[Guest]

I want to give my 289 2v a bit more HP but want to keep it street driveable.
The bottom end is sound, a compression check shows 130+ on all cylinders and had new rod and main bearings about a 1,000 miles ago.
I have a set of 1974 302 heads and a 68 4 barrel intake laying around. I want to put a new cam & lifter set in and get a Edelbrock Performer carb.
I will probably just get the Summit cam/lifter set but don’t know which one and should I get a 500 or 600 cfm carb.
After looking at the head interchange chart it looks like that 74 302 head on my 289 will make about 9.4:1 compression, Did I read that right.

Thanks for any help on this.

 

[JVince]

I'm going to relay some advice I received on beefing up my 289. If the heads you're using are stock, I think the largest cam you can go will have to be .500 lift. I was told that a duration of 215/225 would be fine for street driving as well. Crane cams has a nice energizer cam with lift at .498 and duration around 225. The part is Energizer 278 H-10 http://www.cranecams.com/master/apps/ford11.htm#4.%20Energizer.
As for carbs, I run a holly 600 double pumper with standard jets and I get plenty of power. Unless you're going to port your heads out, I don't think using a much bigger carb will yield many more horses, but that's just a guess.

 

[Huskinhano]

My $.02, go withthe Performer 289 intake, 500 cfm carb and the Summit cam that has the same specs as the Performer cam...that's because it's EXACTLY the same cam...just less money!!!

Go with dual exhaust if you don't already. Don't swap the 289 heads for the 74 302, nothing to be gained.

 

[fdreano]

Look for 351W D00E heads (from the early '70s I think). I put them on my fastback and the difference was dramatic. They have slightly larger valves and if I remember smaller combustion chambers. That, along with a mild cam and a Holly 650 dbl pumper gave me enough HP to be scary for a middle-aged guy.

 

[Restomod66]

dont exceed .500 on the lift for the cam., and dont go over 224-228* duration for the street unless your running some deeper rear gears. you dont want to lose alot of low end grunt on a street driven car. a performer intake and a 500 CFM carb would also wake up the car and give it some more low end power. and as said before, dont put on those 74 302 heads, you wont gain anything, they suffer from much larger combustion chambers, youl lose some compression if you run those. the 351W headswould be a great and inexpensive choice for good power gains. ... i have an edelbrock setup for my car ( cam, intake and carb). and im pretty happy with the power, it has some great tire frying low end.

 

[Billgear]

Ok, I like the Comp Cams 270H or generic with similar specs. If you can handle cleaning (porting) up the heads yourself, there is alot of power to be gained. Just cleaning up the exhoust will really help the other mods work.