The coils will definitely not be hung from skyhooks in the final version
. I've been combing the market for some nice looking coilpacks that will sit down flush on the valve covers, and I keep coming back to LSx coils. Not the nicest looking solution, but probably the best compromise. BTW the engine in the pic was done several years ago, and went into a fellow's 850CSi. Fully built bottom end with Ti rods, along with the ported heads, hot roller cams, SS valves and of course the ITB eye candy up top. I think his motor topped out well over $30K. Mine doesn't have the Ti rods, so it'll be "somewhat" less than that.A couple of these motors have gone into Ultimas - Jay Esterer up in Canada was the first to put one in, then my builder built a very nice one for the Ultima owned by the guy that designed the "Guitar Hero" video game. There's probably more, but generally, it's not a very popular motor as it's horrendously expensive to build and modify because 1) it's a V12, and everything you buy has to be in 1.5x the quantity required for a V8, and 2) there are no aftermarket parts off the shelf for it, so that compounds the 1.5x factor to more like 3x. So a $500 eBay "deal" of a motor quickly turns into a $15K to $25K money pit. But.... at the end of the day, it does belong to that exclusive club of V12's, and it can be built a bit cheaper than a Ferrari or Lambo motor. And when (re)building it, it's also a great opportunity to correct some of that wonderful "German engineering" that isn't quite as wonderful as it's cracked up to be, once you get into these motors and see how they're really built.
But back to the Pantera..... the next step is to start searching for a project car. I suppose finding a 40 year old car without rust is a pipe dream, and if it did exist, it probably isn't going to come too cheaply?
I wonder if it would be feasible / better to lop the topsides off a rotted chassis, and graft them onto either a tube chassis, built from scratch, or a contemporary chassis such as those from Factory Five, or Race Car Replicas? I understand at least one tube chassis Pantera was built? (BTW, I realise this is drifting a bit outside the area of this engine subforum, so I'm going to post the same question over in the chassis subforum.)
Thanks again everyone,
John