I appreciate the help, and the passion.
Having been a car nut for 50+ years, and having had many zany as well as cherry vehicles, my first desire would be a late 80s 5.0 Lincoln 302 with the mustang top end like my two Town Cars. I know that means different tranny down the line, all more $$$. I’m at a different point in life and this is a way way budget project. I’ve got the money, that’s not an issue, but this truck isn’t where I’d spend it.
first, I think the rest of the running gear is ok, but I really don’t know. I have no need for a black hole no matter how cool it seams. Second, if I was going to do a cool project, many other options ahead of this. This just fell in my lap. I have done some exotic swaps when I was younger (283 in a chevy luv truck, and a 400 small block in a Datsun 260z) but I’m at a different time in my life. This is a fun little bug to play with, and all my other wheels are big gas (or diesel) hogs. So, with everyone’s advice (appreciated) I’ll have my guy pull the heads on mine, see how bad it is, ang go from there.
to give you an idea of my expectations, if I can’t find a lower mileage used 2.9, & if the heads are ok, I’ll probably get a short block, get it running, and then see how the rest of the running gear is. If it’s good, I’ll spring for a deluxe bottom-end MAACO paint job (no more Earl Sheib in Atl), and if it’s so-so, I’ll get a $20 can of rustoleum and a couple paint brushes from the dollar store. Better than a rat rod, but not by much....
I’ll keep you posted when my new-dad mechanic comes back to work. I’m pretty sure it’ll be a used 2.9 or short block, and then go from there....
Keep it stoc, shove a fresh cam and good lifters in it, flush the oil, run something with racing in the name has enough ZDDP in it to keep cam alive. Low zddp oil kills.
Have your guy thoroughly check your coolant passages with a long metal rod. Every 2.9 block of mine has had casting sand left behind pistons 3 and 6. If I had to guess, it's why they blew heads.
Ii got mine out with soda blast and electrolysis. It's covered in my 1988 build thread. Cheap and easy stuff. I pulled casting flash 1/2 around out of mine as well. And it ran dependibly for 32 years and 285,000 miles like that, and did NOT detonate a set of heads.
Good little motors. When fresh, will impress due to how light the chassis is.
Consider zerex, Motorcraft thermostat and cap, high flow if you're feeling frisky, and flush and backflush the crap out of the heater core and rad.
Catch can is a must. They like clean conditions. Crc gdi and turbo cleaner is good stuff. They took the good stuff out of peefoam. Doesn't do crap.
30 year old sensors get feeble. Do your homework and don't be afraid to ask for brand recommendations, most of us have been through them all and know what does and doesn't work.
I usually recommend a set of reman injectors. Link in said sticky to good cheap mom and pop. Merkur injectors are Bosch 4 hole in 1989iirc. Put a little more pep into it with atomization alone. Your call, but 30 years of ethanol plays hell.
Autos apparently make them a bit sluggish. Don't know. Haven't found one in PA that still works.
Tons of performance stuff if you follow the rabbit hole. There's a sticky with some of the sites I used for research in the 2.9 form. Kuntz Korner in the tech section. Did em all. Would recommend.
There's a ton of history in those engines. A few very successful performance companies (westlake, turbotechnics) were built on cologne 2.6/2.9. When kershaw built the Minker out of the 2.9 Sierra, he made them gods in their era. They would outrun the Lamborghini countach on the quarter; outcome on a track was driver dependent.
Sierra was the legacy for Cortina r/s 2600. They got it right.
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