Completely agree!!!

But you still have to paint it Pontiac Baby Blue!!!

I'd love to do a carbed LS in my car with a functional Ram Air air cleaner to work with the functional Formula hood! Someday...

Dreamin Ta's
 

Sorry to say my Pantera has had a Dart block
stroker for over 10 years now.. think I am heading
that direction..maybe a destroker.. but Dart.. not a real fan of dry sump.....

Was at one of my early Norcal Shelby events and a guy
with a beautiful flaired 67 race car.. 5 years in the making...
was out on the track and all of a sudden you could see a
big billow of smoke...his drysump belt fell off and toasted
the engine... Last open header day at Laguna the Total
Control mustang had the snout break off on the front
of the engine that held the drysump and a bunch of other
pulleys.. not sure what happened to that engine other
than a broken crank

Bob

carb'd LS with a wet sump then. Or, 377 small block chevy. That will rev to the moon. Good luck which ever way you decide to go, Bob.

What Trey, Greg and Bryan said. there are other benefits to the LS design (besides all the sensors and computers). Different firing order, far superior head design, different * to the block....etc. You can have Pacific Fab do the wiring for you down in Morgan Hill if you do decide you want 450hp and 23 mpg, (they used too/still sponser here?)

Mines been pretty much bullet proof once done, too bad i keep messin with it...

Dreamin Ta's
 

Mickey
Going to need more than 450 hp
Thinking 600 like the Pantera
Finally gas mileage is my last concern

Will figure it out. 377 may be the cubes

Coming from 700 hp

Bob

Hey Bob... Did ya ever notice that EVERYBODY is switching over to LS power... carb or EFI.... Hey! Maybe they have some advantages? LOL:twak:

If I didn't already have the LT1, I would have gone LS based even with an iron block. It's a superior design, period. If starting with a clean slate and wanting to be competitive, it's very hard to not choose LS.

Agree! I'm way too deep into my LT1 build to change now....but there are days I'm more than tempted to sell everything and go LS.

Dreamin Tas
 

Still way on the fence on this LS thing.. really don't like having
to have any sensors... also worried about oiling problems
and external pumps.. been there on the Ponitiac originally and
it was an issue

I know tried and true in my dart small block stroker in the Pantera
that just keeps going and going..

My buddies mostly Mopar guys will not even let me talk
about an LS:)

Just don't need something that blows apart like my
old 347 stroker


Bob

That's an engine building issue -- not an LS vs SBC/SBP issue.... Motors are motors I've had a bunch of great SBC's and a few POS SBC's.... The Mustang motor couldn't make 3 laps with one engine builder - and is fantastic when taken to another builder.

There's no sensors required on a CARB'd LS motor.... only a coil (timing) controller made by MSD.... which is as simple as an MSD box on your distributor.. the big difference is you're not driving the distributor (there is none) and the oil pump off the cam.

Dreamin Ta's
 

So I did laguna last Sunday on the no sound limit day
Car was causing me issues all week long and I almost
gave up going. But the weather turned out beautiful and
my Pantera buddy was there with his trusty camera

This shot made it all worth the effort. My thanks to Skip
for helping me on the resizing

Bob

Looks great Bob!
:thumbsup:

Love that car..

:thumbsup:

The MSD box still need a cam, crank, and MAP sensors.

There is another option, that some say works better than the MSD.

http://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/ls1tech....bcf6bf7e0f.jpg

Andrew

Dreamin Ta's
 

Thanks Andrew for the heads up on
the smart box. Still need to get serious
and sell the 494 then move forward with a new combo

Really would like to run the bird on the track some day

Bob

Great looking picture of the Pantera, Bob. Glad you had fun with it at the track.

Dreamin Ta's
 

Thanks Trey... taking a short rest before
I start anything new right now

Bob

Dreamin Tas
 

So I did have a little issue last time at Laguna
Third session going into 2 with a Gt3 on my inside
and Viper boy behind me the brake pedal went almost
to the floor.... Found no fluid in the front reservoir

I checked everything before the event but the gaskets on
the covers are tricky and sometimes fall in and cause it to
leak... every time I mess with these there seems to be an
issue.. back was leaking because I filled it too much so I
kept resetting it as it was leaking... did not realize front was
also leaking between runs

This setup came from a Pantera vendor many years back..figured
out it is a step master with Chev Astro reserviors... front has
always been too small if it leaks anything so I just bought
two more setups and will cut them in half and use two of
the larger ones to fix this issue hopefully

Bob

Dreamin Tas
 

Installed the new reservoir in the Pantera
Actually replaced both so there are new
gaskets etc.... now twice the capacity for the front

Bob

Nice job! I hope this new design works for you, Bob.

Dreamin Tas
 

Thanks Trey
took it out for a spin last night and all seems to be good
Going to drive it to Laguna on friday to hang out with Greg
and Chad... might take the long way getting there though
the backroads

Bob

I had the opportunity to poke around a pretty bitchin Pantera over the weekend and got to thinking.....How the heck does Bob fit in this thing? If I remember correctly, when we talked at Thunderhill you and I see eye to eye. How'd you do it?

Didn't matter how much fancy beer I drank, I barely fit.....maybe I should have had wine. This seat has been dropped three inches and I couldn't imagine working with a suit and helmet on. Still love them!

Dreamin Tas
 

Sorry just saw this on me fitting in the Pantera
I have early Recaro seats that have little height, no carpet
or tracks so the seats are bolted to the floor with a bracket I made

Ok so Bird work
Finally started lightening things up... new front bumper just showed
up... approx 6lbs.. ... pulled the old one and was reading they have steel
and are 65lbs early car... mine ...but it only seems like maybe 20 or 25
Brackets that hold it in place are way beefy... pulling those, swiss cheesing
some others or replace with alum, pull inner fenders, ducts for brakes out
of the lower turn signals, plastic lights etc.. will see how this works

Wondering if I take all the big brackets and bumper out if that is really
causing a safety issue.. I know the car would be crunched but should
I put a push type bar across out of chrome molly or ??

Ricks SS tank going next.. going to do a fuel cell

thanks,

Bob

Bob,

Maybe I missed it, but which bumper are you using? I had a VFN that I didn't use on TOW, so I sold it. Curious if that's your path?

Those original bumpers are heavy. Hard to say whether you should put something in it's place or not. If you're going into a wall of tires, it might be nice. But if you're going into something hard, I'm not sure how much it would help.

Dreamin Tas
 

Bryan,
I have a Classic Industries bumper.. still in the box
until Christimas.... The originals on the early cars
are lighter than the next year as they were not able to
make the crash tests.. mine is the lighter one

Brackets bolted to the frame seems to be where most of
the crash impact comes from.. thinking of lighten them
or getting rid of them and maybe a nerf type bar to the frame

Bob

I didn't know that they made/sold those. Does it have attachment points to mount just like the originals did? Interesting...

Potential 50# weight savings on the nose. TOW would like that! :)

Dreaming Ta's
 

Won't know about attachments until after Christmas
Wife ordered it for me.. I ordered something for her
We said we would wait on opening them

I also have a glass hood so was thinking of saving 200 lbs
with brackets, nose, hood, inner fenders etc... the lighter
existing nose might hurt my total because it was suppose to be
65lbs for a 70 and 80lbs for 71-74.. Maybe with brackets I can
get to the 200 lb savings

Bob

Dreamin Ta's
 

So pulled the radiator and upper cross piece
yesterday. Now to figure out what size alum
tube I am going to fab up. Will wait for Christmas
so I can see what attachments I need to fab for
The new nose

Bob

Bob, does the upper cross piece unbolt or did you cut the top of your core support off?

Dreamin Ta's
 

Trey,
Cut it off Going to fab some alum up
and more than likely cut the sides down and use
Aluminum there also. Need to put the glass hood on
to see where things line up

Bob

What I meant by no sensors is -- NO O2 sensors......

Dreamin Ta's
 

Greg,
Decided at this time to keep the Poncho motor
Figure out the accumulator had an issue and I
am going to change the gear in the car....
So going to lighten things up, do the brakes and run
it for a while to see how it goes

I really do not want to join the jackstand racing team
for a year or more... so baby steps and keep the car running
for now so no Ls

Bob

SMART!!!!!



Too many unused cars around here! LOL

Dreamin Tas
 

Finally got back out in the shop and looked at the new
Fiberglass nose from Classic Industries... good to see it has
most of the stock places to bolt things up... I am going
to ditch the heavy main brackets and fab up some alum
pieces with a new alum cross piece... I am going to reuse
the sheetmetal pieces that hold the lights as they are really light

Trying to figure out where the brake ducts will be going

Hope to pickup some alum tomorrow so I can begin the process

Bob

Bob,

Enjoyed seeing all the improvements you're making to the ole beast. :thumbsup:

Dreamin Ta's
 

Thanks Skip
Did some weighing of things last night
Old Euro type bumper 41.7 lbs
Old upper cross piece 11.7 lbs
Two Big steel bumper supports 7.15 each = 14.3 lbs

So total is 67.7 lbs

New Glass bumper is less than 5 lbs.. misc alum 3-5 lbs
So thinking over 55 lbs off the nose
Need to see the difference on the hood next

Bob

nice

Bob,

What upper cross piece are you referring to? In one picture, it looks like you removed the top of the core support... What did I miss?