289 Hi-Po? how do you tell???
 

Hey guys,

This is probably an easy one for ya. My Brother in law has a 68 cpe.289 (not the original motor). The guy he bought it from says it has a Hi-Po motor in it.
Another guy I was talking to says it is prob. not a Hi-po because they are very rare and worth a ton of $$. Is this true? How do you find out? Serial#? Block markings? Thanks for your help!

Not likely that it's a real hipo, I've heard this story lots of times. But until someone who really knows how to spot these engines comes along, here are a couple of things to check.

Hipo harmonic balancers are thicker than the standard 289/302 balancers. They look a lot like the new 5.0 balancers, and the regular 289/302 ones are only that thick about half way around.

If it were mine, I would pull off the valve covers and check the rocker studs. Regular 289/302's used press-in style studs, and I'm pretty sure hipo's used screw-in style.

While the covers are off, check for slack in the pushrods. 289/302's use hydraulic lifters, and all 16 pushrods should be snug. The hipo's used solid lifters ( mechanical ) and you would be able to notice the slack in the valve train, as they require a running clearance.

If it is a true hipo, I'd sell it for all those $$$ to a collector and build a regular production engine and have money left over. The hipo was a good block, but the bottom end was it's only advantage--and even it didn't have 4-bolt mains--so any advantages it had were small.

Check out these sites. They have some pictures of the "k" code 289's.

www.fomoco.com/eng/289k.htm

www.wrljet.com/engines/289hp.html

-JON

289 HiPo's had 4-bolt mains.

Also, the valve springs have like a recess for them cast into the head for them to seat in. screw in studs, solid lifters, dual point dist., different balancer

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Dave Pitt
68 FB, 289
68 FB, 428 CJ

The pictures I have show the Hi-Po 289 as having 2 bolt mains but the main bearing caps are larger than non hi-po 289's. The boss 302 block has 4 bolt mains.

The Hi-Po has 2 bolt mains, but the caps are thicker..if it doesnt have headers, the exhaust manifolds are different too..

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84 convt,'95 302, performer
3.55's, underdrives shorties
and a '68 stang that WAS nasty ;-)