How do you spot a "K" code engine
05-26-2007, 09:49 AM
#11
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Join Date: Apr 2007
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RE: How do you spot a "K" code engine
ORIGINAL: VeronicaScz
Hello.
To know if the car sitting in front of you actually is a K code, and not a car that someone 'adjusted' the numbers on, involves a pretty close inspection. On the 65/66 cars, the K codes came with a 9 inch rear end. All other mustangs had either an 8 inch or, on the six cylinder cars, an integral carrier. On the 9 inch rear ends the snubber is on a bracket bolted to the front of the pumpkin. All others had the snubber bolted to the floor above the rear end. There is a bracket spot-welded to floor of the non-K codes that has two threaded holes with a funny looking slot between them to bolt the snubber to that sticks out about an inch and a half from the floor. The K codes have a bumper plate that doesn't have that slot. There are three different styles of bumper plates for K codes, depending on when the car was built, but all of them only stick out about 3/4 inch from the floor.Starting in 67 they were putting big block 390s in mustangs and those also came with a nine inch rear end. All K codes came with dual exhaust, There is some reinforcement inside the rear frame rail on the driver's side to support the exhaust pipe. But dual exhaust was also part of the GT package, which you could also get on an A code car, so the presence of dual exhaust doesn't mean it is a K code, but the absence of it means it is not. In 65 they were all 4 speed cars, so there should be no hole in the firewall for the neutral safety switch harness. There should be a hole in the firewall for the manual choke cable, etc... There are a bunch of things that one would really need to know what they were looking at and looking for. The best thing to do is to go ahead and get such a person to go look at the car for you. Hope that helps.
Hello.
To know if the car sitting in front of you actually is a K code, and not a car that someone 'adjusted' the numbers on, involves a pretty close inspection. On the 65/66 cars, the K codes came with a 9 inch rear end. All other mustangs had either an 8 inch or, on the six cylinder cars, an integral carrier. On the 9 inch rear ends the snubber is on a bracket bolted to the front of the pumpkin. All others had the snubber bolted to the floor above the rear end. There is a bracket spot-welded to floor of the non-K codes that has two threaded holes with a funny looking slot between them to bolt the snubber to that sticks out about an inch and a half from the floor. The K codes have a bumper plate that doesn't have that slot. There are three different styles of bumper plates for K codes, depending on when the car was built, but all of them only stick out about 3/4 inch from the floor.Starting in 67 they were putting big block 390s in mustangs and those also came with a nine inch rear end. All K codes came with dual exhaust, There is some reinforcement inside the rear frame rail on the driver's side to support the exhaust pipe. But dual exhaust was also part of the GT package, which you could also get on an A code car, so the presence of dual exhaust doesn't mean it is a K code, but the absence of it means it is not. In 65 they were all 4 speed cars, so there should be no hole in the firewall for the neutral safety switch harness. There should be a hole in the firewall for the manual choke cable, etc... There are a bunch of things that one would really need to know what they were looking at and looking for. The best thing to do is to go ahead and get such a person to go look at the car for you. Hope that helps.
You wanna hang out sometime?
05-26-2007, 01:57 PM
#12
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Join Date: May 2007
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RE: How do you spot a "K" code engine
Hi again.Here are some pictures. The first is the bumper plate above the snubber. This is an early 65. The later ones have a slightly different look, but they are very similar to this, while a car with an eight inch rear end's snubber bracket sticks out from the floor twice as far as these. The next picture is the location of the manual choke cable hole in the firewall. It looks a little raggedy in the picture, but that's just the sound deadening pad inside the car. The hole is actually a very neat stamped hole that is about 3/4 in diameter. Those two things need to be right on the car if it's a K code, especially the choke cable hole. If it isn't there, that's a problem, since it means either the firewall has been replaced or it isn't a K code. How hard would a car need to get smacked to have to replace the firewall? Or how rusty would a car have to get? Either way, that's not a car I would be interested in buying after that had happened to it.Hope this helps.
[IMG]local://upfiles/68214/FDAB19FC8CEC4E3FB7FAC36A219EDB04.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]local://upfiles/68214/953980D9AE74440F867A9CF4A6917E57.jpg[/IMG]
Here are some pictures. The first is the bumper plate above the snubber. This is an early 65. The later ones have a slightly different look, but they are very similar to this, while a car with an eight inch rear end's snubber bracket sticks out from the floor twice as far as these. The next picture is the location of the manual choke cable hole in the firewall. It looks a little raggedy in the picture, but that's just the sound deadening pad inside the car. The hole is actually a very neat stamped hole that is about 3/4 in diameter. Those two things need to be right on the car if it's a K code, especially the choke cable hole. If it isn't there, that's a problem, since it means either the firewall has been replaced or it isn't a K code. How hard would a car need to get smacked to have to replace the firewall? Or how rusty would a car have to get? Either way, that's not a car I would be interested in buying after that had happened to it.Hope this helps.[IMG]local://upfiles/68214/FDAB19FC8CEC4E3FB7FAC36A219EDB04.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]local://upfiles/68214/953980D9AE74440F867A9CF4A6917E57.jpg[/IMG]
05-26-2007, 02:03 PM
#13
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Join Date: May 2007
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RE: How do you spot a "K" code engine
Almost forgot. Here's a picture of the location of the neutral safety switch harness hole in the firewall. That one should not be there. Starting in 66, you could get a K code with an automatic, butvery few people did that. If the car has this hole then you need to look veeeery closely at all of the other stuff to see if maybe someone drilled that choke cable hole and welded the correct bumper plate on themselves. If the bumper plate has a little bead of weld holding it on, that's a problem. Ford spot welded them.
[IMG]local://upfiles/68214/59FF3D60727B474E9D225821F0DD9CDC.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]local://upfiles/68214/59FF3D60727B474E9D225821F0DD9CDC.jpg[/IMG]
05-26-2007, 02:08 PM
#14
I ♥ Acer
Join Date: Oct 2004
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RE: How do you spot a "K" code engine
Here is some additional information.
http://www.hipomustang.com/images/hipoeng/
http://www.hipomustang.com/images/hipoeng/
05-26-2007, 02:41 PM
#15
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RE: How do you spot a "K" code engine
Hi again.Yup. That's a real good site. I don't really post there anymore, as they have more than enough folks that know what they're talking about already.
I got a free copy of Mr. Gregory's book from them. Turns out I was the 271st person to register at that that site, so they Mr. Shaner decided that, since the K code was rated at 271 hp, they should do something. Pretty cool. I like free stuff.I don't know why they don't put better pictures up, though. Here are some clearer pictures. Fortunately, I have a couple of pairs of K code heads, a K code block, an nos crank counterweight, etc... stashed away in different places.
[IMG]local://upfiles/68214/593F9338A42D42F0BE0C0FCCE4924AB3.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]local://upfiles/68214/35145FB2F601489BBFB5911D282EBCF1.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]local://upfiles/68214/E3C0C7874F034A92A6FBF329BBC58097.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]local://upfiles/68214/1498188D7F344FA798EFD610B1AE7EFD.jpg[/IMG]
Yup. That's a real good site. I don't really post there anymore, as they have more than enough folks that know what they're talking about already.I got a free copy of Mr. Gregory's book from them. Turns out I was the 271st person to register at that that site, so they Mr. Shaner decided that, since the K code was rated at 271 hp, they should do something. Pretty cool. I like free stuff.I don't know why they don't put better pictures up, though. Here are some clearer pictures. Fortunately, I have a couple of pairs of K code heads, a K code block, an nos crank counterweight, etc... stashed away in different places.[IMG]local://upfiles/68214/593F9338A42D42F0BE0C0FCCE4924AB3.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]local://upfiles/68214/35145FB2F601489BBFB5911D282EBCF1.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]local://upfiles/68214/E3C0C7874F034A92A6FBF329BBC58097.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]local://upfiles/68214/1498188D7F344FA798EFD610B1AE7EFD.jpg[/IMG]
05-26-2007, 02:46 PM
#16
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RE: How do you spot a "K" code engine
The block, main caps and dual exhaust shackles..
[IMG]local://upfiles/68214/B6A61E6B931D4936832FB14D1AB42C80.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]local://upfiles/68214/AB89C6C0C34546B287924428AC5510B1.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]local://upfiles/68214/DC090D8BD0304FF6AAFD7A8390D79800.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]local://upfiles/68214/B6A61E6B931D4936832FB14D1AB42C80.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]local://upfiles/68214/AB89C6C0C34546B287924428AC5510B1.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]local://upfiles/68214/DC090D8BD0304FF6AAFD7A8390D79800.jpg[/IMG]
05-26-2007, 02:50 PM
#17
I ♥ Acer
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RE: How do you spot a "K" code engine
Just so we have all bases covered regarding the K code engine.
https://mustangforums.com/m_766107/tm.htm
https://mustangforums.com/m_766107/tm.htm
05-26-2007, 10:35 PM
#19
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RE: How do you spot a "K" code engine
That's a ton of great information and should help in idetifying it. It's always nice to have more than one way to check, especially on a 40+ year old car. The shell is a very rusty fastback, especially for the dry part of the state we live in here. But if it is a true K code engine (after I clear away the junk) then I think buying it is a no-brainer.
Just out of curiosity, you said you have some K code heads. How were they different than the C or A code heads?
Just out of curiosity, you said you have some K code heads. How were they different than the C or A code heads?
05-27-2007, 12:56 AM
#20
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Join Date: May 2007
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RE: How do you spot a "K" code engine
Hi again.The K code heads have screw-in rocker arm studs. The other 289 heads have press-in rocker arm studs. On the K code heads, the valve springs sit down inside some little machined pockets that are about a 1/4 inch or so deep to keep the springs from drifting around at high rpms, while the other 289 heads have the springs sitting on a basically flat little pedestal. On the K codes, Ford took a motor, the 289, which was a pretty tough motor to begin with, and did everything that they could to make it indestructible. Everything is designed to withstand sustained high rpms. The dual point distibutor is to eliminate point float at high rpms, the great big main caps and rod caps are to keep the bottom end from flying apart at high rpms, the extra counterweight on the crank and the bigger balancer are to help prevent crank vibration at high rpms. That's also why you couldn't get A/C or power steering. Fordwouldn't put those on K codes because they required a crank-driven belt and belts create a lateral stress on the crank. At sustained high rpms that can cause something to fly apart. K codes only have one belt that drives the alternator and water pump.Hope that helps.
The K code heads have screw-in rocker arm studs. The other 289 heads have press-in rocker arm studs. On the K code heads, the valve springs sit down inside some little machined pockets that are about a 1/4 inch or so deep to keep the springs from drifting around at high rpms, while the other 289 heads have the springs sitting on a basically flat little pedestal. On the K codes, Ford took a motor, the 289, which was a pretty tough motor to begin with, and did everything that they could to make it indestructible. Everything is designed to withstand sustained high rpms. The dual point distibutor is to eliminate point float at high rpms, the great big main caps and rod caps are to keep the bottom end from flying apart at high rpms, the extra counterweight on the crank and the bigger balancer are to help prevent crank vibration at high rpms. That's also why you couldn't get A/C or power steering. Fordwouldn't put those on K codes because they required a crank-driven belt and belts create a lateral stress on the crank. At sustained high rpms that can cause something to fly apart. K codes only have one belt that drives the alternator and water pump.Hope that helps.