DeTomaso Mailing List: April 99, Message #109

chris bupp/#6588 Wrote:

this is the only Cleveland-motored car I have driven.
 
 I imagine I could do better with more detailed tuning,  But I am too
cheap to replace or spend a lot of time messing with what runs well.

 This is the only car I have had with mechanical secondaries, 

 My 1993 Mitsubishi 3000GT VR4 seemed faster than the Pantera to me, but
that might have been just an impression due to the twin turbo "rush."

  Am I lucky, or should I be expecting more?

Chris,
	Not picking on you but using your post to make a point :-)

	You yourself say that you dont have a basis for comparison, yet you
believe that you are lucky... that it runs well.

	you may be right, but, at TPOC dyno day, I would say that over half of
the Panteras tested, had problems (carburation, ignition, etc) of some
kind that their owners were unaware of.

	These were owners that regularly used their cars, maybe they had not
noticed deterioration in performance over time, maybe they were
oblivious, and had never known what their own car was capable of, if it
were 'dialed in' correctly.

	My original engine  was close to stock re-build, it had a bigger cam, a
torker manifold and a purpose built 750cfm vac-sec carb. On the dyno
this motor made 340 at the back wheels.

	At TPOC dyno day most similar set up motors did MUCH less.
one car that was thought to be 'fine', made only 118hp! thats right,
not a typo.

	The point I am making is simply, if you are a new owner, or a long time
owner that has never done it, get your car tuned on a rear wheel
dyno,(its not expensive) and you will probably be surprised. If you
dont, you'll NEVER know!
	Look at it like insurance, if you find problems or just wrong
adjustments, you get them fixed and the car runs better, if your car
turns out 'fine' you can rest assured with that fact, plus, you now have
a dyno print-out for 'proof'.

John P