289 REAR MAIN CAP CASTING NUMBERS

J_Speegle_old · January 10, 2008 at 12:23 AM

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J_Speegle

Assembly Date? I don't recall seeing one. I will double check this weekend. Would there be one if it was an over the counter purchase? You got my curiosity up. Darrell

If you purchased the block assembled as at least a short block then yes. If the block was sold as a bare block then no. Would be stamped on the little ear/extension, drivers side front edge or where the head would bolt on

C6ZZKGT · January 10, 2008 at 9:09 AM Official Post

Darrell, did this come with the cam sprocket, cam retainer plate and crank sprocket with the crank sprocket counterweight? A new short block from Ford would have had all of this including the chain. It would also have had the key in the crank which yours does not have although it could have been removed. A new crank by itself does not come with a key. It would also have the rear cam plug which is not in your block. New ford short blocks would generally not have cosmoline protectant on the block. I am unsure whether your block has cosmoline or not but it does look like it might. If you do not have the other sprockets and parts it is entirely possible that this was actually bought as all seperate pieces. That does not make it bad but might explain the discrepancy on the crank. Slightly unrelated to this but interesting is that Ford had a red tag sale for 5 bolt 289 Hipo short blocks in 1972 for around $250 as I recall as Ford was trying to clear out old inventory. They also had 427 Cammers on the same deal for around $1,800. I ordered a few of all of these at the time and so did a number of my friends. None of us know anyone that ever receieved any of these from that one time deal, though.

-Fred-

s2ms · January 10, 2008 at 10:14 AM

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...To date I have not heard of a documented unmolested 289 HiPo being taken apart and not having the polished spot on the rear counterweight. There can always be a first time, but I have not heard of it...<hr height=1 noshade id=quote></BLOCKQUOTE id=quote>

The original crank from my GT350 did not have a polished spot on the rear counterweight, at least I couldn't find one. The crank had to be turned after the engine blew during a race in 1973 so maybe the cleaning process at the machine shop made the spot somewhat hidden?

C6ZZKGT · January 10, 2008 at 10:49 AM Official Post

The polished area on the crank can not be hidden by any normal cleaning. It would need to be heavily bead blasted to even make it less obvious. Keep in mind that when polished the area, about 1/3 of the rear counterweights outer edge, almost looks chromed.

-Fred-

s2ms · January 10, 2008 at 1:36 PM

Yeah, I've seen a number of other HiPo cranks with the polish mark and agree it's usually pretty obvious. The crank did have some scoring from the engine blowup so possibly sections of it were bead blasted to smooth sharp edges or something?

65 2plus2_old · January 10, 2008 at 5:34 PM

Bob Thanks for posting the additional PICs. I appreciate it!

Fred I have most if not all of those additional parts. They were not attached to the block when I got it (The guy gave me two timing chains which are a little different from each other). The guy told me he took the engine apart and balanced it. You can see the additional weight put on the crank above the 1M mark. Also the pistons were balanced to make them all weigh the same.

I have no idea if cosmoline was put on the block. The block has been regularly maintained by using WD-40 to help keep surface rust from forming.

I bought this to put in my 65 2+2 which I got off of a friend of mine a number of years ago. The 2+2 was sitting in his garage since 1974. BUT his roof leaked and destroyed the hood and the front fenders and the cowl is heavily pitted. It is a C code and I have not yet been able to psych myself up to put this HIPO into it. No offense to those C code owners out there, but I struggle with my car not being worthy of this engine. Maybe I'll look for a K code to put it in. Another issue I have is once this is installed, it is no longer NOS. It should be in a museum somewhere! Darrell

C6ZZKGT · January 10, 2008 at 6:06 PM Official Post

Darrell, I would have a tough time using an NOS block in even a Hipo Kar right now. I have an NOS 65 Hipo head that I will most likely never use. I have several NOS Hipo carbs just because they are only NOS once so it seems better to just have a part that is now a benchmark for rebuilt units. It seems no worse to me than having a high end Kar that is only a trailer queen and never gets driven.

-Fred-

65 2plus2_old · January 10, 2008 at 10:30 PM

Fred

You are right. Even if I bought a K code, I still would have a problem putting a NOS block in it. BUT, don't get me wrong, it is a good problem to have <img src=images/icon_smile.gif border=0 align=middle> Darrell

65 2plus2_old · January 13, 2008 at 5:17 PM

J_Speegle

I looked at the block this weekend and did not see an assembly date on the engine. So by the looks of it, the parts must have been taken off the shelf, balanced and NEVER assembled. Interesting.

C6ZZKGT · January 13, 2008 at 8:05 PM Official Post

That really fits my thoughts on this engine, Darrell.

-Fred-

SaltLakeDj · November 1, 2009 at 9:35 PM

I just came across an engine with a set of 289 hipo main caps which has an unusual casting. I have never seen this before. A standard 289 Hipo main cap has the cast in number of ( C3O E-A ), yet this set of caps came off of a 5 bolt block date coded 4G16C casting number of C4AE-B. the engine has un-rebuilt 65 hipo heads dated 5H20, and 5H25. The unusual casting in the rear main cap reads ( A C30E- ) ( cap looks just like stock 289Hipo rear main cap ) also the 1 through 4 main caps look exactly like standard 289Hipo except the 4 in the casting of the fourth cap is backwards and it is polished like a hipo crank shaft with a stamping of N in the polished area. The engine also had service connecting rods ( football shaped head bolts ) and the crankshaft has no polished area on the rear lob. It has timing gear hatchet and gear with built in spacer.

This must be a service block or a rebuild of some kind or a mexican block.

Anyone run across this before? I don't have a digital camera to take pictures. and if I did I don't know how to import them on this site. Were there any ( A C30E- ) casting numbers in mexican caps without a date code. and did they even make Mexican blocks in 1965?

C6ZZKGT · November 2, 2009 at 12:22 AM Official Post

Possibly I am misunderstanding what you are trying to say but the C3OE-A casting number is the correct number for a Hipo rear main bearing cap.

-Fred-

SaltLakeDj · November 2, 2009 at 2:39 AM

Fred, If you were to look at a standard 289 hipo rear main cap if you read it right reading with the rope seal channel to the rear of the cap, the casting number would read on the left side C30 and on the right side it would read E-A. The caps I have read on the left side A and on the right side C30E-

Standard hipo rear cap C30 E-A

My hipo rear cap A C30E-

Have you seen a rear cap like this before? I will try to get a digital photo of this cap.

-Scott-

C6ZZKGT · April 29, 2010 at 7:10 AM Official Post

Here is a set of main caps on Ebay that have numbers that I have not seen before. They are similar to Mexican caps but the date codes are different. The rear main cap only has an "E" and a date code. The seller swears that they came off of a VIN stamped Hipo block. My guess would be that they are a later Mexican cap with a 1972 date code. I am certainly open for discussion on these. If somebody can post the pictures, it would be great.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/…K%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

-Fred-

BMaloof_old · April 29, 2010 at 11:20 PM

Those are just plain old mexican main caps. I have seen many of that style in the past years.

Belmont_old · April 30, 2010 at 2:12 AM

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