Which cam in a 289.

[Rune]

I'm about to build a 289 for my mono. I want to go close to what they used in the 60's. I do not aim for a 289 hi po engine. I have one C5 and one C6 standard engines. The 1965 engine will be bore to 0.20 and I have the Webers. I plan to use 351 N heads (advice from others) .
What cam spec was there on the original 289 engines?.
And what piston, rods is recomended to use?. Mahle?
As many can observe , I'm doing this for the first time and hope for some advise to continue in a good direction. Many of You have done or study this before, so I hope not to go all the way to find out everything from zero, and without experience it have a high price .

Rune

[John Fitzpatrick]

Rune-
Your signature indicates a 390 HP 289. That is going to be tough if you're trying to keep your components in the '60's vintage. From what I've learned, the 289 with the Weber set-up needs to be able to rev above 7000 RPM to produce more than 300 HP. That's going to require a solid lifter cam and forged crank & rods. The Webers seem to be the limiting factor at the lower displacements, since I've seen several 289 builds in publications which made around 400 HP with modern heads and intakes/carbs. How durable they were is another question.

[Bill D]

Rune
To get 390 HP from a 289, you're going to have to run high compression (11:1 or higher), a solid cam, and some good heads. The crank and rods are going to have to be forged steel and the pistons forged aluminum.

A cheaper way is to build a 331 (bored and stroked 302) and just tell people it's a 289. They both use the same basic block.

[Rune]

It can be a callenge , Yes I know. But I will try to keep the engine as they did in the 60's if possible. Did they used steel crank in the original cars , from my info they used the same as in the 289 hipo, and that was only the normal crankshaft ,only Brinell tested . I do not think the webers will be the restriction .
Bill .I will avoid telling people that I do not have a 289 inside. When I can use a C5AE block. For the same reason , I will not go for alu heads either. When You look under the cover You shall not be able to say , this look like a replica .
The 390 + hp was indicated from some Swedish enginebuilders. So I see what will come out off my project

[Bill D]

Rune
I can understand your desire for being as original as possible. A 289 can be made to produce 390 HP but it's going to take some work. The reason for forged internals is more for reliability than anything else. You'll need to push high compression which means forged pistons (for reliability).

Cam selection for Webers is critical since Webers don't like a lot of duration and overlap. They like a high lift short duration cam

Where are you getting iron heads?

Bill

[Rune]

Bill .The iron heads is comming from a source that do not want publisity. These heads are almost as those I mentioned on top. Not easy to get.
Rune

[Colin Artus]

I used to run a race 289 in period spec and it had a 'le mans' cam (c7fe-6250-a) which although not particularly wild, in terms of lift, did have a lot of duration. As a result it was not very happy in normal road usage being quite intractable below 4k rpm. However out on the track the engine really came alive; all the earlier poppings and bangings, hesitations and other nastiness disappeared, it really screamed up to the redline (7k).
This engine was a HiPo with TRW forged popups giving 12.5/1 cr (L-2249-nf), heavily ported HiPo heads with 1.9/1.6 valves and 48 IDAs. I never dynoed it but from my experience of other engines in the same car I would say it gave about 380 hp but lacked a bit in the torque dept.
A modern spec of camshaft will have less duration and more lift (allowed by better valvesprings being available than in the 60's). It will give a much more tractable engine which if you envisage driving on the street must make sense. After all no one will see it once fitted and there is little romance in having to stop every twenty miles or so to remove and clean the plugs.

[John Fitzpatrick]

Inglese, evidently in conjunction with Comp Cams, has come out with a cam designed specifically for Weber carbureted engines. Inglese has been involved with Weber carbs on small blocks for many years-- it might be worth a look.
Inglese: Inglese Weber Camshafts

[MikeP]

Talk to Kenny Coleman at Engine Data Analysis (EDA) in Castleford Yorkshire UK.
Engine Data Analysis "Specialist Engine Buiding & Tuning
He builds many genuine GT40 289 motors which use ported cast iron heads. He gets 420 bhp on webers on his accurate dyno from 289 race motors. These are race motors and not really driveable on the street. Kenny is very knowledgeable and has been building every sort of V8 engines for street, race, drag racing etc for years. He has just built a 347 Ford smallblock for Martin Gough which we saw being machined, balanced, built and dyno tested - very impressed with the quality of build and excellent results.
Cheers
Mike

[Rune]

Here it seems to be easy , but they do not use webers
Ford 302 V8 Engine Buildup- Car Craft Magazine

[MikeP]

I checked out the link to the 302 build. They are using aftermarket AFR heads which are the best for flow that you can get. Check out the heads comparison in the tech section of the Comp Cams website. The porting on your iron heads would have to be very very good to get anywhere near the AFRs for performance. Also you would still have to rev it hard. Do the simple thing and build a 347 - more power and torque and it looks exactly the same from outside. 347 Stroker kit with steel crank, H section steel rods, forged pistons and rings and bearings £1,100. (420hp, 430ft lbs torque. 375 ft lbs at 3,000rpm on Edelbrock RPM heads and inlet, 650cfm Holley)
Cheers
Mike

[Scott Calabro]

Hi Rune,

My Weber carbed 289 recently developed 385 HP & 375 TQ with the C30Z Hi Po flat tappet solid lifter cam.

You can see it here and there are links to you tube runs also, see posts 107,108,109.

Tornado TS40 #875

It has a nice flat TQ curve, although it does occur at a higher RPM range than the larger displacement engines discussed.

It is far from unstreetable.

If you would like I will e-mail you the build specs.

Cheers,
S

[Paul Bearman]

Hi Scott,
I have a 289 (amongst the other collectables) & would be most interested to see your full engine spec.
Rgds, Paul.

[Rune]

Scott, this looks good . it is possible to get a lot of hp out off the 289 and still be able to run it on street with the Webers without problems . Yes please mail me the spec , use gt40@lyse.net
Regards Rune

[Rick]

Rune:

I run a 289 make way over 350+ HP and run the car (admittedly a Cobra) on the street with no issues. I had a Victor Jr manifold with 650 DP Holley previously.