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Re: Installing 289

To: marrone@wco.com (Frank Marrone)
Subject: Re: Installing 289
From: Roland Dudley <cobra@cdc.hp.com>
Date: Tue, 13 Jan 98 14:30:55 PST
> 
> 289s came in both 5-bolt and 6-bolt flavour.  The switchover was in
> mid/early '65, I think.  By far the 6-bolt variety is more common these
> days.  The first 289s were assembled in very early '63 (or very late '62)
> and production was continued until at least '68.  There probably were more
> 6-bolt units built to begin with.  
> 
> 
> At 11:07 AM 1/12/98 -0400, Thomas McDowell wrote:
> >I've been planning to install a 302 in my '66 Mk1A.
> >However, yesterday I came across an oustanding deal - much to good to
> >pass up- for a remanufactured 289 still on its shipping skid wrapped in
> >plastic.
> >
> >How difficult would the installation be replacing the 260 with a 289?
> >What parts could I use? Would the 289 require a 6 bolt bellhousing?
> >Any assistance will be greatly appreciated.
> >
> >Please respond to: Tym@exit3.com
> >
> >
> Frank Marrone         MK I Tiger B9471116
>

As Frank pointed out there are two flavors of the 289.  By far the
easiest conversion would be a 5-bolt 289, but they are rare, and if you
find one you'll probably have to pay a premium for it.

The 6-bolt has two problems:  1) a mismatch to the gearbox bolt pattern,
and 2) a mismatch to the clutch slave bracket.  I found out about both
of these the hard way.  For the gearbox I bought an adaptor plate that
bolts up to the bellhousing and has the correct bolt pattern for the
gearbox- a T10 in my case.  However, this changes the overall length of
the engine/transmission combo by half an inch or so.  Maybe this would
have been okay, but I wasn't comfortable with it and I wasn't about to
shorten my driveshaft.  I gave the adaptor away- to Frank, as a matter
of fact.

What I ended up doing was drilling holes in the 6-bolt bellhousing to
match the the T-10 and making a slave cylinder bracket out of 1/4" steel
plate stock.  The bracket really wasn't strong enough, so I recommend
buying a commercially made bracket if you can find one.  I re-enforced
mine and so far it holding up.

This wasn't a problem on my snake, but could be a problem on a Tiger-
the 6-bolt bellhousing is slightly bigger.  Could be a fit problem.

Roland


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