Wanted: 66 HiPo Heads

rwoerz_old · August 10, 2006 at 1:47 PM

I'm looking for a nice pair of matching 66 HiPo heads. I seem to recall that there were only a few casting dates and my car was built in mid 66 model run. Can anyone help me with what I should be looking for?

Edited by - rwoerz on 08/10/2006 13:49:06

s2ms · August 10, 2006 at 4:16 PM

What is your Shelby VIN?

rwoerz_old · August 10, 2006 at 4:33 PM

6S1844

s2ms · August 10, 2006 at 8:26 PM

Your car it quite close to mine, 6S1757. I've been able to determine from my Ford VIN that it came out of San Jose in late March 66 so I would guess yours was built within a day or two of mine. I still have the original heads, both are dated 6A31 so you can use that as a guide. Anywhere between mid Jan - early March should be safe. You could probably go even earlier, my original flywheel is dated Nov. 65.

RPM_old · August 11, 2006 at 2:07 PM

A standard within the restoration community any dates within a three month time frame is acceptable.It's nice if you can get the dates real close to the other motor parts as motors were usually assembled with a 3 day time frame to the dating stamps.

rwoerz_old · August 11, 2006 at 4:21 PM

Sorry to say but none of the orignal engine or trans came with the car. Can I tell the build date by the Ford VIN or the body parts?

rwoerz_old · August 11, 2006 at 4:27 PM

Sorry I didn't read all of the post before the las post I made. I would think the 6A31 date code would be close enough. Thanks for all the help now all I need is the heads! Anyone?

1175 · August 15, 2006 at 8:03 PM

A pair with those dates just sold on Ebay for $1625.

plain66k_old · October 15, 2006 at 10:05 PM

Hi, I just got a load of hp parts 2 sets of heads. one set? is dated 6a31/5L4 Any interest? located in N.J. and priced at $800. other set is 5L4/5L5 THANKS Bruce.

J_Speegle_old · October 20, 2006 at 12:41 AM

<BLOCKQUOTE id=quote>quote:<hr height=1 noshade id=quote>

Sorry to say but none of the orignal engine or trans came with the car. Can I tell the build date by the Ford VIN or the body parts?

Yes (but do not post it publically)

And do not go by another Shelby built around the same (Shelby number) as yours. Cars were delievered to LA from San Jose and from the parkign lot cars were taken to be converted to Shelbys. Since there was normally a supply there cars built close or far appart (sequentail Ford VINs) would have close or very far apart. Add on top of thie that cars completed at San Jose (and other plants) could have different VINS(not sequential) by as much as 3000 numbers.

Buying a complete motor (if you can find one) is much better in cost and in the fact that it can get very difficult to find casting dates for all the parts grouped as nice as original

Hope this helps

SixT5HiPo · October 20, 2006 at 1:15 PM

<BLOCKQUOTE id=quote>quote:<hr height=1 noshade id=quote>

It's nice if you can get the dates real close to the other motor parts as motors were usually assembled with a 3 day time frame to the dating stamps.

That would be most likely with regular 289's, but not necessarily with the HiPo engines. HiPo specific castings such as heads, distributors, exhaust manifolds, etc. were probably made in small batches on a less frequent basis. Remember, the total number of 289 High Performance engines manufactured represents a only small fraction of all 289 production. I suspect that there is a reduced pool of date codes to work from with regard to these castings.

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