When modifying a small block Ford for better performance one of the easiest and cheapest ways is a carburetor replacement. In my case the 289 was a healthy engine with good oil pressure and no knocking noises. The factory 2 barrel carb just didn't have the performance.

The first thing I did was rotate the engine until the timing mark on the harmonic balancer was on 0 degrees. BTDC with the distributor rotor pointing to the #1 plug position on the cap. This is to make it easier to install the distributor later. You can change the intake manifold without removing the distributor but it is difficult to keep the gaskets in place. After removing the distributor, the fuel line, throttle, linkage, choke heat tubes and PCV hose, the 12 bolts holding the intake are removed. The manifold had to be pried a little and then came off.

Newspaper is then laid in the lifter area. The gasket surfaces need to be scraped to bare metal and degreased with lacquer thinner.

I installed the gaskets using Permatex #2 non-hardening sealer. The manifold was a factory 4 barrel cast iron unit. Other good choices for street use are Edlebrock's Streetmaster and F4B. The Torker manifolds sacrifice a lot of low end torque to achieve high RPM horsepower and for that reason I do not recommend them for street use. Be sure to tighten the intake bolts in a criss cross pattern to avoid pushing the gaskets to one side. A new thermostat is a good idea also.

My favorite carburetor for this application is the Holley p/n 0-1850. It has a manual choke and comes jetted for a car with mild performance camshaft and headers. For my car with cast iron exhaust manifolds and single exhaust it was necessary to change the main jets to #62 from the #66 jets that were supplied. I also purchased the p/n 37-912 "trick kit". This is Holley's fine tuning kit for the 0-1850 600 CFM carburetor. From past experience I knew that the accelerator pump cam on the carburetor should be replaced with the white one from the trick kit. I also installed the smallest accelerator pump shooter. The one in the kit has brass extension nozzles which aim the fuel more toward the center of the carburetor bore. The smaller size decreases fuel volume during accelerator pump operation but increase pump shot duration. This eliminates bog when the secondary butterfly opens.

The trick kit also supplies float bowl anti-slosh tubes. These were designed for Ford during the late 1960's for their Trans Am cars. They prevent fuel from spilling into the float bowl vent during hard braking or cornering.

After installing the carburetor and hooking everything up including the distributor, fuel line and throttle linkage I got inside the car and operated the gas pedal to be sure it would return properly. The engine was started and the float level proved to be too high, causing fuel to overflow the vent tube. The engine was shut off and the float level adjusted down two turns from the factory setting. After starting the engine the bowl sight plugs were opened and the float level adjusted upward until the fuel was visible just below the hole.

Performance is now fantastic and should be even better after a good dual exhaust system is installed. Total cost was $225.00 including gaskets, not including the intake manifold.