Need some ideas? Full Resto Question!

The 289 is a great motor. You and your Dad have a good fun project there. Rebuilding the 289 and making some changes as heads, cam, intake, flat top pistons, dual exhaust and an Autolie 4100 carb, you should get over 300 HP. The t5 is fun too. If you have the stock 2.80 rear end gears, the lower first gear will launch you quite well. The top overdrive helps keep the engine revs down. You can keep the motor looking bone stock. Some pictures of your car would be nice. I have a 302 with Edie heads, RPM Cam and intake, shorty headers, T5 with 3.25 rear gears. Fun to drive.

Is there a such thing as converting a 289 from carb to throttle body/injected? We agree it's a great motor and that we can easily achieve 300 HP, we just want more of a "wow what the **** was that" effect. I don't have the data transfer cord for my phone, or I would've posted a pic. And I believe, this car is bone stock. Original-all as far as I know. It's disappointing that there are no more ideas popping up :/

OneFast65 said:

Is there a such thing as converting a 289 from carb to throttle body/injected? We agree it's a great motor and that we can easily achieve 300 HP, we just want more of a "wow what the **** was that" effect. I don't have the data transfer cord for my phone, or I would've posted a pic. And I believe, this car is bone stock. Original-all as far as I know. It's disappointing that there are no more ideas popping up :/

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Truthfully, EFI isn't that much of a "wow" anymore.....it's more of a 'preference thing" than anything else (ie I like carbs or efi better). Now multi carb or the multi port hilborne style efi.....now that would be "wow"...but you are also looking at big cash for that too...likely more than you would want to spend. IMHO, it will cost a fraction and if you get a holley carb built to the 715 cfm specs (that were installed at the Shelby shop) you will have a great running engine that is very drivable and still get a "wow" out of it!

I had a 68 GT fastback in which I installed a Ford SVO GT40 long block. I connected a T5 transmission and 3:73 posi gears. It would hit the low 13's at around 110 mph on BF Goodrich street tires (which didn't get a lot of traction). If memory serves me correctly, I put an Edelbrock dual plane Torker II intake with a Holley 600 dual pump carb. I left the 'old style' fan belt which meant that the dampner had to be machined down about .100" so everything lined up. I also used an old style bell housing and clutch (I think from a Boss 302). There is a missing threaded boss on the GT40 block for the clutch cross-over pipe, but they make a bracket for that (aftermarket parts supplier). I also went with an HEI ignition with an MSD ignition with rev limiter, which I think helps so that the points don't 'float' at high revs. It all worked really well for me. Get back to me if this is something you are interested in and I'll pull up my old notes and give you the exact information. You could also go with the 5.8, but the set up I had (according to weight and ET's) had me at around 375 hp. It was a blast to drive and extremely bullet proof. I habitually power shifted. Good luck with your project -- you're a likely guy to have a father working alongside you on this.