Hi all, now that school is out for the summer, my attention can be focused back in the garage. As a quick refresher/introduction, I’ve had my ’66 Galaxie for about 8 years, it has a 289 and c4. It gets around, albeit slowly with its age and 3.0 gears. The long-term plan is for a 393 stroker built from a ’69 351 that is in the garage but that will be quite a way out. Until then I’ve got a world class t-5 and a posi-center section with 3.5 gears to rebuild and install, though probably not until this winter. I’m a law student so I’m trying to make all this happen on a budget.
My immediate question revolves around the 289 in it now. I’ve added a 600 cfm Holley and Edelbrock Performer intake. I know that’s not ideal, but it is a step up from the stock 2bbl. I have a set of D0OE heads that I am planning on using for the time being. They are in good shape and I’m in the process of home porting and polishing them to increase their flow. I know when I install them I’ll lose about a point of compression. To combat this I was thinking of using Keith Black 116 standard pistons (Summit part number KB116KTM-STD). They are for a 302 but have a -2.6cc dome to them and I can get a used set of them locally for a good price. Would these pistons work to bring back that lost compression? Are there other issues I should be aware of?
If these are worth using, I’ll dingle ball hone the cylinders and install the slugs along with some shorty headers and an MSD 6 ignition, and 351 Edelbrock Performer intake, all of which (save the pistons) are sitting on my shelf. Next would be a cam, but I don’t have that yet, nor do I have one picked out.
I’m hoping that this combo would wake it up a bit but I lack the engine building experience that many others on here have. What are your thoughts?
My immediate question revolves around the 289 in it now. I’ve added a 600 cfm Holley and Edelbrock Performer intake. I know that’s not ideal, but it is a step up from the stock 2bbl. I have a set of D0OE heads that I am planning on using for the time being. They are in good shape and I’m in the process of home porting and polishing them to increase their flow. I know when I install them I’ll lose about a point of compression. To combat this I was thinking of using Keith Black 116 standard pistons (Summit part number KB116KTM-STD). They are for a 302 but have a -2.6cc dome to them and I can get a used set of them locally for a good price. Would these pistons work to bring back that lost compression? Are there other issues I should be aware of?
If these are worth using, I’ll dingle ball hone the cylinders and install the slugs along with some shorty headers and an MSD 6 ignition, and 351 Edelbrock Performer intake, all of which (save the pistons) are sitting on my shelf. Next would be a cam, but I don’t have that yet, nor do I have one picked out.
I’m hoping that this combo would wake it up a bit but I lack the engine building experience that many others on here have. What are your thoughts?