Long story short, I've owned my 68 mustang for a year now and thought the whole time that it had a 289 in it. Well yesterday my starter died in a grocery store parking lot... so in the middle of the pouring rain I was under my car replacing my starter (gotta love having a 40 year old car ). I go to napa and get a starter fora 289 and it doesn't fit, so I go back and theguy gives me a starter for a 302 and it's the same as the one I took out and it fits perfect! Does this mean that I have a 302 instead of a 289?

 

should be the same starter
the only real difference was the skirts on the block were longer on the 302.
that being said
a lot of 68 289s (mine included) use 302 blocks an 289 heads and pistons.

when i did the 2 to 4bbl conversion i noticed bigger than life stamped on the valley pan 302 once the intake was removed.

if its the original motor chances are whatever the VIN says is what it is,

if the motor is not original someone might have dropped a complete 302 in it.

its been a while since i took my starter out but doesnt it bolt to the tranny anyway?

(i am trying to think back to the way i was laying when i bolted it in so i could be wrong)

that all being said
autozone lists a part # for the 289 that is different than for the 302 however one says for manual trans the other says for auto.

the part # listed for the 302 is auto. chances are that is the confusion. he looked up 289 and gave you a starter listed for a manual.

 

thanks for the reply! It isn't the original motor, so I can't go off of the vin. The starter bolts to the bellhousing. I have a manual transmission though, so the starter for the 302 (if it was for an auto) shouldn't be the right one... oh well, my car starts just fine now so I guess I won't complain!

 

You could/should have looked at the numbers stamped on the block while you had the starter out.. Then you could have known for sure what you had.. or at least what block you had.

 

The longer cylinder skirt deal is a myth. I've talked to several people who've mic'd 289 and 302 blocks side by side and have come up with the same measurements. No real difference there.

However, it may be difficult to tell if it's a 289 or 302 by simply looking at the casting number. If it's a 289 casting number, it's conclusive. But if it's a 302 casting number, it could still be a 289. Ford started using 302 blocks with 289 internals when they started running out of 289 blocks. At that point the only way to tell for sure is to pull a head and measure stroke.

 

Gotta watch out for them starters. We have a 302 installed in our '65 coupe andour starter wentsouth on us. Got a replacement manual transmission starterand tried to install it,only to find that it wouldnt fit into the hole on the spacer plate between the block and bell housing. We have a 4 speed T-10 and found out that we had to install an automatic style starter to get it tofit in the spacer plate. Fun times arehad by all who work on 40+ year old cars.

 

Pull a valve cover, the head will read 289 or 302.

 

Ditto...I gotta go with that last one. Pull a valve cover and you wll no longer have to wonder.

 

All that will tell you is what the heads were off of.

 

True...pull the intake then. Chances are the heads were kept with the motor. What is it that the 6015 casting nuber will give you?