Mike Ulrey has been restoring Ford distributors, Ford Holley carburetors, fuel pumps, and Top Loader four-speeds for the better part of 20 years and is well known in the hobby. We sent Mike a PerTronix, cap, rotor, and other small hardware from NPD. Our restored distributor showed up just in time for dyno-testing. Mike's distributors are curved for the engine specs and are completely rebushed, cleaned, painted, and ready to go.
When we showed up at A&S Motorsports for our dyno session, the 289 was already bolted to the dyno stand waiting for spark plugs, oil, and a restored distributor. John already had our restored and modified Autolite 4100 Pony carburetor in place (more on this when we detail our engine). After screwing on the filter and dropping 5 quarts of dinosaur juice in the 289, John primed the engine with a drill motor.
The Dyno Test
I've been involved in dozens of engine and chassis dyno tests over the years. But while I've seen my share of broken parts, dyno mishaps, and poor performance results, they've always been on someone else's engine. This is the first time I've been in the dyno room with my own engine bolted to the water brake. To say I was a bit nervous isn't far from the truth. Will it break? Will it be down on power? Will there be some gremlin that prevents us from making a full pull? All the dyno tests of the past flooded through my brain. Did we gap the plugs right? Did we get the right oil? Is the carburetor set right? I was starting to sweat.
With John doing the safety checks in the dyno room, his partner, Gil Alfaro, manned the controls on the other side of the glass. With a couple of pulls on the carb linkage by John, then a "thumbs-up," Gil lit the fuse and, after two quick pops through the carburetor, the 289 barked its presence to the world. While the 289 was breaking in and warming up, John checked and set the timing, and made sure everything was good to go for our power pulls.
The first test went to 6,000 rpm. It resulted in some dismal numbers due to miscommunication about the amount of advance in our new distributor. After setting the initial timing to give us a true total advance of 36 degrees, the little 289 really woke up. Our second and third pulls netted 278 hp at just over 6,000 rpm with a nice, flat torque band from 3,200 through 5,800 rpm. We wanted to break the Hi-Po power number (271 hp), and we did. Sure, it would be nice to make more power, but realizing this is a show vehicle (that's also quite light), this nearly 300hp 289 will surely make our hardtop scoot.
Using a digital weather station, John plugged the current weather conditions and other information into the dyno computer so we'd have accurate corrected numbers. | 
With the engine at operating temperature and everything looking good, John brought the engine up to speed against the dyno's water brake and made a power pull. A few moments after shutting off the engine, the dyno computer started printing the results. Here, John and Gil anxiously await the first dyno numbers. | 
As soon as the 289 came to life and reached operating temperature, John set the timing to the specs provided by Mike Ulrey for our distributor. |
8 Our Power Heads' CNC-modified 289 castings (see "Pentium Porting" sidebar) were set into place over the block dowels, and new Ford cylinder-head bolts were used to secure the heads. John used a light coat of oil on the threads and under the bolt heads to get accurate torque readings. | 
9 After torquing the cylinder heads in place, John used the torque wrench on the 3/8-inch rocker studs to make sure they were tightened properly. He's seen cylinder heads with the studs installed only "snugly," and checks them all when they arrive. | 
10 With the Power Heads cylinder heads bolted on top of the 289, it was time to finish off the valvetrain. Comp Cams supplied the matching pushrods and rocker arms for the cam and lifter kit we installed while building the short-block. John insisted on using Comp's Polylocks instead of the originally supplied jamb nut. He prefers Polylocks and uses them on any engine that gets an adjustable valvetrain. |