The Engine

The Comet originally came with a 200 CID straight six engine. Since the goal was to build a “Muscle” car, I wanted a v-8. There are those out there that would say a 289 isn’t a “Muscle” car engine…that may be, but I’m happy with it for now.

I found the engine on the web at http://www.recycler.com/ for $150. It came out of a ‘65 Fairlane but I don’t think it was the original engine. The guy was replacing it with a 302 since it had a bent valve and already had the engine. He also threw in the iron heads for another $25.

I brought the engine to Dragmasters in Carlsbad and worked with a guy named Charles. I was real intimidated when I first went in since I didn’t now the lingo very well and everything I knew about rebuilding an engine was from a book I had been reading. I didn’t know much.

I think Charles figured me out real quick and was real cool and helped be figure out what I needed. The engine still had the standard pistons so we bored that out to .030. The crank journals were slightly scored so we brought that down .010. I bought my rebuild kit at www.summitracing.com and brought parts and pieces to Charles to install.

Charles installed my cam bearings, did my valve job, and balanced the engine. I bought him my crank shaft, flex-plate and damper for the balancing.

Here’s my engine when I got it home. I washed it thoroughly with soap and water and dried it up as fast as I could to prevent rust from forming right away,

I spray painted the block and oil pan Ford Blue

I installed the brass freeze plugs

I installed the Edelbrock Performer cam with provided lube.

The main bearing was .010 oversized.

The crank was installed and I checked the thrust clearances.

I installed the pistons.

Piston bearing caps installed with side clearance checked and measured.

Timing chain installed with gasket sealant in place.

Damper and water pump installed.

Oil pan installed with one-piece gasket.

I painted the original heads black. Just couldn’t bring myself to paint them Ford Blue as well. I chose the BBK shorty headers because they cleared my Rack and Pinion steering set-up.

Edelbrock Performer intake installed

Valve covers installed

Home made engine cart to keep the engine out of the way while I work the body.

My 289 mounted and ready to roll around.

The flex-plate installed

The C4 strapped to the rear of my 289 along with Edelbrock Carb, MSD distributor and air cleaner

I had decided to test my engine on this cart prior to installing in the engine bay. To do this, I needed to transform my engine cart into an engine test stand. The first thing I needed to do was to build a bracket to hold the radiator.

Here’s the bracket bolted up to the cart…

…and with the radiator attached….

Next I needed a mounting board to bolt some terminal blocks to so I can wire my ignition…here’s a front view with my gauges tie wrapped to the upper bracket…

Here’s the rear view…yes I made sure the fan won’t hit any of the wiring.

…and finally with my Flowmaster 50 mufflers installed…

Here’s a YouTube link to the engine running!