I am rebuilding a 289 motor.  It is my understanding that the stock block didnt have any lifter retaining clips, I hear alot of people machine the block to accept new guide plates and clips.  Is it necessary?  Its more of a daily driver then a racer, but i am upgrading to a matching edelbrock cam, lifters, heads intake carb, and magna flow exhaust Thanks!  

I think your talking about two different things there lethal. First off the 67 289 didnt need lifter retaining clips, I think your thinking about roller cams(on later engines) which would(on your engine) need retainers to hold the lifters. If your using a flat tappet cam(which is typical in your engine) dont worry about it because you will be using normal hydraulic lifters. As far as guide plates, those are on the head and used to keep the pushrods in place on a pushrod guided rocker arm. If your using the rockers that came on your 289 then those are rail type rockers and require no guide plates. For normal use your rail rockers are fine, but if your going to reuse the ones you have, keep them with the same pushrods and valve stems, dont mix them up because they seat into the adjoining parts. If you use all new then dont worry about it. If you plan to use roller type rockers then you will have to have your heads machined to utilize screw in studs(better with high valve spring loads) to hold the guide plates and rockers. Only in the case of a roller cam will it be necessary to install a lifter retaining spyder in your lifter well. Not too many people retrofit with a roller cam(because the late model blocks accept them) but it can be done. The roller cam has more radical lobes and can be a more aggresive cam to be sure. Doesnt sound to me like your doing that though. Ok?? good luck  

Hey Lethal,
The rail type heads have a round pushrod hole in them and the nonrail type heads have oval holes. Neither need a guide plate but the pushrods need to be hardened for the oval hole heads.  The guide plates were traditionaly used on the Hi-po version engine with screw-in studs (very rare).

Mech guy (or anyone else),  
a couple of questions:
I see a note in the catalogs about before and after L4 in 68-69 289/302 heads. What's the L4 Mean?
Do you know when did Ford stopped making the SB rail heads? (my 66 thermactor heads are rocker type)
JLG  

Sorry, This is my first rebuild, so i have to work on my terminology.  The heads im using are edelbrock, with roller rockers.  My question is with the lifter well, not the heads,  im using a Hydraulic Flat Tappet cam, Advertised Duration 270/ 280, Lift .448/ .472. i was wondering if i needed the spider retainer, and retainer clips for this combination. On the mustang monthly website i found an article "Ford 289 Short-Block Buildup Part 1 - Project '66 Engine Build".  They are using a more radical flat tappet cam, but they are also using retaing clips (what i ment when i said guide plates) and a spider reatiner.  Is this something i have to do, or will i be ok without it since my cam is mild?  

Well lethal the build up for the smallblock was a roller cam. When retrofitting an older block you can use a roller cam but the lifter bores are not long enough to support the roller lifter so the use a lifter spider to make sure they dont come out of the lifter bores. With a normal hydraulic cam you will have no problem. Sometimes they refer to dogbones between the roller lifters as lifter retainers. But even with a radical cam(flat tappet) no need to use any kind of retainer that I am aware of.
JLG
Ford built pushrod guided rockers arms (with the small holes) thru April of 66 and starting in May changed over to the rail type rockers. Those didnt require hardened pushrods and lasted until 1970 when Ford changed over to a positive stop type stud.
I am not aware of what the L4 means,,,about that time of course was the last of the 289 blocks and changed to 302, but the heads remained the same with the exception of a 302 4V head which isnt much different but has slightly smaller chamber size. Almost all the heads are interchangeable but you have to choose the right rocker combo.  

Thanks- i appreciate the help