Steve,
Thanks for posting the comparison. It's unfortunate that they changed the housing. 
John
I just called Progression Ignition and they said that the height has not changed. I also just visually checked in my car and it is tall like the one in the last photo. I got my distributor two or three years ago. This tells me that it does fit under an engine screen because we put one into a customer car that has the screen. This took place early last year . We had to switch to the female (non HEI) cap for it to fit.
Steve,
Could you post a similar side by side pic, this time comparing a dizzy with a big Duraspark style cap to the Progression unit?
On 7102 I seem to have plenty of clearance in this area. My ZF shims are even fore and aft of the bushing.
Is it maybe a late v early car thing?
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I think that the issue with the Progression unit is that there are two Pantera screens. The original all wire screen is a tighter fit then the later with the fiberglass dome cover over the air cleaner.
That one probably has more room for the distributor cap.
In any case, the small cap Ford (Motorcraft) is going to be the most compact distributor.
The big cap doesn't clear the Weber carbs. In fact, back in the day, many Mallory distributors were run with the Webers to reduce the possibility of arching.
@stevebuchanan posted:This tells me that it does fit under an engine screen because we put one into a customer car that has the screen. This took place early last year . We had to switch to the female (non HEI) cap for it to fit.
I now recall that we have put this distributor into two Panteras with the engine screen. The screens probably had the dome for the air cleaner, metal in this case. A third Pantera may be coming up that will get this distributor and the engine screen. I will try to get photos.
A male terminal cap does make the assembly taller. The assembly with the female terminals is shorter but the boots on the wires are larger in diameter.
So you need to find the combination that fits the best with the screen, the induction system or the firewall mounting channels.
I personally expect any changes in a Pantera made from the "original factory stock configuration" likely to cause a rebalancing of the "shoehorn job" the Detomaso engineering team originally did to make everything fit on virtually everything in the car.
I don't see the value of the Progression Ignition tuneable advance as a big one in a 351c.
You are pretty much going to wind up with a very similar advance curve as supplied originally by Ford. That puts a greater value on the Ford ignition system. Using the Motorcraft solid state ignition system eliminates the need of getting the dreaded access to the original dual point distributor.
You don't need AI to determine the best combination here to use. No one is seeing the glitz of the polished aftermarket distributor housing buried against the firewall and hidden under the screen.
In this case, ugly is beautiful.
I considered all of these alternatives years ago. My combination is a solid state Motorcraft with a stock distributor advance, a male terminal distributor cap and a Pantera-Electronics control box with a huge aftermarket coil. Mr. Haas it positively correct in every respect in this situation...and it isn't ugly either.
THAT IS the "custom special ignition" for the Pantera. Why keep searching? "Pilgrim, your search has ended".