Anybody else have a soft spot for the lowly Ford Windsor 260 engine?

It's been nearly 40 years, but that arrangement looks close to how my T10 bolted up to where the C4 automatic was. The floor tunnel had to be cut out and built up a bit for clearance and the shifter. --- Steve --

 

Its been a couple of years for me too, but I'm pretty sure that bell ( without the adapter ) was the one that was bolted to the t10 that was in that car before I put the T5 in.

That was an original V8 Falcon deal, so it only needed a big hole in the floor.

The original shifter and linkage missed the brace on the underside of the tunnel. ( but it was a horribly sloppy and vague shifter...)

The clutch, flywheel and clutch mechanism stayed the same, and I think the throwout bearing did too.

The tunnel had to be modified for the T5, but it was worth it.

The 5speed just transformed the car...

 

OK Steve,---Don't know either----I'll send it now,--Don

 

First COBRA's all had 260 c.i.d engines, then later replaced with the 289 c.i.d. in 1964.----Don

 

I have the 260 out of the wifes 63 ranch wagon(she wants auto overdrive) the odometer shows 27k & it was parked in 71. Its loose so im hoping a little clean up & it will be good to go maybe in my T roadster on a A frame.

 

The first Sunbeam Tigers also had 260's in them. There is a Chiropractor locally who has one his Wife drives.

Don

 

They are a great little motor, I have one for my originaly 6 cylinder 64 Falcon convertable when I get the time to start that project. Mum has one in her 63 Comet with a 4 spd and it runs great and pulls reasonably hard.
The early 60's Australian Fairlanes over here used to run a little 221

 

I had a 63 Fairlane with a 221 and my neighbor has a 62 with a 260.It was no contest--I outran him every time

 

My brother has a 1965 right-hand drive 260 Sunbeam Tiger. Its been in storage since the early 80's.

 

Nobody wants to put one against an early V8 trans. Have an adapter for one that we can't seem to sell...

 

Jack, at Helix Eng in Fresno swapped a 260 into a Sunbeam Alpine back in the 60's for a customer. Before they got it finished, you could buy one from the dealer.

 

The 260 in my '64 Falcon. It is mated to a C4. Found a bell housing for $30. They're out there if you look hard enough. Also have a spare 260 in storage. Gotta love the high RPM capability.

 

I must see this! I will be a first time visitor to Bonneville this year. Any chance you could give me more details on the car? Then again there probably isn't a lot of Sunbeam Tigers out there.

 

Used to have a '65 Sunbeam Tiger, warmed over 260 and a Doug Nash 5-speed. Modifed the 5-bolt bellhousing to do that. It ran real nice but dropped a valve at about 500 miles. I ended up putting in a 302 in after that. Cooling the beastie was the main problem I had.

Steve

 

It's not a Tiger. It's an Alpine. Pretty much stock body. Mayf sticks way up and out of it. Don't know what else to say.

 

It was 1964 and my dad FINALLY bought his first [and ony] new car..a '64 ranchero with factory 260, 4 speed. I would occasionally get to use it for "dates" on weekends.
Most of my dates were with the impromptu dragstrip we had outside Bend Oregon late Friday and Saturday nights. The boys with the 283-4 speed 55 chevys would give me fits! I'd lead 'em out of the hole by about 2 car lengths but by the time I'd get to the top of 2nd gear, they'd come around me every time. Still, it was a super fun car to drive...especially for a 16 year old with a heavy foot.

 

I have posted to a similar 260 thread some time ago,but I'll join in again. In 1965 I took a '63 Falcon 'vert to Bonneville and got up to 139+.
It had 289 heads, solid cam kit, headers from Dearborn Steel Tube,(a back door Ford outfit),and a reworked flat top carb from a 352 on a Cobra manifold.
Drove out,and back, , from Connecticut.
Got a second in class, bested by a similar equiped '63 Ranchero.
Gee, that was only 47+ years ago

That motor later went into a Sprint clone that became a tow vehicle for my SCCA Midget for about 10 years, never did look a the bottom end.


.

 

According to AC Cobra info I have, the first 75 had 260s, but many were replaced with 289s over time by owners.
One 260 that has not been mentioned is the '63 260 hp version listed as a Fairlane option, and used by many racing Cobras in '63. It had 12:1 compression and used 4 Weber carbs.

 

Awesome post enjoying it very much it has a lot of Great info

 

I had a 63 Galaxie 2 door sedan plain jane with a 260 with a 2 sped automatic. I bought it in Roseburg Or. then took it to a friends house in Grants Pass to replace the generator with an alternator, changed the fluids and drove it 300 miles home. That little motor did great over the mountains. I loved it. Of all the cars I have owned (I owned it twice) I miss it more than any other.

 

I had a 63 Fairlane with a 260 and three speed, burned a hole in the piston on the way back to Iowa from New Mexico. I made it to Topeka KS, pulled into a gas station, in the winter, pulled the head after thinking I had a head gasket problem. I called my dad in Iowa and he found a tow bar and drove down and pulled me home. He has been gone for 41 years, I don't think I ever thanked him properly for doing that or a lot of other things he did. With 65K miles on it, it had ring ridge, so we cleaned it up, new rings and bearings and I drove it past 100K -- later I built a 289 with some Shelby parts and used a top loader four speed, sorta wish I would have kept it.

 

Back in the day,(way back) about 68-69 I bought a 63 s-22 comet from a friend of mine that had a 260 in it with a 2 bl carb and a 4 speed, It was Ntl record holder in P stock for years. pulled the engine and trans and put it in a 62 falcon sedan delivery.It ran like a bat out of Hell. On day I ran into the orig owner and he told me that the car was illeagle.(The 63 S-22) and as many times the he had been protested and torn down that no one had caught the fact that he had put in a roller cam in it. Have thought many times on building another 260 with the same set up an finding a 61-62 sedan delivery to put it in.
Butch Evans(Falconeer)
Thomasville NC

 

Hey, Old Colt,

Did you see the post that someone put up about a Ford engine display that will be at the Carlisle, PA show this year? It will feature a Hi-Po version of the 260" that was a test mule for later Hi-Po 289's. Do a search for more details.

I like the idea of being able to pull (relatively) high performance stats out of small displacement American iron engines.

Later, Kinky6

 

I drive a '63 Sprint convertible with a 260 and 2-speed Ford-O-Matic. Everybody at the shows ask when I am going to pull it and put in a 302 or 347.

Nope, not gonna' do it, like everybody said, it's a great little motor. The only thing I want to do, is bolt in the C4 with the 5 bolt housing I bought for 20 bucks at an auction.

Well, that, and I keep trying to talk a guy out of his factory Tri-power.

 

I did some searching Kinky6 , but didn't turn up anything specific about a 260 at the Carlisle show. Money no object, it would be fun to destroke one of those Dart 4.125" bore sbf blocks down to 2.43" and add all the new aftermarkets heads, roller cams etc.. Would make some serious horsepower when revved to the moon, and still be a little 260 windsor. Of couse you might need some rear gears down in the 5's or even 6's. --- Steve ---

 

A friend of mine bought a '63 1/2 Falcon 260 4spd new. He put a 4 bbl and a Sig Erson cam in it and it was quick!

Another friend bought a '64 260 Cobra new. When I rode in it, it was the fastest car I had ever been in. He did replace the 260 with a 289 when Shelby started making them that way, though.

 

Its a post by "cobrakiwi" about a XHP 260 that was used in developing the early Shelby Cobras. Looks like it was a double post.

Later, Kinky6

 

Found it, thanks. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=807276 --- Steve ---

 

I'm running one in my 64 falcon with a c4,it was originally in a buddy's 64 fairlane and my Dad rebuilt it for him but he never really put any miles on it.So I got it from him and waited until I had done all the repairs to my car and then installed it. To my surprise everything looked new when I tore it down so I knew he wasn't bullshiting me about the amount of miles he put on it.

I will never get rid of it since the old man did the rebuild but I do want to get a little more cubes one day,I have been looking for a good candidate to try and build my first stroker. All of my Dad's falcons were 4 speeds with 260's or 289's.

 

Does anyone know if the later 260s came with 4 bolt mains? Seems like I read somewhere that the 1964 version had a beefed up block and the crankshaft had 4 bolt mains.