1974 DeTomaso Pantera Gr4 Conversion -Adjustable control arms, fabricated spindles, Howe 5x5 hubs with integrated rotor mounts, Willwood GNIII front and superlite rear calipers, HRE 547 Modular Wheels 17x10 285/40 Michelin Pilots front 17x13 335/35 rear, Custom Fuel Safe 12 Gallon fuel cell, PPC aluminum radiator, Wilwood clutch and brake assy with balance bar, full complement of Autometer electric guages, Sparco Pro 2000's with Crow 5pt harnesses, eight point roll cage with 2x4 box steel tubing in the rocker panels, Hall Pantera rigidity kit, Accufab 90mm Throttle body , 412CI aluminum SVO dry sump motor built by Kuntz & Co., Custom fabricated 321 stainless headers with burns merge collectors, Twin Turbonetics T70 Qtrim turbochargers, Electromotive TEC3 EFI. I will soon install the massive Spearco intercooler and Tial 46mm wastegates. I havent started the engine yet but am estimating around 1000 HP at 18psi.
And here is a pic w/o the wing. In my opinion it looked kind of bland without it.
I bought this car after it had been in in an accident. Both the inner and outer passenger rear fenders and frame rails were totaled and had to be replaced. My father runs a auto body shop in Louisiana and we rebuilt the car over a course of three years. It has been quite a learning experience and fun to boot. My father, having owned and restored three previous Panteras, has been an invaluable resource and I am forever in debt to him for his help with this project. I have no 1/4 mile times or horsepower numbers because I have not finished the car yet. I hope to have it on the road this summer and will post my info then. More Later
UPDATE
Well summer has come and gone. I am still working to get the car on the road but progress is never as fast as I hope. I am now shooting for christmas. I have to get an oil tank, oil lines, and some odds and ends done.
UPDATE
Oh well there goes Christmas too....I have my oil tank and 1/2 of my plumbing done. I am still waiting on a few fittings which should be here in a week or so. I decided to do some modifications on my manifold so that is underway as well. If everything goes well from here it should be ready to start by the end of January. Hope everyone had a great holiday. Happy new year to all!
UPDATE 17/01/04
This is a picture of my manifold modifications. I just have some polishing to do and the manifold will be done. The oil system is 95% complete now. Just some odds and ends need to be figured out. I am so close I can taste it...
Here is a new pic of the manifold with all accessories mounted.
UPDATE 14/02/04
The time has come. I plan to start the engine on Monday the 16th. I have faith in everything except for my fuel rails. I think I am going to have leaks there. I am crossing my fingers on that one. I plan to video the first startup and will eventually post a link so everyone can check it out.
UPDATE 21/02/04
We have ignition!!! After working out a few bugs I flashed her up for the first time. OH MY GOD!!!! The car sounded twice as good as I had hoped. I am going to do some tuning tomorrow to get a clean idle then I am going to get some sound clips and video.
UPDATE 05/03/04
After running the motor for the first time I had a look at my oil. It had that familiar milky look to it indicating water in the oil. After a big shit show of removing my manifold and heads and hunting down the leak I found a pin hole through the block just above the #2 lifter bosses. I am going to try to get this repaired sometime this week.
UPDATE 17/06/04
The hole was fixed the pinhole with a compound called DEVCON. It is an epoxy based paste which is supposed to be pretty damned tough. I was going to have it welded up but the hole was too close to my lifter bosses and I was afraid of warpage. My wastegates are mounted up and will post pics as soon as I get the whole setup ceramic coated. Maybe I will flash it up again in a week or two. The shocks and springs are in as well. I opted for a set of QA1 adjustables.I will have them installed by the end of next week. After that I need to alter my steering rack (probably get a custom one) to get the bumpsteer out of the front suspension.
UPDATE 18/09/04
I just realized I had not updated in a while. I will try to get some new pictures today. I only have a few things left to do to get my car on the road. I modified my steering rack this week and got my halfshafts in a few weeks ago. I am going to try to mount the rack this weekend. My suspension is very close to done. All of my lower shock mounts are ready and I just have to make up some spacers for my upper mounts. The cooling system needs to be finished up and I need to plumb all of my brakes.
Here is a recent picture of my engine bay.
UPDATE 08/13/05
Well I guess I should let eveyone know whats happening. I am now plumbing my brakes/clutch. A few fittings are on the way so I should hopefully have this done soon. I have just started a new job so the car is unfortunately on the back burner. Money/time are nonexistent so it looks like ths bad boy has to wait till next summer. It is probably for the better as I want to make a custom fiberglass dash/console. This will give me plenty of time to do that as well as fix some paint issues. I was pretty excited about having it this summer but its not meant to be. Keep an eye out for more updates to come.
Here is the most recent picture of my egine bay. I finally got my intercooler in. I hope to have it on the road in June.
I got the car on the road in August 2006. The car runs like a raped ae but there ae a few bugs I need to tackle this winter. I had the car on the dyno but only made one semi-successful run. The rest of the time we were chasing bugs. The run we did make the dyno operator let off at 4500 RPM because the straps were too loose/too few. The car was developing 562 HP and 660 Ft/Lbs ath the rear wheels when he let off. I am expecting at least 900 when we get a full PM run with it. This is a dyno clip.
Dyno Video
Update 11/06/07
Man, been a long time since an update. Its was an interesting winter. I pulled the manifold and heads to inspect the motor after the season. Looks like alls well inside the motor. I am still battling an oil smoke issue that I think is stemming from too much oil to the turbos. There are a few changes in the works that I hope will resolve the issue. Finally got some air filtration on the beast as well. It should do as a temporary solution until I relocate my turbos and get some cold air induction. I also had the front suspension redone. I just dont have the time or tools to do this right myself. I bucked up and brought the car to a local chassis shop. Cost a bit but at least I can throw the car into some turns without being uncomfortable. Here are a couple of new pics.
Here is the most recent dyno results. This is baseline with a base map 13psi boost with no ignition tuning. For the first time everything actually went well on the dyno. Will be back again for more tuning soon.
