Old school engine rebuilding wisdom welcome here

[rwhite65]

The numbers you are looking for are not far off if you are judging at the flywheel. If you want the 302, swap a 302 block in and put all the 289 front accesories on it. Then nobody can tell if you have a 289 or 302.

If you started off with a 5.0 engine, the heads are better then the older ones and the engine would have the roller cam right from the factory.

I am a bit partial to this conversion....cause I have done it to mine
Ryan

[DeltaMustang65]

Hmmm...I'm definately keeping the original 289 block unless, god forbid, it's cracked or something. But I doubt that very much.

If I can keep the stock heads and just have them worked on AND get 300hp at the flywheel along with the other upgrades, that would be good enough for me. I don't plan on racing, I'm scared to death of damaging this car since I restored it and it's in such great shape. I just figure why not beef it up a bit since I'm itching to rebuild it anyway. (I think it's fun. I was raised on Legos, what can I say...)

Also, I know some people at work that have run C4s just like mine that have stood up to just over 300 horses and haven't run into any problems over the years. I might actually be leaning towards this simply because I wouldn't have to change my transmission and differential. I don't have a whole lot of money to throw around, I'm a college student, after all.

On a different note, I've heard I can get 4 speed autos from Ford that look exactly or almost exactly like the old C4s. Are these the transmissions in the old 5.0s?

[rwhite65]

I would assume the transmission you are referring to is the Ford AOD. A bit bigger transmission, with a bigger oil pan. yes it came in the old 5.0's, I put one of those in my car too.
Ryan