quote:
Originally posted by Peter Fenlon:
... was this a mustang type engine then??
Peter, all Panteras (excepting the Group 4 race cars) were equipped with Mustang engines. For the GTS De Tomaso replaced the Motorcraft carburetors with a Holley, slapped-on a high capacity oil pan, and replaced the "small" exhaust system with the GTS exhaust system (which was originally developed for the Group 4 cars); that was the 350 BHP engine. Seems your Panteras first engine didn't get too far before it dropped a valve head.
quote:
Originally posted by PanteraDoug:
... The Cleveland isn't the only engine ... has problems staying together ...
The guys without factory support or contacts, the guys racing on small budgets, the grass roots racers, and the amateur class racers WERE racing with production parts; they learned the limitations of those parts and learned how to make them survive. There was a big gap between what the professional teams were racing and what the amateurs were racing. That's just the way it was back then. Back in the era of the 1960s and 1970s you couldn't open a magazine and find affordable heavy duty blocks, cranks, etc advertised. Few people knew the heavy duty parts existed, and even if they did they couldn't afford them.
The typical professional level 351C racing engine in the 1970s consisted of a short block assembled completely from non-production parts. A heavy-duty racing block cast by Ford with thicker cylinder walls was available from contractors formerly associated with Ford’s racing programs (Bud Moore Engineering, Gapp and Roush, Holman and Moody, and Bill Stroppe). A fully counterweighted steel crankshaft manufactured by Moldex was available from the same contractors. Another fully counterweighted steel crankshaft manufactured by Hank the Crank (HTC) was available via the aftermarket. Chromoly connecting rods with doweled caps fastened by 7/16” cap screws and forged aluminum round skirt pistons were available from several aftermarket suppliers. If aftermarket rods weren't allowed, Ford had a set of heavy duty I-beam rods that were more unknown than the block and crank were. The engines were equipped with tappet bore bushings and lubricated via a dry sump style lubrication system when the rules allowed it. The only productions parts used on the engine were the cylinder heads.
The earliest blocks cast by Ford for NASCAR racing were cast and machined in the US. The block was usually referred to as “the 366 block", “Bud Moore's block” or “the SK block”. I believe the block has an SK number cast into it, SK56840. They had cylinder walls that were so thick there was no gap between adjacent cylinders in the water jacket (siamesed); they were made as thick as possible without inhibiting the flow of coolant through the water jacket. The thick cylinder walls allowed Bud Moore and others to bore the cylinders to 4.080" thereby achieving 366 cubic inches, which was the NASCAR limit for the smaller motors through 1973. The thick cylinder walls also allowed the engines to operate at high compression ratios and higher rpm (8500 rpm) without cracking cylinder walls. The bulkheads at mains #1 and #5 were thickened on their internal sides, but left "stock appearing" on their external sides; this gave the block the external appearance of a production block, they intentionally cast the block to hide its existence. It was intentionally hidden from the public and possibly even the NASCAR tech inspectors.
The general public was unaware of all this, they thought their professional racing heroes were racing with production parts.