Ford Mustang Patriot Performance 347 Small Block Engine

With some ARP assembly lube applied, Jerry seats the ARP 12-point capscrews and then torques them to spec.

Patriot has a selection of cams to work with depending upon the intended use of the engine. The cams come from Howards Cams and are billet steel hydraulic roller grinds for great performance with decent idle characteristics.

Timing components come next. Nothing super-trick is used here like multiple keyways; just a nice double-roller chain setup secured by new ARP hardware. If you need a mechanical fuel pump eccentric setup, that can be arranged as well, but we're going EFI on this build.

A brand-new timing cover is installed over the timing components and a Ford Racing billet timing pointer is secured with all-new hardware at the same time.

Patriot uses a Professional Products damper on all of its engine builds. The damper, like most aftermarket units, will require a pulley spacer for some pulley setups, as it is shallower than the stock damper.

Jerry spins our mill over and proceeds to button up the bottom end. A stock volume oil pump and stock pickup are used along with a stock pan for most builds. As we mentioned earlier, aftermarket pans are an option.

The standard pan used by Patriot Performance is the late-model "Fox" Mustang dual-sump oil pan, shown here. Some classic chassis setups will require a front sump or rear sump only pan, so know what your project car will take when ordering your engine. For our build we strapped on a Canton seven-quart front sump road race pan.

With the short-block buttoned up, Jerry rolled 'er over one more time to start on the valvetrain. The link-bar-style roller lifters are from Howards Cams and do not require the stock H-bars and spring retainer (commonly referred to as a spider).

Fel-Pro gaskets are used throughout the build and here Jerry is setting the 1011-2 head gaskets in place in preparation for the Patriot Freedom Series cylinder heads.

The Freedom Series 185cc heads are retained by all new ARP head bolts and insert washers (the heads utilize 1/2-inch head bolt holes and require the insert washers on 289/302 block castings).

The Freedom Series assembled heads come with this trick two-piece pushrod guide plate setup that Patriot designed. This allows the guide plate to be individually adjusted for optimum valvetrain geometry. Patriot sells these guide plates separately as well for those doing their own engine builds or head work at home.

Patriot offers both the Edelbrock Victor Jr. and the Edelbrock Air-Gap intake manifold on its 347 engine packages. We're running the Air-Gap on our build. Either way, the intake is port matched to the cylinder heads.

Scorpion 1.6:1 full roller rockers top off the valvetrain along with 5/16-inch hardened pushrods.

Every new engine leaves with an aluminum high-flow water pump installed. You can choose from standard or reverse rotation setups depending upon your future front dress configuration. This is a reverse rotation pump, as we'll be installing a March Performance serpentine kit on the engine later.

The Patriot 347 is topped by a sweet set of polished aluminum valve covers and here Jerry is adding the Patriot logo to the covers, letting everyone know you've got a stout piece between the framerails when the hood comes up.

While we brought our own fuel injection setup to Patriot's shop for our engine build and dyno testing, the standard 347 package is sans carburetor. Patriot does offer Quick Fuel Technologies carburetors as an option and has them on the shelf for installation before shipping out your engine.

The final piece of the puzzle is a tried and true MSD electronic distributor. Again, Patriot can get you setup with other MSD products, including plug wires, wire holders, and even different distributors.

Once your custom engine is built, the folks at Patriot carefully transfer it to a pallet where it is fully wrapped and strapped and then boxed for its trip to your doorstep.