[DeTomaso] Engine cuts off and cooling

Garth Rodericks garth_rodericks at yahoo.com
Wed Sep 12 10:56:53 EDT 2007


<<< Second thing that showed up was that in a hard brake and down shifting and turning 
  hard left the engine died. I popped the clutch and it fired up. Can this be carburetor related 
  and have anything to do with the engine running cold? >>>
   
  It's definitely carbureetor-related and a common problem with Panteras.  The engine in a 
  Pantera sits level (flat).  However, the intake manifold was designed for a front-engined 
  car, where the front of the motor tilts up slightly. This causes the rear of the carburetor to sit 
  higher than the front in a Pantera.  When the float levels are set using conventional 
  technique (raise the floats until fuel dribbles out the hole in the side of the bowl), the rear 
  float ends up being WAY too high.

When you stomp on the brakes, gas from the overfilled bowl spills up and out of the vent 
  tube (even if you have vent tube extenders or 'whistles' inside the float bowls), and then 
  dribbles straight down into the mouth of the carb. This causes the engine to flood and die.
  
The short-term fix is to lower the rear float bowl level.  Jack DeRyke and Mike Drew 
  recommended that I run a piece of fuel line between the front and rear vents, and cut a vent 
  hole in the center of the fuel line. I haven't getten around to it yet, but Mike tells me that 
  when he stomps on the brakes, excess fuel that blows out of the rear bowl merely drains 
  into the front one, and the motor keeps on running.
   
  Cheers!
  Garth

       
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