Did you measure from the bottom of the pickup to the pan? This is the first thing you should have done. If you want a real nice oil pan, have one custom made by Armando. These things are a work of art. Forget using overpriced poser parts. I bought one and am very impressed.
http://www.geocities.com/motorcity/flats/1624/race.html . The website isn't much but do a search on this guy. Great product. Oil pans can make horsepower.
Great price. Wish they would offer it in a 2.25" pipe version for "performance" non stock type builds. Again, nice work.
It depends on your assembly as well. If you are running quality ARP replacement fasteners and light weight pistons, the rods should not be a problem. TRW pistons are heavy for example so that would add more strain on the rod bolts. But the short stroke and large bore 289 can rev high with out problems.
Quote from 289kfordquote:
Obviously, a good tune is important. The more gear you have the less lugging of the engine you will also have which helps.
wonderful, I just bought some 3.50's to replace the 4.56's.
Hmm, well you should run cooler with the 3.50's. 
Obviously, a good tune is important. The more gear you have the less lugging of the engine you will also have which helps. Make sure that your cooling system is doing its jobs. Engines that run hot are more likely to experience detonation. Modern performance aluminum cylinder heads run cooler and have a more efficient combustion chamber design which really help eliminate detonation. As well, cylinder heads that have been milled excessively, have in effect destroyed the design of the combustion chamber. This will also cause detonation.
But, make sure you are not experiencing pre-ignition. That is a different ball of wax. 
Rare and desirable are not always the same thing. Some colors might be rarer then others only for the reason that most people preferred another color. For example, red is not a rare color, but was and is desirable.
Looking closely, the car really isn't concourse correct, but often the modified cars go for top dollar.
No doubt he has put at least that much into restoring it, but the market will dictate if he sells it for that much. Again, some guy loaded with cash might just buy it up since it is ready to go.
You could spec a thicker head gasket. I went the opposite way with a thin .028" Detroit Gasket head gasket to get my compression to where I wanted it. You may find some as think as .053". Typically SBF head gaskets are around .040".
Here is another link.
This may be true with some OEM pistons, you really cannot generalize though. Some replacement pistons will have dual or single valve reliefs. Ring height and valve relief size are not the same from one piston company to another. On a street engine, small differences will not affect performance. When it becomes a really big deal is in sanctioned racing where there are limits in compression ratios. Just as an example, I had forged 4.040" flat top pistons from BRC, SRP and Diamond. Not only were the piston designs very different, they all spec'd slightly differently in all areas. Performance piston manufacturers really are not out to copy an OEM piston. At the very least, aftermarket performance pistons have much larger valve reliefs to account for the larger valve heads on the market.
Your compression should increase slightly with an overbore. Compression is determined by many factors such as bore, stroke, deck height, size of valve reliefs, ring height, combustion chamber, gasket thickness. Those are the basic ones to get you close. There are many calculators online to check this.
Nice. Is it the whole heat exchange unit or the smaller plenum?
I am surprised at what the car is fetching. The bid is too high for someone looking to restore a K code mustang. And someone looking for a gennie Shelby would not be looking at this car. My guess is that the winning bidder really doesn't care if it is a rebody or that he will take advantage of the discount and restore it to Shelby spec and sell it as a Shelby. Many owners don't have a problem with re-bodies as long as no one else is aware of it. This is why documentation (this includes the cars history) is so important when you spend the bucks on a collectable car.
To his credit he does mention early in the description that it is a rebody. Many SCCA cars are.
I am running the 3x2 setup from Pony Carbs on my 289. It uses a reproduction intake with modified Autolite 2100 carbs with 1.08" venturis. I am running this setup with my 289, Edelbrock RPM 1.90 (got a deal on these otherwise I would have purchased a second set of AFR 165s), Flowtech Induction solid lifter cam, Doug's 4-1 header and yada yada yada. The tripower kit comes with thick paper spacers which I replaced with aluminum spacers that I had machined down to .125" since the spacers included were not quite the same height. With the supplied air breather, there is contact at the front where the hood has the spot welded metal bracing. I machined down the bosses on the bottom of the cleaner so it just clears the top of the ignition wires on the top of the distributor. The factory distributor will work fine as does an MSD small diameter pro billet unit. Their wider version will not fit as it will hit the front carb. MSD also has outstanding online support on their forum. The lid that comes with the
kit also has the cast fins front to back. This adds another .125" to the height, and the fins could be machined down in the front for more space. Instead, I will use the 390/427 lid that does not have the fins running full length. Also, I am running polished Offenhauser valve covers and do not run the PCV valve from them. Instead, I use a tall early version screw in PCV which bolts to the back of the intake where the downdraft tube would go. The early tall PCV uses the narrower tube and I run that to the bottom of the air cleaner. There just isn't enought room for the wider 1/2" PCV and the screw in fitting for the automatic vacuum source. Also, for the center carb, you should purchase the hot air tube kit for the choke and run it back to the header. No electric or manual choke here. Hope this help none of this comes with the installation video.
Get the 58cc version of this head. The actual combustion chamber design is superior to that of the larger chambered head. Also, you do not need the emission head which is designed for an emissions 5.0L engine. The 58cc head is basically an out of the box race head that has its roots in NMRA Pure Street racing. This head makes more power then much larger port heads thanks to its high velocity ports. AFR constantly makes improvements to the design. These heads will really wake up that iron headed 289. Careful though, HP is addictive.
I agree on the AFR 165 heads. These are high velocity/small port heads that make a ton of power. I am running a set on my 1993 5.0. I had them upgraded at the factory with race valves, springs and titanium retainers. If performance and weight savings are what you want keep the original heads and manifold on the shelf. You can pick up a good Edelbrock F4B intake on Ebay or a newer Edelbrock RPM. A swap here would make a very noticeable gain. Again, those heads are amazing. If you have a rear wheel dyno available, do a before and after.
Check out item 370043391282 on Ebay. It may be what you are looking for.
I try and get nos as much as possible but only purchase the parts when they come up at reasonable prices. Too many guys are trying to get rich on their nos stuff. I have had good luck with MOST of the parts I have received from Scott Drake. Don't be surprised if certain parts come with the wrong thread size for bolts or screws. Often, drilling and tapping are necessary. If only they took more time to get the small stuff right.
I am running 3.89 gears, C4 trans and 3200 rpm stall converter. I don't take it on long trips, but is fine for the country rips and town cruises. If I had to make longer 400 mile trips etc. I would install a Gear Vendors unit before switching to an AOD or T5. I run a 4.30 gear in my street/strip 1993 5.0 coupe and no problem there thanks to the T5 overdrive. This car sees 8000 rpm on a pretty regular basis though.
