[DeTomaso] Alternate dip-stick location

[JDeRyke at aol.com]

Its possible to get the dipstick back as far as the rear of the drop-sump 
while still giving the correct readings. This puts the dipstick emerging from 
the pan between #3 and #4 exhaust; I chose to position it on the passenger 
side rather than the gas tank side for less severe bends needed in routing. 
It can then come up to the engine side-cover and if the rear quarter-window 
glass is gone, the dipstick can be checked without opening the decklid. I 
did this a few years ago using a spare Aviaid pan; I suggest you start with 
such a pan and not risk trying to re-develop a successful racing pan. The 
Aviaid road-race pan is highly developed and holds 10 qts- no reason to increase 
the volume beyond that. In fact, 8 quarts seems to work just fine on 
non-pro-racecars. Most other aftermarket pans are drag race pans which concentrate 
on other parameters. Armando's race pan is a virtual copy of the Aviaid (he 
worked for them) but is slightly cheaper.

Its also possible to adapt the dipstick from a 351-W equipped van which is 
around 18" too long, so it could be attached to the stock front of the 351-C 
block and routed about anywhere within reason, without needing to fabricate 
a whole new pan hookup. But if all you're trying to do is avoid having 
e-brake cables touch the pan bottom, longer custom cables routed differently 
would certainly be simpler and wouldn't risk compromising oil supply to the 
bearings with an unproven pan design.

As far as an oil jet from the right side oil gallery plug, that was 
successfully done by Bud Howar a few years ago, and he found its not as simple to 
actually do it as to decribe how it might be done. The drilling necessary to 
get an oil-jet to hit the gear mesh is a fairly severe compound angle and 
drilling an .020" hole in a steel setscrew-plug costs some drill bits and even 
requires careful positioning of the edges of the modified hex driver hole 
in the setscrew. Bud finally managed to do it, though. There are photos of 
the effect in the POCA Newsletter. There are several other, easier ways to get 
the same gear-mesh lube delivery, though- also documented in the 
newsletter. None are likely to be vital to cam or gear life. 

Finally, if you want some good reading on harmonic balancers, there's a 
14-pg pdf file available on BHJ's web site called 'The Balancer White Paper' 
that covers theory & practice of most types of   harmonic crank balancers. I 
and some other owners use the Romak elastomeric balancer for 351-Cs with 
satisfactory results. Good luck- J Deryke 
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