I'm a huge FE lover. That being said, my opinion is that the FE, while neat and good eye candy, would be less of a road car than if it had the 289. In the end both could be made to run nicely for your perspective project outline. So the choice is really up to you. You've gotta let us know your choice though. Total Perf-
I like / have both. >>Power to wieght Ratio.. ..289 will pull that like '29 just fine..My RPU weighs in at 1800# w/302. Hooks up good..decent mileage. Corners nice. rides nice. The 390 will be heavy for the front end . *Push in the corners, You'll have to feather it for traction, consume fuel, Beefed up suspension for the .xtra frt. end wt. .Xtra rear suspension to get it to hook. Heavy car. ( you'll have to play 'ketchup' to the small block at the other end.. >>Power to wt. ratio.. JMO I love the 390/330, in my Gal..
There seem to be a lot of interest in putting Cads, Nailheads, Olds and Hemis in Model As, but a FE is too heavy?. The "Low Revving Pig" will annihilate the tires with torque and the 289 would be a high revving screamer. Both great engines and you can't go wrong with a Ford in a Ford. On appearance alone I lean FE, but not by much...
I'd go with the 289, myself, but I sure wouldn't give a guy grief for choosing the FE. As for which one you should choose, I suppose before I gave my advice on that I'd want to know what you plan to do with the car after it's built. Is it going to be used for motoring over to the local cruise night where it'll be parked a****st a bunch of other rods, but otherwise not driven so much? If so, I'd go with the FE. Or is it going to be driven, and I mean driven a lot, as in a daily driver or used for long weekend road trips? If that's the case then I'd go with the 289 for sure. Basically I see the 289 as the more practical engine, and the FE as the flashier, "cooler" engine if you really want to draw a crowd when it's parked. As for performance, they'll both make the car plenty fast, though the FE will likely be a bit faster. On the other hand all that extra weight up in the front of the car will have a negative affect on handling and braking, the extra torque will force you to beef up the frame more to keep from twisting it apart on hard launches, and it's probably a given that the FE will consume significantly more fuel. Given the limited gas tank volume available in a model A that could get to be mighty annoying on long trips because you'd have to stop for gas more often. Oh, and no doubt about it the FE will be more of a challenge to fit into that car than the 289 because it's just plain bigger. Are you sticking with the original cowl fuel tank?
289 if you want to drive it 390 if you want to break it..... I love to be different but I'd never feel comfortable with a 390 in early rails. Mind you a freind of mine is peicing together a Blown MEL 430 model a coupe project, and he wants it to wheelstand!!
This is planned for either a Model A Roadster or a 60 Vette one or the other is going to have my FE Latham setup. BTW I voted FE---
I have an obvious bias. Here is a link to a dyno pull on a heavy low revving pig. this one is a stroked 390 - nothing exotic - that made good power and would be perfectly at home in a street car. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNatUBvj0Cw And just in case you have greater aspirations.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAlUnnSqYBg
The Edelbrock F28 is still available new if you want 2x4s, tons of VERY correct nice mid-sixties 289 cobra dress-up parts available from Tony Branda and other cobra/shelby resto guys. Tony Branda also has nice re-pops of the Stellings & Hellings air cleaners that were on the dealer 2x4 set-up. To do a period-correct FE is big coin(I own one) And 289s went through a period in the late sixties where they were quite popular in rods. 289 and a t-10 or toploader would hit the spot.
If its a T-5, and you build an FE worthy of the name, you can kiss that T-5 goodbye, cause it wont be around long.
Some more nice mid-late 289 intakes that are available as re-pops. Triple holley 2bbls, the 1x4 Cobra high-rise, and the circa '67 dual holley intake. There actually a ton of really cool, period parts available for a mid-late sixties 289. Tony Branda has really nice open letter cobra valve covers too. These are all re-pops of intakes that were available over the counter from Ford dealers in the mid-late sixties.
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