Problem Summary

The Pantera can corner and accelerate with such force as to cause oil starvation to the engine. Typically, this occurs under spirited driving situations on the road or track. Charging hard through a corner, the stock oil pans (there are three possible from Ford) will allow the oil to climb away from the pump pickup and starve the engine for oil during cornering. Acceleration may do the same. This is when the engine is under its greatest load and needs oil most. It doesn't take many of these episodes before the crank and rod bearings will be trashed beyond recall and it becomes necessary to do a bottom-end overhaul before the engine explodes.

The solution is to add a high quality 10-quart baffled oil pan. As a matter of fact, most Pantera engine builders will NOT guarantee an engine UNLESS it has a fully baffled 10-quart oil pan mounted. Forget about those cheap "10-quart" pans - they are basically a stock pan with an extra deep sump or shelf added, but no baffles, trap-doors, scrapers or pump pickup improvements. They might (questionable) work for drag racing, but a Pantera with one of these pans, full of oil, threw a rod at a Las Vegas track event a few years ago. The big end of the rod was blue from heat and oil starvation. The baffles keep the oil around the pick-up tube at all times and prevent oil starvation.

ALL Panteras need a good baffled oil pan, and the only known pans that work are from Armandos and Aviaid.

Armando's Racing Oil Pans
http://www.geocities.com/motorcity/flats/1624/race.html

Armando’s Racing Oil Pans
15476 Montana Ave
EL Paso, Texas 79938
(323) 422-0145

email: aroilpans@aol.com

Aviaid
6225 Wilmington Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90001
(323) 588-7622

http://www.aviaid.com/

Note:

The oil pan can NOT be dropped from a Pantera with its engine in place unless the car is a post-1980 car, or has been modified with a removable lower rear cross-member and E-brake bracket. The lower rear cross-member & bracket were welded in place on 1971-1976 cars, making pan removal all but impossible with the engine in place.

To remove the oil pan, the spot-welds must be cut and the cross-member's ends modified to bolt in using the two lower a-arm attach nuts. The emergency brake bracket, which is welded in front of the crank pulley, must be cut off modified and bolted back in. To actually remove the oil pan in a Pantera, it must be dropped down about 6", shifted forwards a few inches, rotated slightly side-to-side and finally removed downward to work it around the fwd-mounted oil pump.

Both the modified cross-member and emergency brake bracket are factory-upgrade parts available from all the Pantera vendors. This is a miserable, dirty all-day job to do with the engine in place, but with a Sawzall, a welder to add ends to the cut-away stock cross-member, an angle-bracket for the E-brake mount, and some determination, it can be done. Quite a few of these have been done at PCNC tech sessions over the years.

FWIW, a skilled crew of 2 or 3 guys can pull the engine & ZF, cut the cross-member and E-brake bracket out and have the car back together with the modified parts in place by nightfall - with no additional cost. Then next time, YOU (with your experience) can help someone else with their car. Just another advantage to joining your local POCA Chapter made up of people who've been there & done it!

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