[Renegade]

Doug,
The 289 is an extremely strong platform for any type of road racing. I have used this platform for years in Fox Mustangs and it has served me well. As a matter of fact, I managed to pull two PIR track records in CMC and SCCA SP. The key to making a car competitive with a 289 is to use a long rod ratio in the range of 1.98 of 2.0. This will allow for an rpm range of 9000 rpm with a shift point of about 8500. You will need lots of head and lots of compression. Don’t run more than 13.5 to 1 because the efficiency starts to go down at any higher CR than that. You will need LOTS of money. The crank, rods, pistons and block mods go through the roof at this power level. The qualities the 289 gets you for this expenditure are indispensable. You can design a cam with a super linear power curve and make horsepower in the 500 to 650 range but the torque curve will stay very flat and never exceed about 350 lb.ft. What this means in terms of a race car is that when everybody else is modulating the throttle to get the car off the corner, your car will be pinned and you will be coming off at full throttle. In a light car such as a Cobra, it works even better. If you are planning to run a car with a short wheel base, again such as a Cobra, the lack of tire blistering torque in the 289 will really help to settle the car down. On the cooler side, if you have never heard a V8 motor making 600 hp at 8500 rpm, it is enough to scare the crap out of most people.

Hope this helps

Matthew

PS.
If you need part numbers or geometry calcs, send me a PM and I will give you the set-ups I have used in the past.