the mechanism in place.

Mission complete, and the unnecessary parts (plunger, spring, cover, and snap ring) are ready to be relegated to the spare and obsolete parts box. Upon reinstallation of the shifter box, the car’s shifting characteristics were VASTLY improved. I was so impressed I performed this same modification on my car at the end of the day (without removing the box from the car!)