Reply to "Stock Camshafts"

We're spoiled by modern hot rod parts (especially the camshafts) and modern dyno equipment, desk top dyno, etc. So many big numbers get thrown around.

The Boss 351 made about 290 rear wheel horsepower on the chassis dyno I used back in the Jurassic era. That's with the rev limiter disabled, high rpm points in the distributor, headers and Cadillac mufflers. That's equivalent to about 360 flywheel horsepower. The Boss 351 gained 10 BHP if you tossed the Autolite carb & installed one of Ford's over-the-counter 780 Holley carbs. The Boss 302 made the same power, although the rpm was higher.

The 351C in my 1971 Mach I read 305 BHP on the same dyno; it was equipped with the Shelby intake manifold, a Ford/Holley carb, headers, the 505 cam, a Motorcraft breakerless ignition conversion. We thought that was tremendous horsepower back then. The car ran like stink and passed smog tests too. That same motor hit 390 BHP later on with a custom ground solid lifter cam, milled and ported cylinder heads (10.5:1 compression). The dyno owner figured 390 on his chassis dyno equated to an honest 485 BHP at the flywheel; pretty close to 500 BHP, I was proud. The drivability suffered though and I ended up putting it back into the 380 BHP state of tune, the car was my daily driver. That was just before I wrapped the car around a light pole one rainy morning, on the traffic circle in Long Beach California (that was about 1981 or 1982).

The idle rpm spec for a Pantera is the same as the idle rpm spec for the 351C in a Mustang or Torino with a manual transmission for any given year. The Mustangs & Torinos equipped with automatics idled around 600 to 800 rpm (depending upon year) when the transmission was in drive.

The 351C 4V like any performance motor from its era, has a burble in the exhaust note from the early opening of the exhaust valve. The Pantera's burble is lower in frequency and louder because there is no cross-over in the exhaust between the banks of cylinders. The exhaust cross-over doubles the frequency and dampens the amplitude of the exhaust note.