Reply to "the first Pantera Upgrade"

Yes Philippe, far be it from me to presume I know more than the experts you have consulted.

Replacing a high rpm camshaft with a milder one makes sense for how you desire your Pantera's motor to perform, but installing a high rpm intake manifold afterwards makes no sense at all. The Holley strip dominator is a very good manifold, one of the best ... for high rpm.

The Blue Thunder manifold is a dual plane manifold that will perform wonderfully over a wide range of engine speed with excellent throttle response; from idle to 7000 rpm. It has better low rpm performance than the Holley manifold.

I'd combine that with an off-the-shelf Crane Cams camshaft

Grinder: Crane Cams
Grind number H-278-2
part number 523801
hydraulic flat tappet camshaft
-----------------------------
278°/290° advertised duration
284° average duration
Exhaust valve opening = 80° BBDC
Intake valve opening = 26° BTDC
56° overlap
Exhaust valve closing = 30° ATDC
Intake valve closing = 72° ABDC
------------------------------
222°/234° duration @ 0.050
0.539"/0.534" valve lift
114° lobe separation angle (camshaft degrees)
Intake lobe mathematic centerline = 113° ATDC
Exhaust lobe mathematic centerline = 115° BTDC

This cam falls between my Cobra Jet camshaft spec and my Boss camshaft spec. The Crane camshaft lobes don't lift the valves quite as high as the lobes I've specified for my cams. But some people are afraid to order a custom cam, so this one is the best alternative I'm aware of at this time.

Finally your Pantera's motor needs 10.0:1 compression, which means flat top pistons and 1970/1971 quench heads if its not already equipped with them.

A well calibrated 750 carburetor and ignition system, a GTS exhaust system will top off the combination and provide you years and miles of driving pleasure.


-G