My gf bought me a 63 Galaxie 500 for my bday.... four door box top. Car is in need of some body work, not too horrible but hey its a fixer uper. interior bout the same as the body. But it is all complete not missing one single part...except for a radio knob. ok lets get to the real business......THE ENGINE. I have from what I was told and what it appears to be a 289 with a three speed on the tree. engine fires right up purrs like a kitten no smoke. Just not too powerful, and heres where i need help. From what I was told is that the engine was rebuilt at one point in time, and was driven once in a while but has been sitting since, the guy said about 3000mi on the rebuild, the only thing i can see wrong is that it has a leak, looks like the front main. I would like to get a little bit of power out of this but i am freaking lost. I dont wanna build a race car or anything, I just want it to be fun to drive and sound good. I have been looking on the internet and I am lost. I have no idea on how to match up carbs to intakes to cams to heads or long tube headers or shortys none of that. like i said I want a good running engine that has some response at the pedal but I dont want to break the bank...... oh yeah I want it to sound tough too so I hope that you all can give me some suggestions and advice thanks joe
I have a '63 four door too! Mine has a 352 FE in it though. As far as matching up carbs and stuff its not total rocket science. My suggestions to livening up that engine would be a good dual plane intake, a holley or edelbrock 4 barrel carb. You dont need a huge carb to feed that engine, but something that is going to flow better, and dump some more fuel in. A good mid power cam and lifters would be good something thats good idle-5200 rpm or so should be just fine, and help her breath a little better. as far as exhaust, duals and shorty headers would probably work just fine. Oh, and if you wanted to upgrade to electronic ignition. messing with points can be a pain, and with electronic you can get a hotter spark. Hopefully this can help point you in the right direction.
Try and find a used FE to stick in it. I just picked up a complete great running 352 with a tranny for 300 bucks. Deals are out there, Id think that a 289 in a galaxie would kinda suck. My buddys 62 with a 352 goes pretty good, and the one it my truck does too. Now if you dont want to swap the motor, which may seem like a big deal, you can look up some small block ford books and read a bunch. But by the time you put some money into parts for that small block you could have put in a 352. Just my two cents though.
that was an idea i had too but just finding a cheap one seems to be tough, what a deal your buddy got with a tranny if i could find that deal i would buy it tomorrow. all the fe motors i find say 500 bucks needs to be rebuilt
Unless your going with something radical, no. Your stock heads should be just fine with a mild cam in it. An Fe swap is also a viable option, but if the current engine was rebuilt not that long ago, I would stick with the 289 and just work on some stuff to soup her up a little.
yeah that seems like my best option to have a good cruiser for this summer. ok i hate to pick your guys brain too much but any idea what model parts i should get? also a guy on another forum said i could get a set of gt-40 heads and they would bolt right on, is this so?
You my friend have a great big car with a little bitty motor. Great big cars only move quick when great big TORQUE is applied. Great big torque comes from great big cubic inches of motor. You said you are on a tight budget. These are the facts. Dual exhaust and rumbley mufflers will help and it'll sound faster. When money's thin a good running engine don't need money spent on it. Get the rest of the car where you want it. SAVE UP! Get a great big motor. These are my opinions.
you may be on to something here.... might just go with some cherry bombs a dress up kit and a new front main. I know the 289 is a good engine but like you said i dont think its gonna push this car too well
Man if thats the case, I wouldnt drop any money into that motor besides what ever it needs to run. I would make sure that its tuned up and running the best it can and drive it. Keep a watch out for an FE motor, or a 70's truck with a 360 or 390 in it. Its going to be a dog, your rear may have 3.00 gears in it. But I would just drive it and keep a watch on craigslist. I know that I got a steal on my motor, but stuff is out there still. Alot of people tend to not like FE's, or want to drop 460s into there ride. They can do that all day and ill use there FE's that they dont want.
Yeah I'm gonna do that, I do need a main seal though its leaking, or should I just add oil as I go lol!!!!!
does it have the tranny that uses the 5th spot back in the shift pattern to get it to start in low? the first one i drove i thought what a lump until i put it in the right gear.
Hit the junkyards, swapmeets, and or craigslist. Options include: *Swap in a FE, or 429-460 *Swap in a complete running 5.0 and T-5 from a rustang *GT-40 heads from an explorer *Shorty factory headers from a rustang GT *4 speed or 5 speed swap *Rear gears *Cam swap *Intake/carb swap *Upgrade the ignition ***Or just keep adding oil and drive it. The SBF is a versital platform and you have lots of options with the engine/car. You can spend as much or as little as you want.
HEY, he's on a budget!!!!! Get an a distributor advance kit, make sure the vacuum advance is working, use an open style air cleaner with the dual cherry bombs..and cruise. (Headers if you can afford it, will help)
gonna be slow and low i guess, atleast for the summer, we have lots of cruises here in detroit and i want to be able to participate this year
are you sure it is a 289 and not a 260? i did an engine swap for a guy who paid me with a 2 door 63 fairlane 500, i was fired up because i was looking for a FE and thought the car came with the 352. (agreed without looking at the car) found out it was a 260 swapped in 15 years ago... loaded it on a trailer and drove it to a friends house, swapped it for a 71 bronco and hit the ground running...
I agree with the "save up for a swap later and don't dump money in this engine if you're not gonna use it" crowd. Any FE-series or 385-series engine would really wake-up that car. You can either hop-up your 289 for a lot of money... sacrificing daily-driver-ness, or you can drop a bigger-cube mill in there and have the same power but reliable and easy to fix.
You really don't need big intake and exhaust manifolds on a 289. You aren't flowing that much air. Unless you do some major work, you won't turn over 6000 rpm and the 289 flows 500 cfm at 6000 rpm. A Holley 500 2bbl street carburetor will allow the motor to make the most of it's stock configuration. If you want better acceleration, change the rear end ratio to something deeper. You should be able to find a third member to switch with the stock carrier.
The main problem with the 289 is torque. Or rather the lack of it. A 2.89" stroke is not much time for the fuel to give the piston a shove before it has to start over. Bigger engine. 500 inch Cads are front sump - just sayin' Cosmo
let's see pics of the car, and congratulations on a great gift and a great gal! is it just me, or is the new "ran when parked"?
How bad is your oil leak? If your not using that much oil just drive it dude. Swap in an FE and it will be a different car. Unless you find some stuff for dirt cheap like headers, I wouldnt do anything but a tune up and a re curve on the dizzy. Keep it simple, put a big block back in it.
interesting...... how do i tell??? sounds cheaper, and um rv cam???? im new to this how do i post pics...... she dont look like much right now ill tell u that but i ordered flat black epoxy primer yesterday..... ran when parked?? i dont get it oil leak aint bad, i have seen some cheap headers on craigslist, will any sbf headers work?
A 500 cfm Edelbrock carb, some long tube headers, msd ignition, and you'll have the little 289 singing! I also recommend an air/fuel ratio gauge, it helped me shave a half second off my 1/4 mile time while gaining 8 mpg.
Its easy to tell, pull a valvue cover it will say 289 cast into the head. Hate to tell you this... that's a 5 bolt block. So if you change motors you will have to change transmissions too. 289's after 1965 are 6 bolt blocks and more trans options are available. So are shift kits and ect. From the pic's you have I'd say it is a 289. I would look into a 4 barrel carb and matched carb and drive it. Also the rockers are different pre-65. The 63 motor has the non-rail type arms.
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