Reply to "Weber IDF's and Panteras"

Great thread that gets me thinking about putting webers on the cleveland again. After doing a set of 48 IDA webers on a small block chevy and after personally tuning a brand new set (not as hard as you would think), me personally, I think I'd bite the bullet and let Jim Inglese do the setup (IDA's or IDF's)if I didn't want to jerk around with it for months and months. But then that is personal preference...if you want a project that consume lots of time there isn't one that is as much fun as putting on Webers.

Keep in mind that getting to the carbs will be a real pain in you back, literally! I did my first set on a mid engine race car where the entire back body section was removable. Everything was right there. On a Pantera....not so much, and you will be taking the carbs apart a lot...four times for every change. Possibly the easiest way to reach the carbs in a Pantera would be to remove the deck lid and laydown on the roof with you feet going toward the front of the car. I'm not joking. It got to be similar to adjusting solid lifters.

If you can get the initial setup for jetting from someone else that's got a set running well ON A CLEVELAND as a starting point (thank you Doug!), then why not save some money, but my guess is if the motor specs aren't identical you'll be making some changes.

I remember doing the IDA's with 44 chokes because many people told me 48's on a on a 360 inch chevy would be too much. There were guys running 427's with 48's. The heads I ran were the off road (as in track)competetion heads from chevy and the motor ran amazingly with 44's in a 11.5-1 compression motor with a mild cam (.520 lift cam). For street cars I remember hearing a lot about IDF's being a smoother transitioning carb from low to higher rpms. There is an additional mid range circuit in the IDF's as I recall and it makes street driving where your going gradually through an RPM range of 2500-3000 rpms smoother. An IDA setup from Inglese shouldn't have that issue. I was able to finally tune out that transition issue.

Haven't seen Jim Inglese's website before....but after poking around it gives me confidence he absolutely knows what he's doing. Make sure you get a GREAT linkage setup...spend extra on a good one. That was one of the issues of the IDA setup on the chevy...the IDA's seem to change ever so slightly, often. It's not that big a deal on a race car because you are usually not idling much, but if it's on a street car and drivablity a stop lights and lower rpm is important, it matters because once carb will get out of sync and throw lower rpm functions off.

Kid, I'm very jealous of your setup....would love to bolt that on to my motor!