Project "Snotty 289" update (long)

[jdean]

When Jim bought this car a few years ago, there was no information on the engine in the car. He got a great deal and made some improvements to the car. The shop that built the engine was out of business. The only info about the engine available was what you could tell from the outside. No cam specs, no head info (except they were cast iron). It has a 4bbl Holley, looks like a 600CFM vacuum secondary on a Performer intake. Thats about it.

Jim had the rare and unusual desire, at least among Cobra owners, for more power from the engine. So almost a year ago, I told Jim I would love to help him out on it. It ran well but just was not mean and snotty enough. It had also developed an annoying ticking sound on the drivers side engine bank. Thus the beginning of "Project Snotty 289".

The little 289 was like the Forrest Gump box of chocolates........you don't know what you are going to get.

Session One

So last week Jim and I tore into it. Pulling the valve covers, we found it had Comp Cams roller rockers, which was a good find. They are the "red" pedestal mount, which adjust at the pushrod cup like an FE. The valve springs looked pretty substantial, and had been shimmed at the bottom. Another good sign that whoever built it was paying attention to correct spring height. We could

The distributor looks like a nice billet aftermarket unit, and against the centrifugal springs the rotor moved light to the touch....so the timing curve will come in quicky. Good.

Getting the valve covers and spark plug wires out of the way, we could see down near the bottom of the heads the letters "GT" cast into the edge. So these heads were in fact the Ford 5.0 GT40 (not the 40"P") type iron heads. Not too shabby but certainly not on a par with good aluminum aftermarket stuff.

Pulling off the intake manifold, we could see it also had good Comp brand hardened pushrods. Lifters were hydraulic flat tappet. I hope the pushrods fit when we mock up the new heads, but going from flat tappet to roller rockers what are the odds? Not good.

Summary of Session one:

Drained radiator and removed:
Valve covers
Distributor
Intake, Carb