289 Build opinions

[Polar289]

Hello all, I have bought a 1964 289 2V. I'm looking for opinions on modifications that work well with a 289. Most of my expierence is with Windsors and Clevelands, but I have no experience with 289's. I know great success was had with them in Trans-Am racing, but I can't seem to find any good info on build sheets. I was thinking high compression/big cam with lots of head work, but most everyone in my circle of friends is running 351W strokers, or 302's with power-adders. Any ideas or opinions, or info on who to talk to or where to look, would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks for all the help, and taking the time to read this.
Doug

[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.

[Yakobatzi]

Matthew,

I too would be interested in the information. Any chance of a write up on your past builds?

Kevin

[moneymanager]

If you want to get the most bang for your buck in building a 289, your first purchase should be a good set of heads. I have had LOTS of suucess with AFR almuminum heads and happen to have a NEW set for sale that I will not be using. Take a look if your interested. Do the research and you'll see that these are the BEST.

Go here to see them:
http://www.inficad.com/~moneymanager/partsforsale.htm

They will bolt right on.

Doc

[Jack21]

The 302 is nothing ore than a stroked 289. Essentially, anything that will work on a 302, will work on a 289.

That being said, hopefully you purchased the bellhousing and trans with this engine. In '64 and '65, these engines used 5 bolt bellhousings. In '66, Ford changed to 6 bolt bellhousings that are used on 289's, 302's, and 351W's until the engines went out of production. There is no easy way that I know of, short of a custom bellhousing/scattershield to mate a current trans to the older block.

If you want a 289 without the hassles, sell the '64, get a '66 or later block, and if it's a 302, put a 289 crank in it.

[Rick Parker]

Matt:
What specific block mods are you speaking of? How about describing build specs for a recent build.


Rick

[Jim Werth]

I hope my 15 year old son doesn't see this post. He just bought a 64 Galaxie with a 289! Jim