shear pin on Distributor

To remove the oil pan you have to pull the engine OR remove the rear cross member (hopefully someone has installed a removable one already) and remove the emergency brake pivot arm support (a removable one is available). One way to test oil pressure is pull the plugs and turn the engine over with the starter. Jack has mentioned that the oil pressure meter is less than accurate, so you might want to hook up a gauge to the oil pressure sender point. To help prevent the pin from shearing again double up on the pins (put one inside the other).

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Originally posted by carnotrun:
Last fall my quit running durring a slow stop. The engine seems to fire but will not run. I pulled the distributor and found that the pin through the drive gear and the shaft was sheered. I suspect the oil pump may be the cause of the added load to cause the failure. Is it possible to remove the oil pan on the car? What is the best way to check the oil pump pressure when the car does not run?

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I pulled the pan in my car by unbolting the motor & trans mounts,lifted the motor up, and dropping the e brake linkage.You might want to undo your hoses but i didnt need to.

There are two weak spots in that area. The first as you found is the roll pin in the distributor gear. To fix it add a new stock roll pin, then a SECOND smaller roll pin inside the first one, as a reinforcement. Do NOT use a multilayer spring-pin as they do not tolerate shock loads well. Once that's done, the next weak link is the oil pump driveshaft which looks like an allen wrench but in fact is soft steel and will twist about half-way around before breaking. A broken oil pump driveshaft will not stop your engine, but bearing seizure will! Milodon and others sell a $15 chrome-moly-steel oil pump driveshaft. All this occurs because Ford 'gearotor' style oil pumps are efficient, non-pulsating, require less power to pump oil but are extremely intolerant of debris in the oil. Much of the debris is remnants of the stock umbrella-type neoprene oil seals, which turns into hard gritty plastic over time in hot oil. Eventually, this stuff works its way past the screen on the oil pump pickup, enters the pump and stalls it momentarily. This stalling cracks roll pins, then the pump driveshafts. Needless to say, I prefer teflon valve seals..... Sounds like the pump is probably just fine but the pan (and probably the whole engine innards) badly needs a thorough cleaning, not just an oil change. There is no way to check pump quality without removing and disassembling it. But to check & replace the pump driveshaft, the pan & pump will have to be removed anyway. It is possible to remove the pan in the car if you're willing to do as much work as it takes to pull the engine. To me, an engine & tranny removal is easier and more sure. Then, once its out, go in there and cut the crossmember under the engine and make it removeable. You'll have to also cut the e--brake bracket and make that removeable, too. Then the pan can be pulled in the car. Most Pantera owners have already done this mod.

Lets say I remove the engine and trans. While I am at it I can check the trans for saftey wire, Clutch and bearing, clean the block and pan, replace the oil pump drive, install a removalable Cmbr and e brake brackets, anything else that should be completed when the engine is out?
Thanks for the help.

Once the powertrain is out, besides the list you mentioned, you can also do the following:
1)- remove the gas tank and clean all the debris behind it, rust-proof the area, then paint the tank. Stock tanks were unpainted as the car came from the factory and some have actually rusted through from the outside. If necessary, you can dump out debris and clean the inside of the tank. The tank cannot be removed with the engine in place.
2)- Rotate the rubber separator washers in both motor mounts. These tend to collapse at the inboard sides from the weight & header heat, putting a bending moment into the engine bolts, which them break. If you have broken bolts, they're a h..uvalot easier to remove from the block when its out of the car. Do NOT replace the rubber separators with aftermarket urethane. It melts from header heat and really makes a mess!
3)- Replace all the steel freeze plugs in the engine. Any stock mild steel plugs are at least 32 years old and are ready to perforate. Only one (1) freeze plug can be accessed with the engine in the car.
4)- this is an ideal time to change the stock timing chain to a double-roller chain. Clevelands are VERY hard on cam chains, often wearing a stock silent chain out in 15,000 miles due to the heavy valves & high rpms.
5)- if you can afford it now, every 351-C needs a 10-qt, fully baffled oil pan. A stock Pantera corners so hard on modern tires, the oil rides up the inside of the block, starving the pump & bearings. Look at it as $500 worth of insurance.