[Doug67fastback]

I bought '67 fastback with 289 2v, all original except has headers installed. Engine ran fine. We have pulled the engine out to do a complete refurb of the engine compartment. While we have the engine out I have been thinking ....

What could I do to increase the performance of this engine? I originally planned on putting a new Edelbrock header and 4v in and letting it go at that. But I do like performance engines ( my daily driver is a 295 hp Mark VIII).

What else would you suggest while I have it out?? I'm willing to spend up to around $1500 or so. Is this worthwhile??

I'm not mechanically inclined enough to do the work myself. I do have a Ford mech who will work for me after hours ($15 hour). I could also just take the engine to a performance shop??

Suggestions??

 

[white66coupe1]

I would do a cam, manifold and 4 Barrell upgrade.

In fact...you could could put either the Edelbrock Performer or Performer RPM package in.

That would snap it up about 50 HP at least.

At a minimum I would drop in a 4 Barrell and Manifold.....but for real snap you need to add the cam.

Greg.

 

[66coupe289]

For $1,500 I would go for a carb, intake and cam swap, swap out the rear end gears for some 3.50 or 3.55's and throw in a shift kit while you are at it. Tearing into the bottom end of the engine or the heads will eat up the $1,500 quickly and will not give you the seat of the pants impact of the above.

You can get a rear end center section with the above gears from V6 Pintos, Mavericks or Mustang II's pretty cheap.

 

[HoosierBuddy]

While I agree that changing the rear end would help a lot, I would avoid it due to the fact it will increase your RPM during highway driving significantly. IMHO this swap would be very nice when coupled with a tranny swap involving adding an overdrive gear...which you is outside of your budget.

So...in order I would:

1. Upgrade the stock ignition with a petronix, "big" ford racing distributor cap, new bigger plug wires, either new plugs or clean and regap your old plugs, new high performance coil and retime to about 10 degrees BTDC. $120

2. Replace intake with 4V aluminum model of your choice and go with 4 barrel carb of about 600 cfm. Hipo or K&N air cleaner assembly (remember that many aftermarket intake manifolds are much taller....so you WILL have to verify hood clearance before you slam your hood down on that new wing nut). $450

3. Replace you exhaust manifolds with headers or hipo manifolds. Go with some type of turbo muffler and either an h-pipe or an x-pipe. Exhaust system should be duals all the way back in something around 2 1/2". If you replace the entire exhaust and figuring good coated headers...$800

4. Crap...I've only got $130 bucks left to spend. Well, you could buy a cam for that...but I think I'd wait and do a cam, lifters, valve springs, and new aluminum heads (which may involve either new pistons or fly cutting your old ones) sometime in the future. Since the cam is the "brain" of the engine...it should go in as about the last thing, rather than the first thing, so it can be optimized for your final combination. So for $130...hmmm....Windage tray and replace your oil pump. Use a stock volume pump, not a high-volume model. My high volume pump blows oil out of the breather at high RPMs and makes a mess. I wish I wouldn't have installed it.

There you go. When you have any more virtual money to spend, let us know. We're pretty good at that.

Phil

p.s. I have assumed you do everything yourself except the exhaust.

oops I just re-read your post. You already have headers and don't want to do any of this yourself. Well just skip the exhaust work and pay your mechanic. That will pay for 53 hours of his time...which might be required if your engine crossmember bolts were stuck as tight as mine were and you bust one /forums/images/icons/frown.gif while pulling the oil pan to retrieve your oil pump shaft which was dropped while reinstalling your distributor after replacing your intake manifold. Been there. Done that. Got the t-shirt. /forums/images/icons/wink.gif

 

[Huskinhano]

I agree with what Phil said. You'd be surprised at what a difference a set of headers, dual exhaust and a 4 barrel will make.

In addition, shop around. Many people upgrade from a Performer to a Performer RPM manifold. You might be able to get a good deal on a used Performer manifold which will be idea for you.

If and when you upgrade your cam, check to house cams from Summit, Paw ect., I know these guys have their cams made by Crane and have exactly the same timing events as Edelbrock's Perfromer cam, but at a lot less money! You know Edelbrock is buying their cams, not grinding them.

One last thing...barter! can you do something for your mechanic friend?

 

[Guest]

When we rebuilt my '65 289 2V, I wanted to keep the look totally stock (no visible modifications) but make it a little more peppy. We did the following:

(1) Petronix
(2) bored .030 over
(3) mild cam
(4) dual exhaust with Hooker Aerochamber mufflers

It is noticably improved just with the little that was done. Everything else is totally stock down to the original rebuilt 2V carb, exhaust manifolds, Autolite battery, etc.

When the rear end and the tranny need to be rebuilt, I would like to put in a locking rear (maybe some steeper gears) and a shift kit in the tranny.