Sudden Death Mustang II Engine help needed

I finally have the car stripped down for paint. I don't plan on a complete rebuild of this engine, but am planning on new heads.

Basic specs: 4.39 bore, 4.15 stroke, Roush crank, carrillo rods, BRC pistons, 4 bolt block, D3VE heads w/2.25's, adjustable valvetrain, cleaned up ports, solid roller.

Pistons appear to be 18cc dish? There is an old part number on them: BRC 58

As you can see the decks (and old heads) are O ringed. This, along with the larger chamber D3VE heads/dished pistons were part of going to twin turbos which were on the car when I got it. They were done in 1981 by Jack Roush.

With the process of going back to NA, I'm planning on new Blue Thunder aluminum heads, ported/flowed. I would rather not have to groove them for O rings if possible.

My question: Can I remove the existing O rings and run a larger diameter bore head gasket safely? I was thinking a 4.7"+ bore gasket would put the sealing ring outside the existing O ring groove. OR, could I install a smaller diameter O ring material which would not interfere with the head gasket once compressed?

Just looking for options that would be acceptable to avoid grooving the new heads if possible without requiring an entire engine teardown/decking the block. The engine runs perfectly with no issues, so I hate to disassemble the bottom end unless I have to.

Here is a photo of the existing O ring/piston:



Thanks for your expertise! I want to get this right.

Tom

My A-460 block had O-rings, and I wanted to use Cometic gaskets. The shop set my block up in the decking machine, made sure the rings were hammered in good, and just took a .003 skim cut across the deck, leaving it smooth as a baby's butt for the Cometics to seal against.

like Big Dave said , I got a block done that way , use any gasket , even if it crosses the O ring

Thanks guys! I'll get some heads ordered up and take those, the shortblock, and the old heads over to Powered by Ford in Orlando and from you've said, we should be able to come up with a fix.

Here is the bottom end as I opened it up. It has an XE numbered oil pump and a hose/pickup bolted to the pan bottom.

( Quote ) and a hose/pickup bolted to the pan bottom.

gota pic of that

Here ya go...pics of the oil pump/pick up system

Well you learn something new everyday, That's a first..
Gess the pickup follows the oil around the pan so it don't run dry

Thanks for the pic

Must have been a misconception...the pickup does not move in the pan to "follow the oil around", it is bolted into the bottom/rear of the pan.

SuddenDeath wrote:Must have been a misconception...the pickup does not move in the pan to "follow the oil around", it is bolted into the bottom/rear of the pan.

NO misconception. I was J/K

I did a FE oil pan like that when I had it in my car. Worked great!