Starter or engine sieze?

The average Pantera on modern tires is easily capable of cornering hard enough at an autocross to drive all the oil away from the oil pump pickup momentarily. The oil pressure gauge sender is at the far end of the oil gallery so a momentary drop may not register. But if you do this often enough, the bearings will suffer, which is why most engine builders nowadays will not sell you a 351C for a Pantera unless it has a fully baffled 10-qt oil pan. That said, I doubt if the engine seized; more likely its some sort of electrical problem with the key, ignition or starter. One difficulty I always had with the gated shifter was putting the shift-stick in one gear while due to to shifter flexibility, the ZF would slide into another gear and took a solid smack to pop it back into neutral. But once you sort it all out, if you intend to continue autocrossing (which is fun!) I suggest you check into a good aftermarket oil pan such as the Aviaid sold by most of the vendors

Jack....(as always)...thanks!

I plan to pull the starter tonight, like-I-said, I could hear solenoid click but no starter even attempting to touch flywheel.

In-fact if its just that, while its up on the lift I'll just get a new pan, because I did put in the replacable x-member already.

(Sad excuse on my part to justify my new SS7000 lift.........but man-oh-man.....its excellent)


Bob

Sigh.... with all my efforts on our Pantera, you're ahead of me there, pal. My ex-gas station lift is still laying horizontal, in parts... Re starters: I've had bad luck with rebuilds. I got three in a row that worked maybe 6 times then quit. Tore the last one apart & found they used a nylon separator to hold the big contacts inside the solenoid, and when nylon gets hot, it melts, separating the contacts so no current flows. I fixed the last rebuild with a bakelite separator from a thoroughtly junked solenoid. A year later I bouhght a gear-drive mini-starter & have had zero problems since.

OK Jack......get this. I've got 12.5 to the starter lead (so we know the solenoid works). I took the starter off (and whomever invented the top nut clearence should be shot) and it tested fine at the local AutoZone.

I've got a 50/50 in my mind telling me the starter is an accident (or in my case $125 flatbed tow again) waiting to happen.

I can also freely turn the flywheel. (well as free as 3" of open area will allow me to)


Bob

Great- if the flywheel turns, you're off the hook for an engine! So its maybe down to a bad cable? These will often test fine at micro-loads from a VOM but when you throw 200 amps to them, things don't work. Sorry for the skimpy suggestions but my talents don't extend to electrons and upholstery....

Starter!! Guess I jumped-the-gun when we could not push start the car.......although could be the 4:22's in the rear didnt help much.

I put the starter back in and it worked (so its now #1 suspect). In-fact thinking bout' it, for two weeks now after not running it for 5days or so the initial start seemed like the battery was low....which didnt make much sense, its a pretty new Optima.

Hey...........good news I guess...THANKS!!!


Bob