Performance Pump & Pan - Tech Project

There's so much to absorb when building a performance engine. For that reason alone, you should do some research before building a stock engine and investing unnecessary money. You want to perform an upgrade that will give your engine a real bump in performance.

One of the most overlooked engine upgrades is to the oil pump system. The oil pump is the "heart" of the engine as it pumps the fluid that keeps your block's components lubed and the engine from blowing up. Upgrading your oil pump to one that flows more fluid will help give your engine block a longer life.

Another upgrade to be considered is to the oil pan. The correct oil pan will keep your engine lubed. They're designed with sections that keep the oil from splashing all over and letting the pick-up on the oil pump run dry. This concept was used on 4x4s that do rock climbing, and for race strip cars that do wheelies from the torque that their engines produce. Does that sound familiar, gas hoppers?

Now follow along as Ace Machine of Riverside, California, walks us through the engine build of this 350, while focusing on the oil cooling system of the engine.

	These are a few of the parts...        read full caption These are a few of the parts used for this build.	We used a Dart Little M engine...        read full caption We used a Dart Little M engine block, which has features similar to a 400 block, including a Siamese casting, and will benefit from this oil system upgrade.
Jerry dropped in the preassembled...        read full caption Jerry dropped in the preassembled piston and connecting rod.	Here's an example of what...        read full caption Here's an example of what we're talking about: you can see the walls that are not connected on this stock 350. If you were to over-cut, you'll make your engine run hotter.	To start off, Jerry snapped...        read full caption To start off, Jerry snapped in all of the freeze plugs that the engine required. Then the Lunati crank was torqued down to allow the pistons and connecting rods to be attached.
After doing this for each...        read full caption After doing this for each piston, the Dart engine was turned over to allow better working conditions on the oil system. The block was cleaned off to help ensure that there's no oil residue on the block. This is very important as it will allow silicone to stick and the gaskets to make the best contact possible.	The connecting rods and piston...        read full caption The connecting rods and piston were preassembled before dropping them down the piston chamber. The pistons were numbered and ready to go in the new engine block.	To help avoid possible leaks...        read full caption To help avoid possible leaks and to ensure that this engine would not be dubbed the "Exxon Valdez," we used the following parts: Milodon 6-quart oil pan, high-flow oil pump, Proform timing chain cover and SCE gaskets for the perfect seal.