Panoz Cars and Parts

[GaryJonesMotorspor]

Hi My name is Gary Jones and I own GaryJonesMotorsports in Augusta Ga.We are a 10,000sq Ft. full service race shop specializing in Vintage race car building, maintaining and track support.We are also a 2 time overall winner of the HSR Rolex Enduro Series and have totaled more than 70 wins in the last elevan years. I was involved in the liquidation of the Panoz School and Series cars buying and selling 17 of the cars ( and keeping 2 for myself ). I was also involved in liquidating there parts supply and purchased the body molds for the cars..I have a limited supply of parts for these cars including body parts and as we move into next racing season I will gather more information on the cars that I will be glad to share with people that purchased the cars from myself or my friend Hayes Harris at Wirewheel in Florida ( or directley from Road Atlanta ).I currentley have 6 race cars in my shop being prepaired for races next year with Historic Sportscar Racing www.hsrrace.com .I will be checking this site about once a week to see what is going on with the cars and trying to add as much input as I can.Since we will be racing 6 cars I should be able to gather about 6 times as much information a lot faster than a single person.If you need any help with your car please feel free to E-mail me at gjmcar98@comcast.net Please keep in mind that I am running a very busy business that requires me to be away for up to 5 days while we are at the races so If I don't get right back to you please be patient and I will awnser your E-mail. Thanks for your time and I think in the future you will find you made one very good investment for a open track or race car .......Gary

[Squerly]

Originally Posted by GaryJonesMotorspor

I was involved in the liquidation of the Panoz School and Series cars buying and selling 17 of the cars ( and keeping 2 for myself ). I was also involved in liquidating there parts supply and purchased the body molds for the cars..

Hi Gary. I guess it's reasonable to assume that Panoz isn't going to support these cars (or build the race version) any longer? And parts are going to become scarce?

[Blue Streak 21]

Gary;
It's great that you're so open and willing to share information gained from the cars you're running/preparring. I'm starved for info, so anything you post will be much appreciated.
I'm in need of a rear sway bar and all the attaching hardware. Did you come across one in the trailer full of stuff you carted off from Panoz? What will you want for it?
Jerry

[Cobra4B]

Awesome... ours came from Hayes!

[GaryJonesMotorspor]

Squerly
There will be a ample supply of parts for the school cars and the series cars avaliable...I am already in the process of sorcing parts out to people that can reproduce the body parts and the front birdcage ( or radiator support ) which I am betting will be one of the most needed parts along with the front nose.With some 80 cars total school and series sold there has to be a way for people to get parts so I'm working as hard as I can to assure there are parts ready when people start hitting the track with them...Gary

[GaryJonesMotorspor]

Jerry
I was up there today and did find some rear sway bars but could not find any of the mounting hardware....I am going to look into having this stuff made and just keep in touch and I'll let you know how it's going...I will tell everyone now that one reasons the cars push so bad is the fact that they are sprung way to soft ( which was great for a school or beginner car but not good for a race car ).This coupled with the soft sidewall street tires which makes it more of a spring makes the cars really soft... As I get my cars out on the track and start to work with them I will be better suited to tell everyone what they need but for right now I'm guessing a 550 in the front and a 300 or a little less in the rear...I would bet that this spring rate with a stiff shock setting and all the cars need some of the camber taken out of the front end and this should be in the ball park...Just be sure you know that this is going to make the car looser ( and faster ) but it will be a little harder to stay on top of...Hope this helps
Gary

[Blue Streak 21]

Gary;
Your posts are very informative.
Thanks for getting back to me on the sway bar. Please put my name on one rear bar. Especially after you put together all the hardware. I appreciate you going the extra mile.
On the suspension, I was told by John Leverett of Panoz Engineering that the series cars ran 550# springs in the front and 350# in the rear. This coupled with Penske shocks seemed to be the starting point for the Series race cars. So your advice lines up perfectly with that info. I plan to go to slicks right away. Probably get a set of Hoosiers, as I have a lot of experience with them from running my Z06. That should stiffen it up nicely. I'm not after a loose car, just something that is closer to neutral in medium to fast corners.
Jerry

[GaryJonesMotorspor]

Jerry
I would say that John is on the money with the spring choice if you plan to run slicks ( which would be a good idea ).They tend to be a stiffer sidewall and have more bite so this should enable you to run the 350 in the rear and I think this should give you a car that is very neutral.Also the reason I said to run a stiff shock setting is because although the Koni is a good shock it is going to heat up and fade much quicker than the Penski so at the start of a run the car may seem a little like it's on top of the race track but after a few laps ( and that Koni heats up ) the car should settle in and have a much better feel.Everyone just PLEASE keep in mind that the information I'm giving is for someone who has some on track experence like Jerry and if you are just getting started just run the car the first few times like it came from the school...I DO NOT want to start selling body parts to anyone and I don't want anyone just starting out to be discouraged out of a great sport by busting there ass right from the start.....The really great thing about these cars is they have room for a lot of improvment in the horsepower / gearbox department to make them a really quick car if you survive the learning curve without tearing them up..Just for everyone's information I have all the spare transmissions and rear ends that the school had and am sorting through this stuff now to see what's good and what's not...In about a week I should have a list of spare parts that are avaliable.....I also have a couple of the Series cars that are for sale so if any of your friends are ready to hit the track please let me know......Gary

[Blue Streak 21]

Gary;
The Eibach springs for the cars are 2.5" ID x 8" long? I thought you said something in this neighborhood when we talked, I just couldn't remember the exact dimensions.

[Gatorac]

Originally Posted by GaryJonesMotorspor

Jerry
I was up there today and did find some rear sway bars but could not find any of the mounting hardware....

From the GTS parts manual (page 16 part #1a) the rear sway bar mounting hardware looks to be just a spherical rod end.

I need a rear sway bar too.

[Cobra4B]

Keep me updated... I've been doing HPDEs in my prepp'd Z06 for 5 years and would like to get the car more neutral. Sounds like stiffer springs/shocks and a rear bar will be in order.

Please keep us updated if you put any packages together

[Gatorac]

Did you re-use the fuel pumps on the cars you converted to carb?

My fuel pump is working but it makes some aweful noises.

[GaryJonesMotorspor]

Gatorac
I used the original fuel pump but had to install a by-pass type fuel regulator to keep from having to much fuel pressure for the Holley....All the pumps make some noise but I have had to replace one on a car in the shop already and it did make a lot of noise, added to the fact that it wouldn't pump but about 5 psi max when I used the by-pass no matter how far I closed off the by-pass ( which tells me that if we would have ran the fuel injection out on the race track we would of had a problem at high rpm.It was enough pressure to let the car idle and drive around the parking lot )...I have some new fuel pumps if you need one...One of the big problems everyone is going to have in the future is a lack of a way to scan the cars for problems...This is the reason I changed all my cars over to a 4 barrell and and MSD..I had one car that ran perfect when we picked it up and also when we unloaded it at the shop.A week later it simpley would not fire up...After calling a friend of mine who is VERY GOOD with fuelinjection we simpley could not get any of 3 up to date scan tools that he owned to talk to the car ( or any of 3 other school cars we tried them on )...We finally exchanged a part at a time until the throttle position sensor turned out to be the problem...I was lucky because I had aquired the spare parts from the school and had the stuff to work with...I told all of my customers that they needed to convert there cars and none of them had a problem with it....By putting a performer RPM intake,a 650 RACE carb and a MSD box and distrbutor on the car it should add 30 to 40 HP and make the car much eaiser to work with...I am going to start a seprate thread deticated to nothing but problems found and solved for these cars for people to use as a tool and I hope this helps ( especially the entry leval guys ). So if everyone would use this thread for nothing but posting questions about issues and fixes it will help it stay kind of clean and easy to use for that purpose...Gary

[Cobra4B]

Gary... what's the final verdict on the recommended oil and capacity? Looking throuh my logs it seems as if sometimes they run Mobil 1 and other times Quaker State... what do you recommend for oil? Synthetic or Organic? Weight? And how much! I have the standard 5.0 w/ an aftermarket road race pan.... it has two wells and two drain plugs.

Thanks,
Brian.

PS what trans fluid do you use and how much of that? My dif was just redone so that'll be good for the year, but I want to change the oil and trans for a fresh start.

[GaryJonesMotorspor]

I'm at home today and not at the shop so I can't tell you how much oil they hold...In ALL my race cars I run Amsoil and if you can't find that use Mobil one...A 15W50 should be a good weight but the car may run a little rough until the oil gets warm....If the weather is cool (70 or below )you can use a 10W40...I wouldn't use anything but a synthetic motor oil and that is also what I use in my Gear Boxes and Rear Ends...