[Tigers] good 289 for a rebuild?

[Ron Fraser]

Gene
    I have not done a rebuild of a 260 in decades so I don't know what is
available.   I thought I heard that pistons for the 260 were available
possibly EGGE??
 
It is very possible that building a 289 is more cost effective, again I
don't know.
 
Higher HP 260
 
Feb 1964 Ford changed to the C4OE-A head for the 260.  This head has the
same sizes valves as the std 289 head but the size of the runners are
smaller.   Larger intake valves almost always result in higher HP.    Ford
never rated the 260 with the larger valves or Ford never published the
results; maybe because they were aiming at just the 289 engine in the near
future of Ford.  This was also a time when Ford was reducing inventory by
using the same parts for more applications; exactly what Ford did with the
260 by sharing parts with the 289 and eliminating the 221 engine.
 
The 164 HP rating is for the early 260 engine.   The vast majority of 260
engine installed in the Tiger have the larger valves and are the best
breathing of all the 260 engines.   You could install 289 heads and intake
on a 260 engine and have an even better breathing 260 engine.
 
Ron Fraser

-----Original Message-----
From: genepadgett at comcast.net [mailto:genepadgett at comcast.net] 
Sent: Saturday, August 25, 2012 6:02 PM
To: rfraser at bluefrog.com
Cc: Tom Pappenhagen; tigers at autox.team.net
Subject: Re: [Tigers] good 289 for a rebuild?


Ron,

Back several years ago I was considering rebuilding my 260.  I was having
problems finding oversized pistons, especially any at a reasonable price to
go with a rebored block.  Is there a good source for them?  What about with
a higher compression ratio piston?  I seem to recall I would have had to
have Janes custom make something for me.   And they would have been
expensive.  Compared at least to what I could get readily available for a
289.  It just seemed that rebuilding a 289, especially warming it up a bit,
would be more cost effective that doing the same thing with a 260 and
produce more bang for the buck in the process.  I readily admit it was many
years ago that I was looking at this.

Would you mind sharing the details on what would constitute a higher HP 260
that was never rated by Ford?  I see valve sizes and a 164 HP rating in the
shop manual.  Would the higher powered 260 you mentioned have the same size
exhaust valve as the 289 size in the manual?  The manual says the intakes
for the 260 and 289 are the same.

Thanks,

Gene