Reply to "351C Engine parts-detailed plan"

When you purchase a new oil pump the worst thing to do is to take it from the box and bolt it directly onto the engine. The first thing to do upon removing it from the box is to take it apart, inspect the internals for debris and burrs. De-burr the parts if necessary, clean it, lubricate it and reassemble it. Use Loctite on the bolts that hold the cover to the pump body.

There are many things can cause over-heating in any car such as old coolant and/or scale on the radiator tubes. Scale in the Pantera's radiator is impossible to see with the eye. Electric fans can have gummed-up motor bearings, worn-out motor brushes, and poor electrical connections which cause them to run slowly. Don't neglect to check for those things. There are also 5 items particular to the Pantera I advise every owner to address: the early coolant pump suction tubing (effects cars prior to chassis ~3600) which collapses at low rpm, the early radiator with its vertical baffle (effects cars prior to chassis ~5400) which allows excessive coolant to bypass the radiator, air collecting in the radiator, insufficient low rpm coolant flow and the incorrect thermostat. Those chassis numbers are approximates, and they err on the side of safety.

When filling the cooling system with fresh coolant raising the front end of the Pantera allows air trapped in the engine to escape and air trapped in the right hand under-car pipe to flow to the radiator. Raising the rear of the car allows air trapped in the left hand under-car pipe to flow to the engine ... thus requiring the engine to be purged again by raising the front of the car. Once filled and purged, a Pantera operated under normal conditions shall be driven up and down steep driveways and hills, thus the purging process takes place continuously while driving the car, but periodic manual bleeding of air from the radiator is still required (unless the recovery tank is modified to perform as a head tank, and the radiator is vented to the head tank as Jan mentioned above).