289 Heads 'n' Stuff on '80's 302

[Marauder_63]

Oop. How 'n the HELL did I post twice? Oh yeah...I'm a NOOB!!!

Hey Mercracer & Tiggie: I misled y'all on the carb deal. What I should said is that its a correct-vintage Autolite 2100 that was re-manufactured by Holley. Not an actual Holley. So I've got a nice assortment of 6 (two of 'em rebuilt) Autolite 2100/Motorcraft 2150 carbs. Got venturi sizes from 1.08 all the way to 1.23. Got jet sizes from #48 to # 56. One of 'em even has the High-speed pull-over system, one of 'em doesn't even have castings for an automatic choke. Some have Air Distribution Plates, others don't...Got carb spacers, early & late. Got one that's plumbed for coolant, got some w/EGR - some not. Got one with the EGR pulled & the port blocked. Got 'em in aluminum, got 'em in plastic, got one thats plywood...

So I think I may have that area of the induction process covered, if not completely figured out. Now if I could just get my head around that whole 289/302 head thing...

[Lincolnmania]

just make sure the tv rod geometry is correct.......i dunno if you can get an illustration of the lever on the aod 2150 but 2 vehicles i can think of that had an aod and a 2150 are a 84 e150 van and a 81 thunderbird with a 302

[1987cp]

I remember something about an '85 Canadian Grand Marquis with a 2150 and an AOD .... my '79 definitely had a 2150, but it came with a C4. Did all the American AOD Panthers get the VV or Holley 2V?

[Lincolnmania]

usa lincoln panthers were cfi since their introduction in 1980 till 85, 80-83 being eec3 cfi and 84-85 eec4 cfi
i've seen a mix of vv and 2bbl in the 79-82 cars, but when i worked at the l/m dealer 87-89 they used to ditch the vv's for 2 bbls when they acted up so who knows
usa 83's were all cfi
and this only applies to 302's
i saw a cfi 351 in a lincoln in the junkyard i swear to god

[Tiggie]

DO NOT try and use the Ford AT kickdown lever!!!! Don't even think of it!!! The geometry is not even close.

Thanks for catching that. What I meant to say was that he'll probably have to use the Lokar cable.

Torque your heads in 3 steps. 50, 60 and 70.
DO NOT tighten your intake to 25 ft/lbs in 1 step. 1st step 15-17 and the 2nd step 23-25 keeping light of 25 if possible. It is advisable to NOT torque them to 25 and above. You can kill a head gasket that way... The intake actually lifts on the head when you over torque it....
Once the intake is torqued down, torque the top row of head bolts to 75 ft lbs. This will help your head gasket stay put and help keep your intake gaskets sealed also.

I was going by the Ford shop manual, but I'd trust Mercracer over most Ford literature (this isn't sarcastic, either).

[Tiggie]

Oop. How 'n the HELL did I post twice? Oh yeah...I'm a NOOB!!!

Hey Mercracer & Tiggie: I misled y'all on the carb deal. What I should said is that its a correct-vintage Autolite 2100 that was re-manufactured by Holley. Not an actual Holley. So I've got a nice assortment of 6 (two of 'em rebuilt) Autolite 2100/Motorcraft 2150 carbs. Got venturi sizes from 1.08 all the way to 1.23. Got jet sizes from #48 to # 56. One of 'em even has the High-speed pull-over system, one of 'em doesn't even have castings for an automatic choke. Some have Air Distribution Plates, others don't...Got carb spacers, early & late. Got one that's plumbed for coolant, got some w/EGR - some not. Got one with the EGR pulled & the port blocked. Got 'em in aluminum, got 'em in plastic, got one thats plywood...

So I think I may have that area of the induction process covered, if not completely figured out. Now if I could just get my head around that whole 289/302 head thing...

You can use one of those carb's if either:
A.) One has the AOD kickdown lever (off an '80-'82 T-Bird or Cougar most likely), use this with your TV rod
B.) One has a hole (or you can drill one) 1 1/8in below the centerline of the throttle shaft, use the Lokar kit with this

Would going with 289 pushrods & the rail rockerarms be the simplest?

That should work. Your casting date code indicates August 16, 1966, which is very deep in the 1966 model year, which means a rail valvetrain. The loose tolerance holes also indicate a rail system. Ask the guy you bought the heads from to make sure the car was running rail, that way you don't risk the possibility that someone did a valve job and installed incorrect length valves.

[gadget73]

The loss of compression has a part to play in the horsepower drop, but the craptastic camshaft and the lousy head flow along with that really bad intake manifold are also a big part of it. Even junking the stock intake for like a stock dual plane 4bbl intake will do worlds of good on an otherwise stock motor. I've driven 4bbl former CFI cars and they *run* even with the stock cam and heads.

[Mercracer]

Casting # (C6AE) indicates the application was Ford full-size. .

That does NOT mean that their application was a full sized Ford. That only means that the full sized Ford engineering group developed the heads. The same casting heads were also used on Comets and Mustangs etc...