I don't dabble in fords much. But since I have a '65 289 short block I though I might. So where's a good place to go and study up on them?
That's a bit of a open-ended request.... where do you want to go with this? The SBF has pretty much reached parity with the SBC in terms of options available and I don't think there's any one place to look for these. Other than the internal balance (28oz vs 50oz) and late roller blocks, the shortblocks have remained pretty much the same.
Pat Ganahl wrote a book on building Fords. My personal experience is that sticking close to what Henry Ford says about building them works best. Set all tolerances on the loose side and it will just scream. SBFs like lots of air and fuel. I run 1200 CFM on my 306 SBF.
Depends on how much power you want to make and your budget . . . SBF development pretty much stopped in the mid 2000s save Kaase's new P-38 heads as everyone has moved on to the coyote engine for ford guys or LS motors for those with zero taste or zero funds. The first thing I would do is bail on flat tappet cams and run a link-bar hydraulic roller if you want to keep your block although here on the HAMB that may not fly. A 289 is cool because you could do a long rod 306 on the cheap . . . 302 crank, 289 rod, 350 chevy piston if you have such items laying around. Otherwise, you may just want to keep the shortblock together and run a decent set of heads. The top of the factory ford heads are pretty much the same: The 1970 351 Windsor head was really it until the GT40 heads came out in '93. GT40s were revised (spark plug angle primarily) and re-badged as GT40p heads, both of which were entirely found on 90s cars. The tier just below that is the 289 head and the E7TE head where the E7 head has pedestal mount rocker arms, hardened seats, but also a exhaust re circulation port in the exhaust port. You can stick chevy 1.94/1.6 valves in any of them . . . of course the 2000s pretty much made all that junk obsolete. You can still use a factory ford head fine, and they will support up to 400 flywheel HP if you know what you are doing, but there's some cost there in surfacing/porting/valve job/etc that brand new aluminum heads don't have and you can pick those up for $750-1000 depending on your budget/power expectations. I've built a handful of 300rwhp 306s so while they don't take much effort, it all comes down to how much work you want to do yourself vs budget.
Unless you are doing a numbers matching car I would look for a 302 HO roller they are inexpensive have forged pistons and most have very little wall wear. 150,000 mile motor with less than .002 taper is common.
The most cost effective these days is a late model 302 roller block and a set of aluminum aftermarket heads. You can get good aluminum heads that will out flow the GT40's for not a lot of money and they will handle more compression due to better cooling plus knock out a bunch of weight. As Dan Gurney said, the small block Ford is the best V-8 in the world looking for a set of heads (Paraphrased a little due to I can't remember the exact words)
If your doing a total rebuild I'd be looking at a Scat or Eagle 347 stroker kit. You'll be happy with the extra 50 cubes.
I'll second the Pat Ganahl book, plus there's a ton of Mustang forums on the 'net with lots of guys sharing their SBF experiences. Beware that 289 block cylinder bores aren't finished as deeply as the 302s, so stroking a 289 block is at least moderately risky for less piston skirt support. Also beware that the 289 has a small combustion chamber so many/most later head swaps will lower your compression unless you mill the heads smaller. Some other quirky stuff about SBFs: The block bolt holes and mounting surfaces are the same for all SBF post-1964 1/2, except some later ones omitted the clutch pivot hole, so virtually all accessory and component swaps are bolt-on. Heads, intakes, exhaust, oil pans, front cover holes, etc. are the same. I think there are at least five different water pump styles. Early aluminum, cast iron left outlet, cast iron right outlet, serpentine, and reversed serpentine. There are three styles of rocker arms: studs, rail, and pedestal, and if you change things you'll need to measure for custom pushrods for proper geometry and you might have to add pushrod guide plates. There are two kinds of balance/imbalance for flexplates/flywheels and front dampers, 28oz and 50oz. There are two kinds of front pulleys. Three and four bolt. There are two (actually three) sizes of flywheel ring gears. 157, 160, 164 tooth. The 160 was a short production run and superceded (and interchanged) by the 157.
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