We are restoring our 1966 Mustang. It was my husbands first car in the 80's. The mechanic called and asked if we knew we had a HIPO engine. We did not. The VIN # has a C in it, not a K. As far as we know it is the original engine. It has the badges for the fender that my husband kept when they did a restore in 85. Is it possible for this to be the original motor without a K in the Vin#? It is an automatic, no AC, and no power steering. Someone thought there were a few "special order" mustangs that year with the hipo engine, without the K Vin#. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
**1966 High Performance Question**
Themacs40
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NO hipo without the K. never happened. hipo engines and ALL the hipo engine parts could be bought over the counter. i bought a hipo dist from a ford dealer during the 70's. MANY people claimed they had a mustang with a hipo 289. all but a few were either A codes or C codes that someone had put a 4v carb on. when i was working as a mechanic a guy brought his maverick in and swore up and down he special ordered it with a boss 302 engine. he didnt like me telling him it was a regular 302 2v cause he special ordered it with a boss 302 engine. your C code is probably a 2v 289 that someone put a 4v intake on or it has a hipo 289 that came from another car. back in the 70's i bought a set of hipo 289 fender emblems off a totaled out 65 or 66 mustang that was in a junk yard. btw i have a 65 K mustang i bought in 1974.
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how about irregular parts ? the hipo rods were different in that they were forged with more metal in the bolt area so the could take 3/8" bolts. regular 289 rods could not be drilled to accept 3/8" bolts. i know , several of us had it tried. the largest bolt you could put in a regular 289 rod was a 11/32" chebby rod bolt and that was done.
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back in the 70's i bought the hipo fender emblems of a 65 or 66 totaled out mustang in a junk yard. back in the 70's my landlord bought 2 thats two boss 429 engines from 2 different junk yards that were pulled out of totaled boss 429 mustangs. he has spare shock tower he cut off one. one engine and the shock tower are here at this house. the other engine is at his sons house. another friend back in the 70's bought a boss 302 engine from a totaled boss 302 mustang that was in the junk yard and put it in his 66 mustang. dont get me started on all the ss and rs camaros , sheeevelles ,chargers, bb 68-69 torinos etc that made their way to the junk yard after they were totaled. my granny lived next door to the ford dealers body shop during the 60's and 70's and i saw many mustangs, 2 door galaxies, torinos and various other totaled hot rods end up their in that small town. i bought a 351c 4v cj engine out of a totaled 73 torino around 1980. heres a foto of the 351c in my 66 mustang.
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OK, so what if a HiPo needed a service replacement eng., would that block have a code stamped in it?
No.
Was that eng avail for sale through the service dept?
Yes.
Would it have a stamp?
No.
With the K's being so hot not hard to believe it was wrecked and junked then the eng swapped into another 30+ Years ago and considered just another 289 by most of the world.
Back in the 70's the 289HP was sought after. All but the dumbest scrapyard would have known that.
To the OP, if true its a neat find and will add value but it may be crazy valuable to someone if it matched their K car originally.
K code engines usually found their way into another car when the original was wrapped around a tree. I have a K code engine in my A code car. That one hit a house.
No.
Was that eng avail for sale through the service dept?
Yes.
Would it have a stamp?
No.
With the K's being so hot not hard to believe it was wrecked and junked then the eng swapped into another 30+ Years ago and considered just another 289 by most of the world.
Back in the 70's the 289HP was sought after. All but the dumbest scrapyard would have known that.
To the OP, if true its a neat find and will add value but it may be crazy valuable to someone if it matched their K car originally.
K code engines usually found their way into another car when the original was wrapped around a tree. I have a K code engine in my A code car. That one hit a house.
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289 K-Code
I would be interested in why the shop thinks it is a K-code. I guess I could be wrong, but I haven't found any recently "built" 289 engines that even come close to sounding like the old 271 horse K-code cars. For that reason, surely the owner or shop could just listen and tell you it is a K-code engine. Even the basic 289 that is built to the HP specs doesn't quite sound like the original engine. By the way, I get a kick out of all the car ads bloviating about their K-code Comet Calientes. I bought mine new in '64 and the only difference from the Mustang was the four barrel. They were all K-codes, just not the HP 271 horse version.
I would be interested in why the shop thinks it is a K-code. I guess I could be wrong, but I haven't found any recently "built" 289 engines that even come close to sounding like the old 271 horse K-code cars. For that reason, surely the owner or shop could just listen and tell you it is a K-code engine. Even the basic 289 that is built to the HP specs doesn't quite sound like the original engine. By the way, I get a kick out of all the car ads bloviating about their K-code Comet Calientes. I bought mine new in '64 and the only difference from the Mustang was the four barrel. They were all K-codes, just not the HP 271 horse version.
G
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·Wish I had thought of that . . LOL I've asked twice with no reply. Don't loose any sleep.
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Well, if you put it THAT way... :lol: Other than the spring pockets and the machining for the studs they weren't any different from a standard head, though, (to the best of my knowledge)...Hmmm… Sound like you agree with me after all…
Oh, BTW- Those spring pockets weren't machined- they were cast in. Totally unique casting.
![Image]()
As for the rods, again, to my knowledge, the same C3AE/C3AE-D rods were used for all 221/260/289's, just the bigger bolts on the HiPo.:yoho:
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a) Sadly true. Although they were a unique casting (those pockets were important on the track) the HP heads used the same size valves and port cores as any 2V head. Which is odd, because the exhaust manifold inlets are much larger, as if the HP head was intended to have larger ports. I enlarged the ports in my engine to match the manifolds, and the difference felt like a cam upgrade.
b) The 289HP rods were essentially the same as the 260 rod, but the bosses for the bolts were larger to accommodate the larger bolts, and the caps themselves had more beef.
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True, but my 65 heads now look a lot like that.
Back in the day, Crane offered the Fireball head, made from over-the-counter 289HP heads. They made the exhaust ports so big, only Fireball headers would work.
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Nope. That's the way they came. (if you had the connections to be driving
an FIA Cobra, Daytona Coupe, R model Shelby or Gt40 Competition Coupe)
They are definitely XE parts.
The 302 TP have the same exhaust port opening size as the
C6FE, but the interior dimensions are slightly different.
an FIA Cobra, Daytona Coupe, R model Shelby or Gt40 Competition Coupe)
They are definitely XE parts.
The 302 TP have the same exhaust port opening size as the
C6FE, but the interior dimensions are slightly different.
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i examined these 68 TP heads extensively. this tp engine came out of and went back in one of the factory 68 shelby t/a mustangs. they are as they came when the team sold the car back in the day. whatever was done to the heads was done by the ford team. the exhaust ports are huge compared to a reworked 69-70 351W port. and much larger than a 65-66 hipo 289 port of which were several about 5 feet from these tp heads. the tp block was taken out of service and a new Ford Racing Boss 302 block is used. how did i get to be so incredibly moronic > i get around
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