quote:Rebuilding your Ford V8 by Tom Monroe
Two enthusiastic thumbs up!
Available on Amazon for $19 and Barnes & Noble for $15
http://www.amazon.com/How-Rebu...ngines/dp/0895860368
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/...25&k_clickid=3x23125
As for your other questions...
Oil pump - Go with a standard 351C oil pump (blueprinted if possible). Do NOT use a high pressure or high volume oil pump.
Overheating - There are several things that will cause a Pantera to overheat, including combinations of the following:
- Bleed the cooling system - An improperly filled and bled cooling system will allow pockets of air to remain in the radiator and heads. This reduces cooling capacity, causes hot spots, and leads to overheating. Jack the rear of the car as high as it will go, fill, open the radiator bleed and make sure no air remains. Then start the car and run for a few minutes, then repeat the procedure. Do this 3-4 times to make sure there is no more air to bleed from the radiator or rear cooling tank.
- Radiator - Must be properly baffled to force coolant to make each pass before exiting. All vendors sell correct radiators.
- Water pump - Use a quality high volume water pump, such as a Flow Kooler, Edelbrock, or Weiand. You need a strong water pump to maintain sufficient head pressure as your moving the coolant over 10 feet through pipes.
- Correct thermostat - Most auto parts stores list the same part number for the 351C and 351W thermostat. A 351W thermostat will not seal against the block-off plate in the block, therefore allowing water th circulate only within the block without ever going to the radiator. See this link for more details: http://www.banzairunnerpantera...dates_thermostat.htm
Oil Pan - You should absolutely install a baffled road race oil pan. These cars have such high cornering and acceleration capabilities that all the oil in the stock pan can run to one side leaving the oil pickup dry. This tends to happen when the engine needs the oil the most - under hard acceleration or cornering. A baffled high capacity pan will protect against this. Aviad, Armando and Kevko make quality pans to fit the 351C in a Pantera. Kevko is probably the best value at present.
What else in the engine will be replaced? Will this be a budget build using the existing crank, rods and pistons? If so, rod and main bolts should be replaced with quality ARP fasteners. Or, will this be a modified build? I'm happy to share my build sheet and parts list, but would like to point out items that may or may not be applicable to your goals for this build.