Posts by Dan Case

    +1 agree with Fred.

    Just a 4V intake. The casting date would suit any 289 4V induction engines assembled in Cleveland between about three to five weeks after the casting date.

    There were 1962-63 cast iron 4V intake manifolds used only in special high performance engine before 1964 model year engines started being produced in August 1964.

    Experimental High Performance 260 (literally hand made components by Ford engineering), only 15 engines made. A few went into Cobras.

    High Performance 260 engines (called "semi-production" in a Ford internal memo, only 185 engine made with several different iron 4V intake manifolds. A small number of them went into new Cobras.

    1963 Experimental High Performance 289 engines, at least 11 engines were made and perhaps more. At least two went into new Cobras and perhaps more.

    Late 1963 production High Performance 289 engine, about 1,550 engines made and shipped from Cleveland before production of them stopped in June 1963.

    The castings known:

    XHP-260: SK 12569 w/provision for road draft system. (a 1962 model type casting)


    HP260: no identification w/provision for road draft system. (a 1963 model type casting)


    HP260: C2O 9425-K / XE 106391 w/provision for road draft system. (a 1963 model type casting)


    HP260: XE-106394 w/provision for road draft system, one that is believed to have been used in a Cobra still exists and I am told a second one from some other car still exists. (Remember Shelby American was not the only user of HP260 engines in new cars.) (a 1963 model type casting)


    HP260: C2OE-9425-K w/provision for road draft system (none have been confirmed on a Cobra so far). (a 1963 model type casting)

    HP289: C3OE-9425-E w/provision for road draft or 1963 PCV system. Ford wise mid-1963 model or 1963½ model year. The only production 4V cast iron intake manifold made exclusively for 1963½ or any other model year HP289 engines.

    Based on Bob Mannel's book online, it might be, see page 5C2 5-17.


    Depending on when the engine was manufactured. The key date for most engine components to be compared against is the engine assembly date. Engines were manufactured before the cars, often on the order of two weeks or more before the vehicles they went into.


    In my notes, the closest intake manifold raw casting date and engine assembly date that I have recorded is 11 days between the raw casting of the intake manifold and the engine assembly date the intake manifold assembly was installed in. About three weeks is a more typical span.


    In your case, assuming the engine is the car’s original, find the engine assembly date. It was stamped on a small pad in front of the left hand cylinder head. I the event your cylinder block had its decks milled (a common thing to have happened) during a rebuild, the machinist probably cut off the engine assembly date. In that case the cylinder block assembly date should be stamped on the oil pan rail; which requires removing the oil pan and gasket to gain access to. Sometimes the engine assembly date was the same as the cylinder block assembly date. Engine assembly dates a day or so later than cylinder block assembly date are common.

    This the first Ford numbered version C3RA-A. This version is also very rare in great usable condition.

    This is item predates the Ford numbered castings. These were made with racing Cobras in mind starting in mid-1963. This is the second of two versions Shelby American is known to have used in Cobras which had no Ford part number on them.

    This would be period correct for any 260/289 Ford engine powered manual transmission race car whose owner bought parts directly from Shelby American late 1963-64.

    Multiple Ford numbered versions came out subsequently.

    I have a slide show available in *.pdf format covering the five bolt safety housings.

    I can answer most questions and help with pictures but it will have to be through email and not little text boxes here.

    Not long ago I did a research project of the C6ZF-C and C6ZF-F models. I have a detailed database I still add information to.

    You may get your email address to me through this site. Click on my user name and then put a comment in the "Wall" section.

    Here is an Ebay auction for a rebuilt C4OF-AL Hipo carburetor by Ebay member "GOTTA FISH CARBURETORS" with a starting bid of $5,250.00 and a Buy-It-Now of $6,825.00 or make:

    Tag Dated = Carburetor Assembly Date = (4DD) = 1964 April, 4th week.

    1964 65 Hipo 289 Shelby Ford Mustang Comet Autolite 4100 1.12 C4OF-AL Carburetor | eBay

    -Fred-

    The assembly tag is inconsistent with any known original C4OF-AL assembly tag, the Design Level B came later in 1964 and the 4DD date is earlier than any known original date.

    The five bolt design safety steel bell housings marked COBRA were painted a couple of different colors of silver depending on time period. Painting was done to the exterior only before any machine work was done to the castings. There was not a single casting version but a family for them started by Shelby American in 1963 for their racing Cobras and carried on by Ford Motor Company as over the counter accessories for several years.

    The first two versions were created for Shelby American and have no Ford engineering number on them. The four other COBRA versions had Ford numbers on them. The maker also produced them under their own brand name and there was a version for Sunbeam Tigers. Dearborn Steel Tubing Company individually packaged parts for Ford and shipped them as required. Boxes with new old stock parts inside had a shipping label on them from Dearborn Steel Tubing Company but that is not who made them. Cyclone Automotive Products used the brand name WEDGE for the 289-J-1 version they offered for 221/260/289 five bolt Ford engines. Cyclone Automotive products also made the six bolt 289/302 COBRA part under number 289-J, the 427 Cobra "COBRA" lettered part, a two piece version, and a two piece version for Mickey Thompson marked "WEDGE M/T" under number 289-J-2.

    Ford 2V (2100-A series*) and 4V (4100-A series**) carburetors in the mid to late 1960s all had assembly tags with the engineering number, design level, and year-month-week of manufacture.

    Ignition distributors in new 1960s cars were die stamped on their main bodies with their engineering number and date code so had no identification tags.

    * There was a Ford Motor Company designed Holley® made 2V carburetor made for flat head Ford engines under as a 2100 Series model long before the Ford 2100-A Series. The two designs are very different in design appearance and parts. Some functional parts in 1960s Ford carburetors were ones that evolved from carburetors for flat head Fords decades before.

    ** As I know them and think I understand them, the 4100 Series was created by Ford to use instead of the Ford-Holley 4000 Series in the mid-1950s. The very first Ford 4100 models share features with some of the first Ford-Holley 4150/4160 carburetors, including removable brass plugs in the sides of fuel bowls to inspect fuel levels while the engines were idling. By the 1960s the 4100-A Series had evolved a lot with many subsystem design changes.

    Gathering detailed information for everything I can helps functional and appearance work. This is a C4OF-9510-AT carburetor for June-July 1964 Fairlanes, 1965 Fairlanes, and 1965 Cobras with 289 High Performance engines made to use with automatic transmissions. I cleaned parts, obtained original pieces to replace missing one, and recreated the best I could the paint daubs and grease pencil inspection marks lost during cleaning. The air cleaner stud is a new old stock one the car owner sent me. (No hard media blasting or harsh chemicals were used to service this carburetor.)

    LH side.JPG

    Having data on what it was like originally helped in repairs and verified that details like economy valve channel jets had not been drilled out.

    In general, in many Ford 2100/4100-A models some parts changed over time and inspection markings changed over time. Main body and air horn castings were not all the same. Materials of construction of some parts changed. In some models, some calibrated air and fuel orifices changed over time (not main jets so far).


    The 1963-64 HP289 model I have studied the most was used for right at a 12 month period covering portions of two car model years and in that time several different versions were made including things like balance tube air jet sizes and economy valve channel fuel jet sizes. In one service replacement group the primary auxiliary booster assemblies were different.


    New old stock anything is usually self-evident. Where collected data comes in handy helping owners with a) a carburetor that has been remanufactured one to several times, b) carburetors that were owner modified decades ago, c) carburetors that were robbed of parts, or d) carburetors that have been assembled from whatever parts somebody was able locate.


    As a general statement, does not apply to every carburetor shop, remanufactures and some that claim to be restorers tend to scramble parts without much regard for how the carburetor in their care was made originally. Example: Using a 1965 model year design primary throttle shaft assembly to repair a 1963 model year carburetor.


    Not every owner cares about original details but some do and they appreciate having somebody to help evaluate what they have or might be planning on buying. Original parts, even common ones, in great condition can be hard to come up with and expensive to pay for. At times prepurchase home work and saves lots of resources in the long run.


    I started my C6ZF-9510-C and C6ZF-9510-F units data collection to help friends with 1966 MUSTANG GT350s that original were fit with Ford 4100-A carburetors.


    To date, car owners, parts dealers, and one carburetor shop have helped the data collection process by providing in focus good to high resolution digital pictures of units they have in hand from many angles. I have not had anyone use precision pin gauges to measure balance tube, secondary vacuum passage bore, accelerator pump killer bleed, or economy valve channel fuel jets yet in the 1966-67 C6ZF-9510-C and C6ZF-9510-F models yet . I have done such measuring for C3OF-AJ and C4OF-AL models.

    A is your assembly design level 5HE is the assembly date code. Information I collected when I did my survey shown below in graphic form. I am interested in details. I collect information in a large spreadsheet on running changes of small parts and any step changes like between Level A and Level B.


    temp.jpg

    Lots of Ford 4100-A assemblies would bolt on. They will:


    1. not have the same air fuel ratio curves under all conditions as a factory HP289 specific assembly. Ford created different balance tube orifice sizes and different economy valve channel jet sizes as part of the customization for each application. Some of the auxiliary venturi assemblies for HP289 applications are very hard to come up with. Main jets are cheap and readily available.
    1. not have timing and opening rate of secondary throttle the same as a stock HP289 specific assembly unless somebody has already worked on the timing of events. Most 1.12 size units I have tested open the secondary way too soon and way too fast for even a hot rodded 289 c.i.d. engine. The timing can be changed but without some kind of test procedure each attempt would be a guess to go driving and test. A common complaint for any 289 c.i.d. engine with any 1.12 sized unit is the secondary working too soon and bogging the engine. That includes models that Ford installed some kind of flow control in that are now missing the part or parts, which is very common. I had one 1963 model with a pressed in 0.044” brass orifice, a small flow check ball, a copper-bronze compression spring, and a spring retainer pressed in. It was the slowest to open 1.12 sized unit I ever tested and Ford used them on two engines and one was a semi-production High Performance 260 engine. I had one and have seen one other.


    Ford 4100-A models can be tuned, requires parts changes sometimes or requires part modifications sometimes, to work on just about any engine between 260 c.i.d. and 428 c.i.d. and Ford did just that. That is why there are many pages of carburetor assemblies for different engine and vehicle applications. I no idea who commercially does complete conversions of every functional detail to HP289 specifications. Henry in Portland Oregon might be someone to ask what he can or will do.

    Before changing anything carburetor related, I would check the ignition system. Three owners of Ford performance cars suddenly had faltering engines and all three found problems with ignition points and condensers; two of them had points gaps too small and one had screws holding points not much more than finger tight.

    Otherwise problems with excessive wear in distributor bushings (plain bearings for the shaft), excessive gap between rotor tip and cap electrodes in some brands of caps and rotors, incorrect timing advance curve, cracked distributor caps, spark plug wire issues, and problem(s) the might prevent ignition timing advance have resulted in carburetors that were working well to be rebuilt needlessly or replaced.

    One situation that can happen with manual chokes is installing the cable without some slack after the plate is closed. If the cable is just barely getting the choke plate closed engine vibration, road shocks, or engine movement during acceleration can partially close the choke. If the engine is running great and suddenly falters during acceleration, push on the choke knob to verify that the choke has not partially closed.