Ok ive posted on original or modified. since like others said it is mine, I have no intention on selling. Its just a 68 coupe no frills. Im leaning toward modding the engine. now the stock block has 80,000 original miles. the Pistons are hardly even worn at the skirts (dad was a fanatic about oil changes) Here is my idea! I would like to take the stock block and do a re-ring kit. Use e303 cam, gt40p heads( im not afraid of the plug clearance and i like the extra flow) weiand dual plane intake, autolite 4100 4bbl carb. I hadnt thought much on the electricals yet, maybe dual point distributor? anyway as far as my thoughts on the basic engine build any additional thoughts or heads up ideas. Oh yeah and probably motorsports shorty headers and duals. any ideas greatly appreciated. thanks

 

at least get the gt40's decked or you will have moderately low compression

the 4100 should put you where you need to be, but a holley would be an improvement

dual point is good, but for a little more you can go pointless, better performance and better mpg

 

how far into the engine are you willing to go?
whats the budget like?
what kinda power do you want?
what do you want to do with the car?
would you be willing to get ARP rod bolts installed, and get some flat top pistons on it? the rod bolts are the weakest part in the rotating assy, so ARP bolts fix that. you should also get it balanced. as for the heads, those seem good. the cam is a roller cam which you will need a retrofit kit from crane to run that cam, which is about 400+- bucks. you can get some good cams from them and also lunati etc etc. that wont need the retrofit kit. and since it doesnt seem like you are going for every last hp a roller cam isnt needed IMO for the money it will cost.l i think a eddy air gap intake would be a good match, and for the dizzy go electronic, you can get the kit from pertronix to make it electric unless you wanna buy a whole new dizzy. for the carb, go holley. if your going with the stock displacement a 600-650 would be fine for that motor.. but once you answer those questions we can help out more...

 

I would recommend going electronic ignition while you are at it. Check out Pertronix for that. I'm currently using the ignitor setup with a flamethrower coil.

www.pertronix.com

 

You can't run an E303 in that block. You need a small-base-circle conversion cam to do a roller setup, otherwise you push the lifters right out of the bores. Most of the major cam companies offer conversion kits, but you can't just swap in an off the shelf roller cam, unfortunately.

An Autolite 4100 is a great carb for a stock or mostly stock engine, but the way you're heading you're going to need more adjustability. A 500-550CFM carb would be fine, and more than you'd need for an engine that's not going to see rpm's past 5500.

GT40P heads are nice, but you can't ignore the plug clearance issue. Finding headers to fit those heads is a minor nightmare. You can modify a set if you know how to weld, but the only companies I'm aware off that sell headers designed for those heads are Doug Thorley and FPA, both of which are extremely expensive (but very nice).

+1 on the electronic ignition. Crane has a conversion kit that I've heard is pretty solid and more reliable than Pertronix.

 

http://www.hawkinsspeedshop.com/cate...roduct-51.html

my friends has this on his torino, hasnt had a problem since he put it in a few years ago

 

i know you said the pistons looked ok, but what about wear in the cylinders of the block? can you catch your fingernail on the ridge at the top? more than likely that block needs to be bored .020 or .030 to clean it up, which means new pistons, which means at least flat tops to keep your compression at or above 9:1

 

I checked the cylinders out at the tops cant feel a ridge at all. I dont have it up on a stand yet. so the rotating assembly is still in place therefore i cant mic the bore yet. I am assuming from what im seeing it a good honing should dress it up good.
I was unaware of the e-cam problem i used these in the 5.0 roller motors but really never looked at it seriously for the 289. Now i have a set of p heads already to go. i checked them out side by side with 289 heads and wow what a difference in valve size and combustion chamber. these heads should bring more compression than the stockers. maybe i should stick with a flat tappet cam and maybe solid lifters. if i go with a flat tappet cam what would need to be done to the gt40p heads ? I see the gt heads have bolts on the rockers where the 289 has a stud setup. You guys definately have lots of good advise to offer Im listnening... As far as budget goes money doesnt bother me as much as I like doing the build myself. Like i said ive done plenty of the roller motors on fox bodys. This is a first for me marrying the new top end to the 289 bottom.

 

Great questions its kinda like the first time i took my dirt track motor to the machine shop and I asked the machinist how much will it cost to build a race motor and he said "How fast do you wanna go"
Im not building a monster here. I would like performance while still maintaning dependability. (I dont wanna have to tear down the motor and freshen it every 3 months). Im not figuring on high rpm its an automatic and i dont wanna blow the tranny. No stall converter or such.
I know the little 289 originally with the 2 bbl stock would dig in and had giddy up. Im just thinking while freshening the bottom end and rebuilding I could take advantage of the top end goodies available today.

 

A roller conversion is still a good thing, if you can afford it. Flat tappet would be cheaper and easier, but wouldn't make as much power without losing driveability. All you'd need for the heads are rocker arms and pushrods (you'll need a length checker to find the proper length).