[RJL]

I have a set of 1968 HiPo heads on my mustang. I am thinking about taking them off and putting on some Roush 200 heads. The HiPo heads have Crane stamped on them and some numbers. I called crane and they said they did some heads in the mid to late 60's from there catalogue and for Shelby. The intake on this engine is a early Cobra intake that is matched to the heads. The heads are a real work of art. They have 2.02 and 1.6 valves and are ported and polished extensively with round exhaust ports. Does anyone know anything about these heads. Crane cams said I was only the second person ever to inquire about these type of heads. Could anyone put a value on them?

[Max Keith]

It would be hard to put a price on those heads, since, basically what that amounts to is that you have a set of heads that have been modified. Were they origional Hi-Po heads, they would be worth a lot more. For more definate data on that, I would contact a Shelby or Cobra enthusiast club. Since those people are into the collecting and using rarer parts or parts that are period examples, (more a case of bragging rights) you may well be able to get more information on the heads, as well as a better price than you will from the average motorhead. Dont get me wrong, theres nothing wrong with your Crane heads. In their time, they were probably the hottest thing out there, since Crane did vertually all of Fords Cam and Head R&D in the 60's.

For your 289, I would recommend going with the Roush 180 head in lieu of the 200's. The small displacement of your 289, doesnt justify the need for the larger runner size, especially if you are doing a lot of street driving with it. Too large of runner size can be as detrimental to engine operation as a large single plenum intake when it comes to your lower end performance. You will gain a lot more on lower and mid range power than you will lose on the top end by going with the 180's.

[paulo]

Does anyone remember when Crower built OHC adaptors for 289s? Wild!

[red65mustang]

very rare heads and manifold

very probably off of a SCCA Cobra or Shelby "R" GT350 and ? last ones made (what are the casting #'s,)

contact The Shelby Registry thru their site first

then I would contact Tony Branda Shelby and Mustangs 800-458-3477, cobranda.com in Altoona PA

somebody with a "vintage racer" Shelby or true Cobra will pay mucho denero
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Max, bet you those are a set of Shelby 305hp racing heads and port matched intake!!!!!

I'm cryin' ............

[Max Keith]

Crying here too. Those would look good on my 93 Roller 302 Short block ( inherited from son when he had a 347 stroker built for his 93 stang). As I mentioned earlier, to the right person, worth a fortune. To the average motorhead, they are just another set of worked over factory heads.
Didnt notice the intake part of that. Guess Im getting old and my eyes done work so well.

I do remember seeing pix of the OHC heads, with a very convoluted chain drive setup.

Now if I could only move a couple of my rare intakes.

[RJL]

The engine is in my 66 mustang GT
specs are:
.40 over KB .200 pop top pistons
solid cam 240@.50 512 lift
Holly 650 HP
HiPo heads
Cobra hi rise intake

It makes close to 400hp with matching torque. The casting # on the heads are C8ZE-B. I have called Branda in the past when i first got the car and they didn't know anything about the heads. The only person that knew about the heads was Lary Wallace at Holman Moody. He remembers rebuilding this engine in the early 80's and gave me the cam specs but he did not know where the heads origionally came from.

[Max Keith]

You cant get much better than Holman Moody.

[red65mustang]

tell us your kidding.......this is a good joke right? Shelby heads on a Holman Moody motor...

Now I suspect more they are Shelby "R" heads (vin R on a shelby car= race) because of the Holman Moody connection. Bet that H/M built the motor to begin with. The GT40's motors that won Lemann in 66 were the first Shelby/Holman Moody combo, from then on, shelby went to H/M for serious motors. By 68 the motor was maxed out (like yours) and in 69 they went to the Boss 302 to build higher HP/tq for SCCA

Anyway the casting# translates to: 1968 Mustang line, Engine part, Engineering Revision:B

1967 into 68 heads are a bear to interpet because it was the years they switched from the 289 to 302 and the rev#'s overlap

They are not a "hipo" head casting number(last was 67-1965#)

The early rev B= very last 289 probably(more rare!), 302/67 change starts at rev C. Doesn't matter since they were totally reworked.

Still suggest you contact the Shelby registry or Carrol Shelby direct.

Forget swapping heads , swap motors, keep researching the H/M motor, got any more #'s,the block # is above the starter motor.

[RJL]

The block is a 1965 origional to the car. Lary Wallace just remembers the heads on the engine when they rebuilt it in the early 80's. It is not a HiPo block so it is not a race block. What led me to first think that a high performance shop rebuilt it was that everything had been polished and there were squirter holes drilled in the rods. I have tried before to post pics of this before but my files were always too big so I gave up. But they are HiPo heads. The HP is also cast into them. I believe most of the modification was done when Travis Carter owned the car. I haven't had a chance to talk to him. I bought the car in rough condition and did the bodywork and paint myself. The engine and chasis was done by my students. I work in a juvenile justice prison. The only reason I was going to switch heads was that Kenny at KT engines had a set of Roush 200 for $500. I drive the Mustang 3 days a week so I thought if the heads were rare I should save them(but they run so damn well)

[red65mustang]

if you had replied it is a C8=68 block then it can't be a hipo motor.

pull the starter and see if it reads C5AE-E = hipo block

you can't tell absolutely if it is or is not a 65 hipo block without dropping the pan and checking for oversized main bearing caps, they were marked with orange paint but thats gone. Important part of a hp block is they were a thicker casting and the bearing caps and were a special cast from hi-nodular iron, super strong bottem end.
? get a 60's bearing cap off a junk 289/302 motor, drop the pan and compare, you can see the difference easy.

can't answer (yet) on the hp cast in the head....where's Max when ya need him!

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did some more checking, if they are hipo heads they should read 289hp cast between the bores.

2 more easy ways to tell if it is a hipo block, it will have a big 1" thick harmonic balancer, cast exhaust manifolds should look like a a series of "Y"s, not like a log

[RJL]

Its not a Hipo block as I have stated.I know the difference and have worked on both before. But they are HiPo heads I know how to identify them. C8 was in reference to the head and it displays all the correct casting identifiers. My original query was about the value being that Crane had done work on them with a matching Cobra intake. Also it is not a H/M motor, they just did a rebuild on it in the early 80'S.The reason I know this is I contacted them and the block had some stamped #'s on it which they identified but couldn't tell me about the heads. H/M did all the polishing, squirter holes, and balancing. Thanks for the interest.Now if somone could tell me how to post the large file pics I have of it and the car I would.

[mrhford]

wasn't that C8ze the casting # for "service replacement" part?
I read somewhere that even after production stopped on the Hipo eng, parts were cast for replacement / outside vendors.
Parts available for warranty repairs?
What is the actual casting date on the heads?
Henry

[red65mustang]

C=60's (D=70's, E=80's)
8=1968 (9=69,)
Z=mustang line (A= full sized Ford "O"=Fairlane)
E=engine part

factory warrentee on a hipo K code engine was 90 days,

last production hipo head casting # is C5.."A"..E, there are no "Z" production hipo heads listed for any year, only "O" and "A"

But, you could be right, it can be a service part because there is no C8ZE-any letter listed and they are stamped "HP".

There is a C8OE-F head, last 53cc head, 1.78/1.45 valves, used on a 4V 302 motor, maybe that was re-worked for a service part.

I'm still betting they have a road race history before they ended up on RJL's car. Hope the Shelby Registry can help.

[pmeisel]

Don't know if it applies to this head or not but it well could....

Because it is complicated to maintain a lot of tooling for service parts, which you don't run much of (3% to 10% of volume) --

Typical practice is to supersede as many parts as possible with a "most common" part that will interchange for service purposes.

It will be assigned a service part number, which usually isn't the number on the casting, but it could be... Often you can't find the service part number anywhere but on the service packaging because a large proportion of service parts are repackaged production parts. So the casting number is a clue but it often doesn't tell the whole tale.

[red65mustang]

makes sense, as a service part #

68'=last 289, last 53cc heads so use C8
Z=mustang, 99% of hipos were mustangs
Rev B= ? stamp HP on it for easier hipo identification

and the combo is a unique casting number for service hipo heads?

and probably the last run of hipo service parts, K code was not a car option after 67', the total number of all K codes built is small