[DeTomaso] Troubleshooting Carb

[Barry Seib]

Very nice Art.
It seems you have a very original carburetor and manifold.
I noticed you also have those classy stock Pantera valve covers.
My 72 pre-L has them too.

The carb is an Autolite  4300D. It is a spreadbore of 700 cfm. Some people
call them Motorcraft carbs. Dan Jones has informed us that if the engine is
stock, they will perform well. I also believe that, knowing that all the
1971 Boss 351 Mustangs came with the same type of carb. They ran just FINE.
I don't think they are easy to modify and don't take kindly to amateur
"adjustments". Because there's not much written about them and jets, etc.
are unavailable, people are easliy frustrated with them. I really like
spreadbore carbs for street use and I'm spending some time trying to learn
how to live with the 4300D before I put a Rochester Quadrajet on my Pantera.
Ford did just that on the 429 Cobra Jet when they produced them. They used a
Qjet. I don't blame them. Holleys had lots of their own faults.

Your carb is covered in the 1972 Ford engine shop manual.

I'm sending you some specs. attached.

Also, here's a quote from another anonymous Pantera owner using an Autolite
4300D cab, for what it's worth:

"I do have a recommendation, if it's in your budget, send your carb to Pony
Carburetor and have it rebuilt. I paid extra and got the "concours"
re-finish. Not only did the carb look like new, but they must do something
to make the secondaries open quicker or sooner because it seems like I have
more HP too!"

Barry


-----Original Message-----
From: astephens [mailto:artstephens at charter.net]
Sent: Sunday, October 26, 2008 11:05 AM
To: B. Seib
Subject: Emailing: 20081021_01 (3), 20081021_02 (2), 20081021_03 (2)


Thanks Barry,  here are the pictures.

Art



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