Hi all,
Well I have been staring at the original 260 motor out of my 65 Mk1 Tiger
sitting in the corner of the garage for a while now, and I think I may try
to get started thinking about a rebuild. The 5 bolt 289 in the car now is
leaking and burning oil, so I'd like to rebuild the 260 and swap, and
eventually rebuild the 289 as well.
I remember helping some buddies doing a couple of engine rebuilds back when
I was a kid, but never did a whole one myself, and even my experience
helping was 20+ years ago. So I may ask a bunch of dumb questions over the
next few months if I can get started on a rebuild project.
I think my goal for a rebuild would be (for both the 260 and eventually the
289) would be an engine that puts out more power than stock (if possible),
but without sacrificing daily driveability and keeping maintenance simple,
as I enjoy driving more than working on cars. I am also a bigger fan of
torque for stop light to stoplight performance at lower RPM, than I am about
what performance is like at full throttle at massive RPMs. So if you have
any generic advise you want to send along, feel free, as I could certainly
use it.
My actual specific question is about the heads on a 260. I will have to
disassemble and take them down and have them cleaned, magnafluxed, checked
to see if they are still square and useable, etc. But if it turns out the
stock ford heads are not useable, are any of the current generation
aftermarket heads useable on a 260 block. I would guess that performance
aftermarket heads would have a combustion chamber and valves designed for
the larger 289/302 bore, and would probably not work. So if my heads are
bad, am I reduced to looking for other stock 260 heads?
I guess another question I have, is as I take things apart, and start
looking at part numbers and casting numbers, is there a good reference cross
reference book that I can verify the identity and application of all the
ford engine parts that I remove (or may have to buy some day).
Thanks,
Steve
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