[DeTomaso] 429 or 385 series motors

David in Durango adin at frontier.net
Sun Mar 11 11:27:14 EDT 2012


Rob,

The 385 motors are great, have a hot 460 in my hot rod pickup.

As stated, you'll want aluminum everything.  Most installations move the ZF back 4" - until there is a proven work around (we have a Pantera brother working on one now) this was the deal breaker for me.

Cheaply stroked to about 545 cu inches, one can build a 600 inch motor with a good line of credit.  The 429 Hemi heads ( Kaase and another outfit) are sexy as hell, but not sure there is more flow/performance to justify the cost. Don Bryars once told me the swap was iffy due to cooling issues. I believe these are cureable - my '53 pickup runs a STOCK radiator and I've never had an issue w/ water or oil temps.  Just traction.  You may hear horror stories about the ZF ( http://images16.fotki.com/v382/photos/4/43175/1969865/STUBAXLE-vi.jpg ) but its seems that without smokey burnouts and everyday doughnuts the ZF should be good behind a healthy motor.

 If you get serious, talk to http://carsbycarl.com/  Carl.  There are a couple of forums, too.  Carl built my 460 and spoiled me as far as customer service goes.

Forest G was good enough to take me for a ride in his car.  4.22 diff.  The car would zizzzzzzzz the tires in third just rolling into the throttle!  If you don't buy suits tailored for MAJOR attachments, some other answer might be best.  IMO, just the right amount of power for the beautiful narrow body Pantera.

Keep the rubber side down,

David
Veni, Vidi, Veloce
"Chuck's Shit List, founding member"





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