Thanks for the input

Fred

 

if your going to stroke it (larger than a 302) grab a 302 block from the junk yard, they can be had for next to nothing and you can get yourself into a later model roller block with a better design rear main seal.

if the choice is 289 or 302 stick with the 289. im rebuilding my motor now and am going from a 302 down to a 289 because of the better stroke/rod length ratio

 

the 289 have close chamber heads if you rebuild them and open up and port match the ports, bore the block 030 over ad a bit more agressive cam,4-v intake,650 cfm carb,headers,
You will awake the beast within! no need for a 302 .....
I remember back in the early 70's I had a 68 couger 289 and someone had put a set of 302 heads on, the compression was lowered and it just did'nt run good,
so I found a set of stock hp289 heads ran the heJJ out of that thing for couple years outran small block Camaro's /Firebirds, all day long untill I went up against a '68 rt charger with a 440/4 speed.. Thats when I decided to go Mopar,,[sm=gears.gif]

 

There's no point in putting that much work into stock heads unless you're trying to keep factory iron heads on there. Aftermarket heads are much more cost effective. You'll likely spend $6-700properly rebuilding and porting factory heads. For a couple hundred dollars more, aftermarket heads willflow better out of the box.

 

stock vs stock the 302 makes about 10-15 more hp/tq than the 289, with all your stock stuff even a 351w will work fine, if your going to change engines go a 351w you will feel a huge difference and all the stock stuff can be used except intake, oil pump and oil pan.

 

Wow-lots of different opinions and ideas-my head is spinning-Thanks to all Scott

 

i would leave a 289 a 289,..............you arent going to really gain anything, a few horses, at best..............
boring 60 over,...........i've done that,...........the only thing, is that the piston walls are that much thinner, adn they are a little more sensitive,.............it's just about over at that point,...........it's sleeve time, or junk the block time after that...........happened to me also. many moons ago, i had a motor that had been bored 60 over in my 66 gt,..............she ran like a scalded dog,............was much more powerful then my standard 289..........even though it had a factory cam in it,..............
the problem i had, was i wasnt the smartest guy in the world,.........and i pulled the distributor for some reason,..........and when i was seating it back, they are a little tricky sometimes.......i thought i had it seated, but actually, it just spun/span ??? the oil pump, and ended up blowing my motor.............was a costly lesson, being that i worked at ARBY'S (trademark......those pirates!! ;-) making a whopping $3.35 an hour............... even though people would stand in my line during the rush hour, instead of other people's lines...........it wasnt enough money to fix my motor! ;-)

they liked my jokes i guess, while they were waiting for their food! ha ha

 

Dang dude that thread is 6 months old!

 

Holy old thread, Batman!!!