Thank you Sick Cat and Pantera 1887, your input is much appreciated. This forum is really helpful in these situations.
Of special note to all of you that have stroker cleveland motors: Sick Cat highlights a URL for the 351 cleveland.wet paint.com that has an article about
oiling problems in the 351 cleveland , especially if you have a stroker crank and perhaps the wrong lifters ( which I believe was my problem). Jack Roush came up with a fairly simple solution years ago that solved the problem of poor oiling and is addressed in this article. Since our panteras sit a lot, until you check this option out, warm you cleveland up well before putting pressure on the motor ( apparently the oil comes to the crank from the cam which can take a few minutes, again especially if your motor has an after market stroker crank) My engine rattled pretty good a couple of times when I started it after sitting for a month or more, and I have a hydraulic roller cam.
I don't mean to add anxiety to any of you, its just that I have leaned quite a bit about this issue in the past week and I'm lookin at $12-15K in expenses for not understanding it quicker and being more careful. My engine failed sitting in my garage when I rev'ed it up to clean out the excess fuel from the injection work I did on it. The mechanic that pulled the pan, said it was ready to go anyway and I was lucky it happened at home.Some luck!?
Again thank you to sick cat and pantera 1887
for your help.