This may just muddy the waters, but I knew I'd read something similar.  You might check out this post on Ford Muscle Forums.  It's in the Galaxie section and is by the moderator "ShotRod64" (Deb).  This is for a 390, so that's why I give the warning.  But she had been trying for years to find a working starter and had gone through 6 or so.  Finally found one that worked and was quiet and traced it to a different shape nose cone.  The post is kind of long but there is a picture, second from the bottom, showing two starters side by side.  The one on the left worked for her, and the difference is that one has kind of a big bevel or scooped area forward (toward the front of the engine), below the gear compared to one that didn't work.

A guy at a starter rebuild place was the one that finally tipped her to the scooped out nose cone.

Anyway, if you can find pictures of 289 HIPO starters, you might focus on any differences with the nose cone forward of the gear.  And if you've got any honest-to-god electric shops around you that rebuild themselves vs send out (we have exactly 1 that I know of in Indy), you might ask there and have better luck than at NAPA.

Good luck,

Pat

https://www.fordmuscleforums.com/threads/shock-conversion-and-starter-success-at-last-updated.599442/page-2?post_id=1629619141#post-1629619141

Where I live, only the back plate is used or issued, so the police don't look at or care about the front space and you can do what you want with it.  No plate, old plate, "World's Greatest Grandma" plate, dead possum, etc. makes no difference.

Pat

Re. PCV, if you have the usual setup with it in a valve cover (mine is the old style at the back of the intake), an easy test would be when you come to a hill like this, stop and pull the valve out of the cover but keep it plugged into the hose, just hanging free.  Then go down the hills and see if it is smoking less.  Could be oil mist sucked in through the valve because of a missing or bad baffle in the valve cover or excessive oil mist.

Sure, it might be guides, seals, intake or a combination.  But I like free and easy tests.   

Pat

I would take the plugs out and use an oil can to put about 1-2 tablespoons of Marvel Mystery Oil down each cylinder and crank over by hand.  If it feels okay, I'd put the plugs back in and hook up the wires.  Make sure the battery is good - maybe even hook up jumper cables to a nearby car if it's convenient.

But the main thing (for me) would be trying to get as much of the old gas out as I could.  Not sure of the best way of getting it out of the lines and pump, but at minimum pull a lower screw on each float bowl to drain out any that's in there.  Easier if you just have one carb.    Might want to consider rebuilding the carb(s).  Then put some fresh gas in each bowl through the vent for an easier start.  I found a clear ketchup-type squeeze bottle at Harbor Freight, I think, that I keep a small amount of gas in for this purpose.

After it's been driven a few miles or so to make sure all the old gas is gone, I'd change the fuel filter just in case.

Pat

These show as in stock from Offy but 200 bucks.  Don't know if the center rib would cause problems or not.

Pat

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/ofy-5832

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTT3b-Jns9w

 

The first time I watched this and saw it was blurred out, I thought it was two cops loading up a dead body they found, to take to the morgue.  I thought, "Ugh, this is kind of dark.  Why would Heo post this?"

Pat

Probably the starter given the bearings falling out but in the meantime I'd be verifying I could turn the engine over by hand, either with a socket on the crank or just by turning the fan and holding the belt tight.  If not, pull the plugs and try again in case hydrolocked.

Pat

Don't the bushings just limit total advance?  So if you switched bushings, I think it would still be 3 degrees advanced at idle but have less total mechanical timing.  I agree - just set the initial back to where you had it.

Pat