quote:Originally posted by PanteraDoug:
The Europeans do not necessarily care for the aluminum intake manifolds since they cause issue with the carbs freezing up in weather below freezing. The iron manifolds work better for those conditions.
I'm surprised that the carb is changed but the intake is not.
Why the engine tag is still on there is a question. Certainly racing the car would have taken the engine out of warranty. Maybe it was left there just for future identification for replacement parts?
I know that even on the Shelby race cars, the stock "Shelby" engines were left there on the race cars for customers. This way if the new owner blew up an expensive race engine that he bought from Shelby, there would be no hard feelings over it.
Perhaps Detomaso worked the same way.
In the era, the stock 4v Cleveland was probably more than adequate for the Gp3 cars. Those would be raced in "club racing" and not the heavy duty racing were you had manufacturers competing against each other and wanted every available horsepower they could get out of the engines?
maybe it is "just" a tuned engine and not a GR3 engine...
I spoke with a Swedish guy who competed with Pantera in the 80s - 90s and he is today high up in historic racing that DeTomaso came with an aluminum intake, but unfortunately he can't remember which intake it was.
I think also it was left there just for future identification for replacement parts.
quote:Originally posted by PanteraDoug:
There is no performance benefit to switching to the Ford aluminum intake manifold. It is just a weight savings thing.
which Ford aluminum intake manifold?
quote:Originally posted by PanteraDoug:
The aluminum tag is the Ford tag that identifies the engine. It is not a detomaso applied tag as far as I know.
I know it is a Ford plate, but DeTomaso also had engine data plates but I don't know how them looks like...