289 carb/intake upgrade question
 

Hi everyone,

I bought a 68 fastback with a 289 about a month ago and although there is a lot to be done on the car before upgrading the engine, I am having a hard time with the fact that my sky activ mazda 3 is putting it to shame, acceleration wise. Now, I totally understand that its normal for these engines to generate more noise than speed but it would be nice if I "felt" the acceleration a bit without cutting the gas mileage in half :). I was thinking about putting a bigger, better carb and intake since these are not very expensive parts but I have to be honest, I dont know much about the smart way to upgrade an old engine and I could use some advice.

My idea was to put a 4 barrel carb with 600cfm with a dual pane intake and I was wondering if that would make a noticeable difference on the power output.
Thanks for your time, anything will help at this point...even other upgrade ideas
:o)

Forty plus years of engineering and technology will do that. I'll bet your ricer doesn't sound as good as that 289 when you get on it though. lol hahaha Just busting chops dude, welcome to the site.

A 4 bbl alone will maybe add 25 hp. I expect you have a 2.80 rear gear ratio (3.00 at best) A rear gear change would make more seat of the pants increase in feel but the carb and intake will look better.

If it is an otherwise stock 289 2-bbl engine, I would say go with a 500 cfm 4-bbl Edelbrock carb and a Performer intake. Suggestion for gears is a good one too, but without an OD trans, anything steeper than 3.25 ratio gets pretty buzzy on the highway.


cheers
Ed

Hi guys, thx for the help. This is exactly what I needed to hear. I was actually looking at the Edlebrock peformer intake and carb on mustangs unlimited, so im glad to know I was heading in the right direction. I dont know the final ratio on my car but it is pretty buzzy on the highway, that I noticed he day I picked it up. I plan to eventually switch to a manual transmission so I think Ill leave the trany alone till then. :o) Again thank you for your input, gives me something to shop online for haha!