289 XE Rods

[JimmyMac]

Nothing to do with me

eBay Motors: Ford 289 Hipo XE Rods (item 230118879753 end time Apr-24-07 21:40:45 PDT)

 

[HILLY]

G’Day James,

Do you know where these fit in the chronological order of things??
Being shorter and 3/8 bolts they look somewhat standard and are no relation to the SK rods that we have discussed in the past. What would make these special. Materials, design,????.

 

[JimmyMac]

Peter,
I partly agree and these rods look like the same forgings as my HiPo / Boss rods.
The HiPo rod however was stronger than the standard and was broached with oval "football" heads on the bolts and distinct from the weaker specification of the time.

 

[Jac Mac]

Slight correction James. 289 Hi Po had broached bolt head face on rod with rectangular bolt head while Boss 302 was spot faced and football bolt head. Not sure where the Ebay item fits in the order of things myself, but noted the oil squirt hole drilled into the web of the beam as opposed to the outside position used on the stock rods. Ford used the XE marking freely on this stuff and without some inside knowledge is a bit hard to trace. We have a forum member who was posting some ' inside' pics a while back that may be able to help.

Jac Mac

 

[JimmyMac]

JacMac,
Many thanks for the clarification.
I agree that the XE prefix could have been used pretty freely, confirmed by my search for HiPo parts.
I know of HiPo engines with XE marked rods and even the main caps with FE as distinct from the original C3 Ford part numbers.
Could it be that the original GT40 two bolt mains block was in fact a HiPo casting with different markings ?
I know that the 289 XE and Boss block is dimensionally wider than the standard block however.
The FE external harmonic balancer also appears to be the same heavyweight HiPo design.

 

[Jac Mac]

With regard to the early 2 bolt block that is quite likely, if I remember correctly ( It was 33 years ago ) the webs of the 289 HP block had a little more material in them as well as the full faced main caps. The Boss block had webs that had provision by way of extra material for the outer bolts of ( 2-3-4 ) main caps as well as a dowel between the inner/outer bolts. The dowel was the secret to this setup, when the loads push down on the main cap it tends to tighten at the parting line and the cap register in the block doesnt prevent this- the dowel did.


cheers
Jac Mac

 

[JimmyMac]

JacMac,
Concurr.
Here is a comparison of the two bolt main caps from a standard block and the heavier HiPo / C6FE.
The other shot is the underside of my four bolt XE showing the dowel holes

 

[Jac Mac]

Aha, that brings back fond memories, although I did not have the fancy core plugs, make sure your cam thrust plate doesnt foul on the back of the roller chain cam sprocket.

Jac Mac