289 Roller retrofit

All you have to do is tap the holes in the block to hold the spider down. then get a set of roller lifter and the spider,dog bones, and push rods. 450 hp is going to be very hard to get out of a 289. I love 289 i have one at the house. 289 are high reving motors. If you build it right you should be able to make 350hp and rev it to 10,000 no probablem.

I love the 289 and I agree with the above post. Squeezing 450hp, even flywheel horsepower, is going to be fairly hard from a 289. The real great thing about the 289 is they rev for days when built correctly, and they are very, very stout motors as far as durability.

If you are serious, not just b.s.-ing but serious about getting 400+ horses from a 289, I would recommend the following route.

Get a set of good reconditioned K-code rods with 3/8" ARP wave loc rod bolts or a set of good aftermarket rods with the larger bolts. You do not wan't to be using the stock 5/16" rod bolts and thinner shouldered rods that the standard C and A code 289s came with if you will be revving the piss out of it.

Probe forged pistons, essentially the same ones you'd use for a 302/5.0L would be a great match. Part of my recommendation for this build would be a supercharger so using a deep dish piston with lower compression will be something to think about.

I'd use a set of AFR 165/185s with a custom cam, for a frequent driver you can go with the hydraulic roller conversion but if you want to primarily race it consider an agressive mechanical roller that will get those revs going. Contact Jay Allen at Camshaft Innovations or FTI/Flow Tech Induction and you can get a custom cam ground by experts in small block fords.

I'd recommend a Edelbrock Victor Jr. intake with a Holley 4150 style blow-through carb and a Paxton supercharger. Paxton makes superchargers for the 289 that will fit in an early mustang, fairlane, etc.

Make sure you have a good set of full length headers, a good ignition setup from MSD/Crane/Mallory etc. and a numerically high rear end gear like 3.89 or above, and you will make that power and scream in the quarter.

The sound of an 8000rpm+ 289 revving down the track sends chills through my spine.

+1 for the above post but i don't think that the 165 or 185 will be big enough. You are going to really have to flow some air throw that bad boy.

I have that carcraft article too, and let me tell you, that is a load of ****. They did not get 400 horse out of a 302 with a stock roller cam....I don't care what rockers they used. They certainly did not get 400 at the wheels, and they did not get 400 at the flywheel either.

It's a good article for what it is, but don't trust their dyno figures on that particular build.

how much compression you going to run? And if you put a 331 stroker kit in a 289 block its still going to be a 331. The only thing different about a 289 and a 302 or a 351 for that matter is the stroke,all have 4.000" bore. get 400+ hp out of a small block isn't very easy if its N/A.

I know a guy who runs a 289, 10k RPM on i believe 12:1 compression on race gas and makes 500hp....it's possible but i don't know about for a street car.

yeah there is a guy around here that has one that turns 13,000 is 13.5:1 don't know the hp number.

But 65 pony isn't really running a 289 is going to run a 331.A 289 isn't ment to have high hp number you can out run people just on the fact that you can turn it up and hold it there.

My dads buddy had one in a 66 you out run all kind of big block and ***** that it shouldn't have. Its hard for anybody to keep up with you when your able to rev it to 10,000 and there back there only turning 6,000.Thats way i hate fuel injection.

Yeah it's not even new tech...it was the norm back when 289s ran the streets. In a light car you don't need all that torque to get you moving, and you make up for it with all the RPMs. Add nitrous or boost and damn you've got a killer combo. Too bad a 302 won't survive at those levels (without a retarded amount of money into a race engine).

If you're going to bore it later, you're going to need new pistons again. Kind of a waste of money. Why dont you just get a 5.0 block instead of trying to retrofit the roller? They're cheap enough to get.

There's something you guys haven't addressed yet: the type of cam you need to use. That particular type of conversion kit requires a reduced base circle camshaft when used in a non-roller block. The lifter bores of a 289's block are not tall enough for the longer lifters of a hydraulic roller setup, and require a special camshaft that allow the lifters to sink farther into the 289's bores. You can't use a regular cam that you would use in a late-model 5.0, you have to specify the conversion cam I described above when you order. Comp Cams has a good selection of these cams.
If you really want to run a grind intended for a 5.0 block(i.e. one with a stock base circle), there is a different type of conversion lifter you can use, but they run somewhere in the neighborhood of $400 for a set.

Also, if I reading your last post correctly, you want to build the 289 into a 327 and break it in, then bore it out? You realize that the engine gets bored/honed and then broken in, right?