Ron Earp
Admin
I had the pleasure of a short drive this afternoon in a friend's Pantera. Good 71 vintage car that is in excellent shape.
Nice handling car with reasonable power, not sure about the hp output of this particular car, I'd imagine around 350-400 flywheel with the mods, but the transmission is what got me.
The car has good power but it is largely masked by the tall ratios of the ZF transaxle. Ed indicated the car had a 4.22 diff but the ratio on each gear is really tall, the net effect being a very long-legged car.
So, it will cruise at 90mpg really well but stomping down on it in second gear doesn't produce the neck snapping acceleration you might like to have. Maybe in a 427 I'd be excited though.
Reason I mention it is there is a Pantera tranny on Ebay and unless these things can be re-geared I really wouldn't be all that excited about them. I'm told a new diff is about $4000. Shiting was not bad, but definitely heavier than I expected. For that reason I think the G50, Renault, or Audi/Getrag box is a better fit, at least for the money.
Ron
[ May 24, 2002: Message edited by: R. Earp ]
Nice handling car with reasonable power, not sure about the hp output of this particular car, I'd imagine around 350-400 flywheel with the mods, but the transmission is what got me.
The car has good power but it is largely masked by the tall ratios of the ZF transaxle. Ed indicated the car had a 4.22 diff but the ratio on each gear is really tall, the net effect being a very long-legged car.
So, it will cruise at 90mpg really well but stomping down on it in second gear doesn't produce the neck snapping acceleration you might like to have. Maybe in a 427 I'd be excited though.
Reason I mention it is there is a Pantera tranny on Ebay and unless these things can be re-geared I really wouldn't be all that excited about them. I'm told a new diff is about $4000. Shiting was not bad, but definitely heavier than I expected. For that reason I think the G50, Renault, or Audi/Getrag box is a better fit, at least for the money.
Ron
[ May 24, 2002: Message edited by: R. Earp ]