[DeTomaso] Screen above front of engine

[JDeRyke at aol.com]

In a message dated 8/29/13 2:41:54 AM, rickrows at hotmail.com writes:
snip.....
> My distributor and very nice Pantera air cleaner with the K&N air filter 
> extend upward beyond the plane of the stock mesh motor cover...... 
> What solutions are there for this screen clearance problem?    
> 
The DeTomaso Pantera is a SMALL CAR!   The designer did a masterful job of 
getting all the required (at the time) stock parts to fit. When we change 
things, it often causes problems with space. The K&N is just too tall to fit, 
especially if your engine runs an aftermarket intake manifold. About a 2" 
high air cleaner element, or a deep drop-base cleaner usually provides enough 
clearance to fit a 3" element. A dropped-base can be used with your 'nice' 
air cleaner top. A short element sometimes limits airflow & power. 

Others have chopped a big hole in the screen to let the air cleaner 
protrude. Some people have used a built-lower or planed-off intake manifold. 
Milling or replacing the intake to lower the carb significantly usually 
compromises airflow and limits power. 

I lowered our entire engine by 7/8" some years ago by sectioning the 
aluminum motor mounts, but there's an easier way to get half that drop. If you 
remove the rubber insulator biscuit from in between the two pieces of each 
motor mount, you can saw the biscuit in half and use one half in each mount. 
This lowers the whole motor by about 3/8" without TIG-welding and is easily 
reversed by buying one new biscuit. It also reduces the amount of engine 
vibration isolation one gets with the stock arrangement, so you might feel it 
while driving. To keep the engine more-or-less horizontally level at the carb 
pad, you should also redrill the long horizontal ZF mount bolts by 3/8" lower. 
Or at least relevel the carb float heights. 

Those are most of your options, short of changing to EFI. Good luck- J 
Deryke