Steve:
Last year I rebuilt two 260's and a 289 for my Tigers.
One 260 was built with new stock-style replacement pistons, bored .030" over,
ported and polished 351 heads, a modest cam upgrade, was balanced and blue
printed with an F4B and 600 cfm Holley,roller rockers and SS headers. The big
heads killed the compression ratio and limited the horsepower. I wound up with
189 hp at the flywheel.
My second 260 was built with new custom flycut pistons to increase the valve to
piston clearance, bored .030" over, ported and polished 289 heads, a mild
(268H)cam upgrade, was balanced and blue printed with an F4B and 600 cfm
Holley,roller rockers and original Sanderson headers. This engine dynoed at
279 hp and runs great.
My 289 was built with flycut pistons to increase the valve to piston clearance,
bored .030" over, ported and polished 289 heads, a Comp Cam retro roller cam
upgrade (similar to the 5.0 cam), was balanced and blue printed with an F4B and
600 cfm Holley,and original Sanderson headers. This engine dynoed at 301 hp
and runs great. See the January 2006 MUSTANG & FORDS magazine for more details
on this rebuild.
I learned quite a lot with these three engines. Attention to details is
paramount. Bigger is not always better and 260 parts are getting harder to
find.
Steve Halbrook
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