Intake Manifold

Intake manifold installed, exhaust manifolds installed engine painted and test fitting valve covers, carburetor, and air cleaner assembly.

But before installing, I added back the baffles on the underside of the intake.  Interestingly, in addition to the center baffle that is on all intakes, this also had the baffle at the back that was installed for intakes with a road draft tube -even though this intake was not machined for the road draft tube
(No hole at the rear).  This was presumably done because some non-hipo 289s got the road draft tube and front cover mounted oil fill tube, and it was easier to just install the rear baffle on all intakes rather than risk having one that was machined for the road draft getting released without the baffle, which would possibly result in oil leaking out of the road draft tube and the rear of the engine.

 Shown without rivets yet installed.

Another weird thing that cost a ton of time an effort was the plug for the rear lifter oil supply galleries, located at the rear of the lifter valley. 

This is supposed to have a 3/4" plug, but on this engine it took several cycles of trial and error before I finally found the right sized plug.  I've seen where other people have used the 3/4" plug, but had to stake it in place.  This is just another one of those weird things that is different about this transition period of 289 production - other 289s I've worked on the 3/4" plug worked just fine without staking.  Because the hole is slightly irregular, measuring the diameter gave varying results so I tried 3/4 too small, 7/8 too big , 51/64 too small, and finally 53/64" plugs. Of course, as luck would have it, the one that fit was discontinued and I ended up having to pay for the entire remaining box in the US, plus shipping to a local auto parts store in order to get just one plug - but I got it and it fit! 

Shot of an original plug on another 289 I have in the shop.

 Plug ready for driving in with a socket.

 I taped off the entire valley with plastic in case there were any shards of metal when I drove the plug in and I'm glad that I did, with the hole being slightly irregular.

 Plug driven in to the proper depth.

Installing Heads

Original 289 HiPo heads, as indicated by the 289 with two dots above.  White paint mark in the center is an original inspection mark.  These were cleaned and assembled with NOS and original Ford script valves that were "re-hard chromed" as they were originally, but now to suit guide clearance.  Retainers are also original 289 HiPO.  I chose not to install bronze guides, everything is as it was when original.  Some might push for bronze guides, like I have done on other cars, but these Hipo heads from this period are so rare that I would not want to do anything to modify them.  On top of that the bronze guides are really not necessary, given the amount of mileage this car is likely to get, or get some fuel additive that does the work that leaded gas supposedly did back in the 60s.  I know plenty of guys that have original un-restored heads and they are working just fine after more than 50 years of service.

The biggest issue I had with installing these heads were the rocker arms.  First, it was a pain to find a complete set of NOS rocker arms.  Second, once I was able to cobble together a complete set, as I went through checking rocker geometry, I found several that weren't landing in the middle of the valve tip.  So I had to GO AND FIND MORE!!!  Finally, I was able to get everything just right with initial cold lash set (I'll adjust "final" hot lash after initial run in).  This was necessary because with these vintage rocker arms there are slight variations in the rocker arms (like the contact area of the tip not being symmetric or level with the valve tip).  Anyways, it took several weeks to finally get all the parts, get everything installed and geometry set. Here what I got finally, where pattern pretty well centered from inside to outside of head on the valve tip.  Just can't get any better than this with old school solid lifters and solid rocker arms (non-roller type).

Here's an example of one of the rocker arms while going through the process of checking geometry.

Setting cold lash.

Axle Housing Install

I realized that the leaf spring pins that the spring shop used to assemble the restored spring leafs were too short a while back and I knew they would have to be replaced later.  The head of the pin acts as a rough guide for the axle housing placement on the leaf spring assembly.  Fortunately, these pins are available and I was able to replace them before installing the axle housing.

On the left is the correct bolt, on the right is what the spring shop installed initially after re-arcing the individual leafs to original specifications.  Most shops won't have these correct longer head bolts.

And finally there it is installed.

I made sure that the bolt was precisely centered in the middle of the leaf spring mounting plate, as well as the upper head of the bolt in the axle housing mounting pad. The yellow mark is an inspection mark, duplicated exactly as it was shaped and applied originally.  There is a pic of the plates before restoration in an earlier post.

And finally the install of the axles, after installing new seals. Care has to be taken when putting these in so that the splines don't damage the seal.  Note the original orange mark on the shaft.  These were cleaned and new bearings in stalled.  The original brake backing plates were restored so that the flat contact points where the brake pads rest are nice and smooth.  Not everyone does this, but I can tell you if the wear grooves in the plates are left unfilled, the brake operation will be impacted.  The other thing I see are restorers gobbing powder coating on these inside of the plates...this will screw up operation as well.

Really happy with the  way this rear axle components came out after restoration and install.  Still more details to add, but the immediate objective is to get everything under the car installed while up on the RV jacks.  Once off the jacks, the motor, trans and driveshaft are going in.

Oil Pump and Pan

 Finally posting pics from several months ago.  This was installing new Ford oil pump, new driveshaft, cleaned and polished bolts.

 Oil pan fasteners before cleaning...nearly forgot that I needed to do these, since they get painted with the engine.

 Note original counterweight forward of the first main bearing.  New Ford oil pump and original pickup was disassembled cleaned and reassembled.

 Pan attaching hardware after cleaning...note different head stampings.

 The pan is on, finally!

 New bronze pilot bushing in the crank.

 Rare to see the Ford script on an oil pan of this vintage...this is right after media blasting.  The pan appears to be stamped June 11...but hard to see.

 One final note.  I noticed this small mark near the Ford script stamp on the crank before I put the pan on.  Looks like a Brinnell hardness test mark.  I've seen earlier cranks that have a highly polished area where the cranks was supposedly inspected visually.  This mark is different than what is on the flywheel, it is a single conical indent.  Cool stuff - and yes that is original orange paint on the piston rod, they were just cleaned not media blasted.

Timing set and Front cover

This is the starting point for installing the front cover.  The cam retainer for the 64 1/2 HiPo 289 of this period was the rare "two level" with counter sunk screws.

Next come the cam "C" spacer.  I managed to find an NOS unit to replace the original.  I was also able to find NOS cam and crank sprockets.

The front counter weight attaches to the crank sprocket with a roll pin that has to be driven in to just the right level so as not to interfere with the beveled edge that snugs up to the radius on the front bearing journal.  The roll pin is just there to ensure the proper alignment of the counterweight with the rotating assembly as balanced.  When the time comes the flywheel will be installed in the orientation it was in during balancing as well, but that's a ways off yet. 

 

And here it is assembled

With that, the rest of the timing set can be installed.

And now the Front cover is installed.  Incidentally, I've recorded all of the actual torque for each bolt in the engine, including the front cover bolts.  Note the original C5OE damper dated L3.  Of the original cars of the period all dampers were dated L3 or A5.  This one is in great shape.  It was restored with new rubber, and still shows the lines on the exterior surface that go all the way around.  Most dampers have had rust or dents.

Short Block is done, FINALLY!

You know, sometimes I wonder what happens when "professional" engine builders see "little" issues with internal engine parts - if they take the time to address them or just throw the engine together and get it out the door. Of course all of the pros that I had work on this motor are extremely detail oriented and would have address this issue.  We went to sometimes excruciating lengths to dial in this engine so it would look and feel like it did when new in 1964, but with waaay more attention to detail than was given back then. We also wanted to preserve the original stamping, tooling marks, and compression ratio - all of which further complicated and increased the cost of the build.  In the end I am extremely pleased, but man it has been TEDIOUS!

 Here's one of those kinds of "little" things...During assembly I noticed issues with the first set of rings.  I ended up removing all of the pistons and reinstalling a new set of rings after noticing a slight shiny track on the wall of a couple of cylinders.  At first I thought maybe there was a burr on the edge of the ring end left over from gapping them. On closer inspection, and after further deburring the ring ends the problem persisted.  So I ordered a new set of rings, installed them and the problem went away.  Evidently, the first set of rings had a twist - a manufacturing defect, that caused the ring end to have one corner that protruded out towards the cylinder wall, causing a light but noticeable shiny vertical mark on the cylinder wall. The mark was not detectable by sliding a fingernail across it but I was concerned that it would eventually cause a grove that would impede the free movement of the ring around the piston. 

Anyways, after regapping and replacing all of the rings, the problem is gone and were ready to button this thing up.  YEAH, FINALLY!!

Springs

I was able to install the rear springs and noted something interesting that I have not seen on other cars.  There was a white paint daub on the rear spring that I recreated exactly from pictures of the springs right after they came out of the rust remover.  Now that the springs are installed I can see that, in-fact, these white paint marks ARE visible when the spring is installed.  This was probably an inspection mark that was actually applied after the springs were installed.  There is a daub on both the left and right springs in about the same place.

I already posted pictures of the unrestored front springs.  Now it's time to add the brown and white stripes that were on them originally.  The brown is more of a lighter brown or "coffee with creamer" color.  I color matched by mixing brown, white, and some yellow until I got the color.  I also marked the original locations on the springs.  The brown on right hand spring was much easier to see than the left, the white was easily visible on both as you can see in the pics.  The left hand spring had the brown on the opposite side of the thinner white stripe.  When installed both white stripes are clearly visible, and located at the left outside prong of the spring perches when installed.  The brown stripes were in different locations: on the left spring it is located to the left of the white stripe (which only extends over 4 coils on both sides), and located to the right of the white stripe on the right spring. 

Here's a shot of the completed coil springs - paint is still wet!  Took extra effort to make the white paint strokes look like the originals, on close examination it was clear that the strokes went from top to bottom.  The brown was very thick in places and indicative of paint that was "gobbed" on the brush.  I am very happy with the recreation of the original look, especially the shape, color, and thickness.

Here is a pic of a K code Mustang taken around June 1964 showing similar paint markings on the right front coil spring.  Cool!  Note the coil spring is painted black and also is the sway/stabilizer bar.  If you look closely, you can see the a slightly lighter area just to the left of the white stripe, this is the colored strip in this Hipo Mustang - don't be confused by the reflection in the same area.  On this spring the colored stripe is just a bit narrower than on those I just restored.