Rebuilding a '62 260

Tauber

Junior Member
greetings ford barn!

i was hoping to get your thoughts on rebuilding the '62 260 i have in a 1950 F1. What are the major things to be done in a rebuild? I have a solid carburetor and i just replaced my timing gears and chain but the old girl id still runnin a little rough. is it possible to get it running smooth as a top and about what would it cost? Any info would be greatly appreciated.

Tauber. . .
 
Check idle vacuum and report back. Also try adjusting idle mixture to see if you have a positive change and replace or regap points, check/clean inside terminals of cap and regap, check or replace spark plugs. There's more, but let's just start with these.
 
A compression check should follow what Sweatdreams suggests. Those motors are known for valve and guide problems when the get some miles on them.
 
I changed my points and gapped them to .015 as per the manual and i also replaced the condencer and coil. Next will be to replace the plugs. How do i check the vacuum? This is my first go around with mechanics.
 
back in the fall of 72 i bored one of these to 4 inches making it a 289.i doubt if everyone would go that far but i ofteh wondered why they didnt make say.125 over for them.guess there wasnt enough interest in these engines.most only went 50.000
 
darrell, going from a 3.8" bore to 4" (.200) seems like pushing to the limit. How did you keep it cool. I have sleeved many 289's and have hit water in a few instances, maybe a 260 and 289 used the same core so there was enough material
 
My 63 260 doesn't really have any port to check vacuum except the big one that goes to the pvc so you would have to tap into that somehow.
 
That may be what you have to do. A vacuum gauge is to a good mechanic what a stethescope is to a doctor. You can tell alot by that vacuum gauge. Bad rings, intake valves, etc. The old shop manuals used to show the readings on the gauge and what they meant for diagnosis.
 
their was no cooling problem.i dont know if they use the same casting but i doubt it.most people i tell this to dont believe it.i was taking a mechanics course in 72 ans we rebuilt engines for the cost of parts.it was one of those enter at your own risk deals.in came a 65 fairlane 289 and it needed a block and we couldnt find one which lead to the 260.i was 22 years old and in posession of a boring bar and what a great time i was having i bored for 2 evenings and had a shovel full of shavings.our instructer came around with a wrench and tapped the walls to see if they would fall in.real hi teck stuff.we used all the 289 parts and kept track of it for 2 years.no problems.one thing we did run into was the block was a 63 and when we went to bolt on the bell no go.we then got a 5 bolt bell and it used the old bolt pattern we though we were done until we saw the exter 4 bolt holes in the 3 speed.our instructer was a ww11 tank mechanic and i never forgot him.long gone.
 
their was no cooling problem.i dont know if they use the same casting but i doubt it.most people i tell this to dont believe it.i was taking a mechanics course in 72 ans we rebuilt engines for the cost of parts.it was one of those enter at your own risk deals.in came a 65 fairlane 289 and it needed a block and we couldnt find one which lead to the 260.i was 22 years old and in posession of a boring bar and what a great time i was having i bored for 2 evenings and had a shovel full of shavings.our instructer came around with a wrench and tapped the walls to see if they would fall in.real hi teck stuff.we used all the 289 parts and kept track of it for 2 years.no problems.one thing we did run into was the block was a 63 and when we went to bolt on the bell no go.we then got a 5 bolt bell and it used the old bolt pattern we though we were done until we saw the exter 4 bolt holes in the 3 speed.our instructer was a ww11 tank mechanic and i never forgot him.long gone.

Great Story, Thanks :)
 
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