The 289 in my 66 coupe is toast, block is good but everything else is wiped. I stopped by to see a friend that owns a small junk yard, he's about to pull a 302 out of a 1977 LTD. I'm going to do a full rebuild, what upgrades should I do to the motor. I'd like to keep it reliable as a daily driver.

 

If you do a block swap, try to find a roller block and run a roller cam. Be careful on block swaps though if you're manual, the newer blocks didn't have provision for mechanical clutch linkage, so you have to buy an adapter or convert to cable or hydraulic.

As far as upgrades, that depends on your budget/goals.

 

Blocks are the only thing I seem to have that are good, currently have 3 along with 4 sets of heads. I have 2 bad cranks and lots of bad or missing rods.

Turns out the motor is actually out of a 77 Lincoln Versailles.