289 motor rebuild

Awesome, Thanks for your answer! Like to see that 65 Cobra....

.boB, I have another question. I just opened my head gaskets and they both are exactly the same and they both have "front" labeled on them. In order for them both to face the front on each side of the motor, I would have to flip one (which isn't good). also is it normal to block the front water passages on these gaskets? Do rebuilders drill extra water passage holes in the gasket to fit the the heads and motor to match?

-mb

pictures of head gasket-

Commonly called an "Oil Slinger". Helps to keep oil off the damper seal, and prevent leaks. New engines don't have it. Most people trash theirs during a rebuild.

You could probably get one at the dealer.

The trick to preventing a leak there is to install the front cover so it's square to the crank snout and not the block. Install the gaskets, and the bolts hand tight. Slid the damper on so the hub just barely enters the seal. Move thr front cover around until you have even seal compression around the circumfrence.

The word "front" needs to go to the front.... because of coolant flow through the block and heads.... The gaskets are installed unaltered.

Once you get the heads bolted on... look for the identifier tabs... these are a tab on the gasket that protrudes from between head and block.... These tabs were used during assembly line inspection to ensure correct gasket placement and will both be sticking out of (IIRC) the front....

Yes, that's exactly how they go on. Both gaskets are exactly the same, just like both heads are exactly the same. On one side the word "front" will be facing up, and on the other side it will be facing down. Some of the water holes are blocked to direct the water in the right direction - back to front The small holes are called steam holes. They don't really relieve steam, as there shouldn't be any if the system is operating correctly. They are there to relieve any imbalance and keep the water flowing in the right direction.

Here are some pictures of my car:

Factory Five Racing kit, 427W, Dart Windsor Sr heads, custom Ed curtis roller cam, Momar EFI 8 stack system, Tremec TKO, 8.8 IRS with 3.55 gears and Detroit TruTrak. It's pretty fast. I was running about 1:45 at Pueblo Motorsports Park last month. Then I spun a rod bearing. Going to La Junta raceway next week end, we'll see how it does.

Factory Five kits are cool! ... one of these days....

Not all head gaskets have this.

Thanks for the comments. I'm using 289 block/crank with the D0OE heads. I need to figure out the compression ratio. I did research on the D0OE heads and mine have 69 302 D0OE on them (see pic from previous e-mail), but everywhere I research the "D0OE" heads are always referred as 351 heads its hard to find specs.Here a link for that data.

much about this?thanks .Mike

D0OE- B 68-70 302W, 58.2cc chambers, valves 1.78/1.45

D0OE- C, G 69-74 351W, 60.4cc chambers, valves 1.84/1.54

Use blocks and set up the heads on a bench so the face is up and perfectly level. Use isopropal alcohol and a syringe. Fill the chanmber to the top and see how many cc's it takes. Use alcohol instead of water because it won't form a meniscus.

Do not trust anyone else, measure everything to be sure you base your work on first hand knowledge.

Things are not always the way they should be, or what the books say they are. Who knows what was done to old car parts along the years.

Jan