None of the 302/289 parts will work on the 255. This was a poor, anemic and not worth a plug nickel. In you guys remember the first Cobra roadsters had the 260 as the power plant. Very few until the old 289 stepped in. The 260 was found in Fords up until late 64 very early 65. The first Mustangs (64 1/2) had a 260 V8 as an option as well as the Fairlanes, Falcons and Galaxie. The 64 1/2 stang is easy to identify by a generator rather than an alternator. The 65 switched to Alternators. And who can forget the poor mans Cobra .....The Sunbeam Tiger. It had a 260.
Cover Of Car and Driver, Sept 63', Vol 9, #3..Article page #81...I have the issue right in front of me [hardly even tattered], neat pic with webbers and glowing red headers after a dyno pull...I'll try to take pic and post..
i would say that it was set up like the old guys used to do with chevy 265 - run a real heavy flywheel, flatfoot it in the lights, drop the clutch & hang on!!
I rebuilt a stock 289 for my pastor's 289 a couple of years ago. nothing exciting, just replacement stuff, but now he's gotten the racing bug and agrees we should have installed 13:1 pistons, a big cam and good heads. I have a felling I'll be doing it over again Devin
Back in the 70s had a sweet 50 F1 with a flatty through a rod but a 221 that came out of a merc drove the s--- out of it got 25 mpg up and down I5
Bought from Shelby 260---Out of a COBRA---Still chasing those lines after 300,000 miles, minor replacements, same bore!!!--------Don
I have a '63 Mercury meteor with 42,000 miles. It's running a stock 260. It could use a little more grunt, but it's a great little motor. Anyone wanna swap for a built 302....anyone?
Sorry Daddy Don I hate to disagree with you, but your wrong it was the 260 not the 221 in the Tigers. "The West Coast Sales Manager of Rootes American Motors Inc., Ian Garrad, realized that the Alpine's image was that of a touring car rather than a sports car, and he set about changing its image, using the recent success of the Shelby Cobra as a guide. He and Rootes' Western Service Manager Walter McKenzie measured up several V8 engines and determined that Ford's new 164 hp (122 kW) 260 cu in (4.3 L) Windsor V8 engine would fit nicely between the frame rails. Sunbeam asked Carroll Shelby to produce one functional prototype on a budget of $10,000. Shelby's prototype was fabricated by Shelby employee George Boskoff, and the result was judged to be good enough to send to England for production evaluation. Seeking re***urance everything would fit, a second Series 2 Alpine was handed to Ken Miles. Ken Miles (a talented racer and fabricator in his own right) had just been employed by Shelby American. Using his own shop facilities, he managed to install a 260 cu.in. V8 and two-speed automatic into the Alpine in less than a week, at a total cost of US$600. Having served its feasibility study purpose, Ken Miles' prototype was kept by Rootes Motors Inc. Los Angeles for some time then eventually sold to a private buyer."
Read on! An agreement with Ford Motors was reached to supply 260 cu in V8 motors, with the first order for a lot of 3,000 units. Rootes then started their own development of the prototype into a certified, m*** produced sports car.The first 3,763 are known as Mark I cars, and had VIN numbers starting with B947****. Mark I's feature 260 V8 engines, Ford top loader transmissions, round corners on the doors, hood and trunk, metal convertible top covers and lead filled body seams. Prices currently run in the neighborhood of $5,000.00 to $20,000.00, depending on options and condition. The 2,706 Mark IA cars had 260's also, and VIN numbers starting with B382******. They came with square cornered doors, soft vinyl convertible top boots, fresh air ventilation and unfilled body seams. They cost around $5,000.00 more than a comparable Mark I. The last cars are known as Mark II Tigers, which number only 536 of the total 7,085 Tigers built. Their VIN numbers start with B382100**X. Mark II cars came stock with 289 c.i. V8s, all the revisions of the Mark IAs, plus a new eggcrate grill. The chrome side trim and Tiger emblem were removed, replaced by stainless steel fenderwell molding. Mark II Tigers cost another $5,000.00 beyond Mark IA prices, but may go for even more, as they were the most refined, featured the 289, and were built in the smallest numbers. Mark IA cars are seen as the favorite of many because of greater availability, and more refinement over the first series. Mark I cars were the most affordable, and the most available. Many people prefer the look of the hard metal convertible top cover and the appearance of the leaded body seams. These prices are expected to rise, considering how collectible Tigers are becoming in the marketplace.
I coulda' swore that they used the 221 in the "tigers"-----But, sounds like you win!! Here's an old COBRA catalog by AK Miller when he was Ford's performance guru.----------Enjoy!!----Don
Shelby gave me this catalog when I bought the 260 from him---------Don----Check out the old prices----Don't faint!!!!
My dad used to have a '64 260 in his Model A. It had a 271 horse 289 cam, 289 Hipo heads, Mallory dual point, and dual quads. The car was a full fendered driver hot rod, fastest it ran was 13 flat at 107 in the quarter in street trim with piecrust cheater slicks. It had a T10 4 speed behind it.
Two "prototype" tigers were built - one by Shelby's shop and one by Ken Miles (the automatic car). Shelby's tiger had some extra engineering, motor set back and braces. The Miles car just had the motor/auto trans tossed in. this is as I remember all the history - once had a Tiger myself. As I remember, both motors were 260 inch and all production were 260. I do know the MkII were all 289 motors. this is the best I can contribute. cheers,
When I was picking up my new Comet in fall of 71' I saw a Sunbeam Tiger in the storage area, someone had traded it in..I told a friend of mine and he went and bought it [through a dealer he knew] for some wheres around $1400..
Pete Lovely (Car dealer and Ferrari racer of wide renown) and Peter Bains(sp) built a small Lotus 7 (think Caterham) looking 2seater with a 260 in it. This was right after Shelby's roadsters had gained such prominence on the circuits. The only LBM (Lovely Bains Motors) car I've seen was in their showroom down on Lake Washington Blvd at Leschi Yacht Basin. Dunno whatever happened to it, but it was just flat out neat looking. We put a 62 221 3spd into a 49 Ford tudor sedan - nobody could tell the difference. dj
I had a pal in High School that ran a 260 in a baby Merc. It ran great and we drove our cars 200 miles round trip to the strip almost every weekend and I don't ever remember him having any problems. I remember it really came alive when slipped a toploader in behind it and played with the gears in back.
Anyone have pictures of the Ford Indy prototypes from the early '60's??? Please post'em if you got'em.. Thanks guys!
A Bay Area Rdstrs member replaced the Buick Nail in his '29 R/PU with a 289. Poor performance, ran like a stock flathead. Anderson turbocharged it, and after the dreaded turbo lag, it exhibited some promise. Owner then installed a set of Shelby American Weber 48 IDAs, and the thing was just flat. (felt like it had around 7:1 compression ratio, and shrouded intake port gaskets!) C4 automatic didn't help much, either...but I never could get over what a slug that thing was.
Daddy Don...the Cobra Catalog is fantastic. Any thing you can tell us about your meeting with Carroll?
I had a 255 dog in a Capri and if I remember, 255 heads are all that will fit because of the small bore. I put 3.73 gears and trac-loc with 5 lug axels in it and it helped on take off but gas milage went to hell.
OK,-----When starting to build my '32 roadster in 1962,living in Torrance,Ca., everyone was stuffing SBC in their cars, & I wanted to be different, after reading about Shelby's huge success with the 260 Cobra in all the racing circuits,I more less decided to go for that SBF motor. A friend of mine was working at LAX in the transporting autos division & was responsible for shipping Cobras out to various international scheduled races. after work one night, he called me (knowing my desire to locate a 260), he told me to grab the check book & get on down to Shelby's in Venice,Ca.(at that time),They had just pulled the 260 motors out of 5 Cobras & were installing the new 289 ones direct from Ford, & when finished,shipping them out to race at various points. Arriving next day at Shelby's, there were 5, 260's laying on wood crates to be sold first come, as i looked them over, shop foreman said"take your pick" he said that they were all good condition---Some with more miles than others--But all good! Being like a horse buyer, I checked the front of each motor (for residue,etc.) & finally selected one. All 5, 260's were striped of external equipt.such as intake man.& 4bbl carb.--distributor--coil--water pump--fuel pump--oil sender--altenator. But still having the aluminum 4 spd.trans housing intact. Four guys lifted the motor onto my pickup, & I wrote a check for $350.00 for a "long block" 260 Cobra motor. As I was leaving, the foreman took a cast iron man.& 4bbl carb.from a pallet full of them, handed it to me & said"Here you'll need this"!!---And then giving me the AK MILLER catalog too! Upon returning home, I used a magnet to go all over the intake "valley"area, making sure there were no extra bolts, nuts,etc. Removing the 4spd aluminum housing & clutch ***y. I noticed quickly the silver lettering on the disc were still visible, indicating the motor was next to NEW!! AND THATS THE TRUTH-----------Don
My auto teacher in HS was once offered a GT40 from a Ford engineer. It was in the late 70's, Ford was cleaning house. The price was something we'd now look at as ridiculous (5K or so at the time) and he had just bought a new Trans Am... the GT40 needed to be wired or something stupid too. Man, talk about kicking yourself... JK
Thank you Don, for sharing your information. I'm rebuilding A 31 Coupe with '64 260, C4 and 8". In my roadster seen on avatar I still run A banger motors, I have one near stock and one OHV conversion.
Good luck in getting it all together!---Since you are running a C4 trans. you won't get as good milege as I do with my T-10 4 spd.----But thats all personal preference, if I run under 70mph, I can get 25 MPG all day long!----But when cruzing at 75, it goes down to 22MPG & I generaly do run 75.-----------Don
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