Reply to "Ricardo"

Hi Dave,

I am the crazy nut having the Ricardo installed in my car, and to do it in a 351 or even a mod motor car is a challenge. Not that it cannot be done, but it does take some modifications. First off, the most obvious thing is that it is a wide transaxle, and longer than the ZF. Something has to be done to the frame rails so it does not hit them, and there is no kit to make this work. Then there is the issue of the transaxle mounts. It is held in place from above on the original setup, so either something totally new needs to be made up, or use the original setup and make something to fit in the Pantera. I know the bellhousing should fit up to a mod motor, but I do not know how it would work with the special clutch setup in the Ford GT/ Ricardo setup -- you are in unknown waters with that one. Steve Wilkinson would be the best resource for technical questions. He is installing the Ford GT engine and Ricardo into my car, and he is also installing a GT motor and ZF transaxle into another owners car -- so he has been dealing with "issues" longer than likely anyone else.

As far as the linkage goes, these are cable driven as on the Ford GT, and I do not know if you can route them under the intake manifold as on the Ford GT engine -- so placement of the cables may be an issue as well, unless they can be routed in a different area. There is also an issue with the output shafts of the Ricardo. They are very different than the ZF, so there would have to be a custom CV joint and an adapter at the wheel hub end to make it work properly. I am sure that anything can be done, but it is the same old answer -- time and money. I also do not know how the starter would be mounted in your particular instance. This is an issue with the Ricardo setups as well as the starter placement is just plain different -- again, Steve would be a good resource to see if he can help you at all.

I know the reason that I went this route is because of a light clutch feel and butter smooth accurate shifting. Otherwise I would have stayed with the ZF.

Best of luck with whatever you decide to do. But again, there is no one doing kits for this setup, so anything you do in this regard will be trail blazing; and that always means more time and $$$.

Cheers,

Mark