Gene,
A little Boss 302 history for the record:
By Bob Hagin
pacheco news service
NASCAR, with its Grand National (later Winston Cup) circuit, provided a
venue for the muscle cars to show their stuff, but the proving grounds for
the smaller pony car was the SCCA Trans Am series that was eventually
limited to American sports sedans such as the Chevrolet Camaro, the Dodge
Challenger, the AMC Javelin, the Pontiac Trans Am (albeit in Canadian form),
the Plymouth Barracuda and the Mercury Cougar.
As the competition heated up, Ford came under increased pressure to field
a car that would match the Z28 Chevrolet Camaro and the awesome AMC Javelin
team of the Penske juggernaut on the Trans Am road racing circuits. Its
response was the Boss 302.
The Boss 302 was a performance "image" machine that made a visual
statement about its owner. It would have been just as fast and just as
nimble had it been painted gray, but making a statement needed visual
impact. Ford stylist and General Motors expatriate Larry Shinoda adorned it
with swooping stripes and graphics that virtually said "don't mess with me."
It's 302-cubic-inch engine fit just under the 5.0-liter engine displacement
limit for international racing and was endemic to the Mustang Boss 302. No
other Ford ever used it. The blocks were specially selected and modified for
racing. The cylinder heads were similar to those on the Ford Cleveland
engine as used in the De Tomaso Pantera. The intake and exhaust systems were
upgraded for performance, and its 290 horses gave the 3,200-pound Boss 302
spectacular performance. The engine was backed up by a close-ratio
four-speed transmission and enough other performance items to make the Boss
302 nearly race-ready.
The name itself was a sign of the times. Among other meaning, in the
'60s, "boss" was jargon for "good" or "the best," and that's the image Ford
wanted to forge for the car. Just fewer than 8,000 Boss 302s were produced
during its two-year life span, and most of them were made during 1970, its
final model year.
The car was designed to be a winner in the SCCA Trans Am road racing
series, and it fulfilled that objective. In 1969, its first year of
competition, it was easily a match for the front-running Sunoco Camaro of
Mark Donohue, driving for the Penske team. Indianapolis 500 winner Rufus P.
"Parnelli" Jones won only two of the events but nonetheless finished second
in the Trans Am points standings at the end of the year.
The following year, the Ford team got its revenge, winning six times with
five second-place finishes and four third-place finishes between lead driver
Jones and teammate George Follmer. Jones won the driver's championship over
Donohue by a single point.
-----Original Message-----
From: Gene [mailto:tigeriowa@yahoo.com]
Sent: Monday, October 29, 2001 8:08 PM
To: tiger list tiger list
Subject: Clarification on Boss 302 in Tiger Question.
First of all, thanks to all of you who responded to
the inquiry. I really appreciate the benefit of your
experience and recollections.
As Lilly Thomlin once said, "I always wanted to be
somebody ... I should have been more specific".
In retrospect, I should have been more specific in
proposing my original question.
I have sitting on an engine stand in the garage a High
Performance 289 that I built a couple years ago. I
had installed it in a '64 Falcon 2d ht with automatic
and 456 gears. It was a cruiser (short cruises) and
ran the high 12s in the quarter mile. It is a Mexican
302 block, has ported early 351 W heads w larger
valves, pop up pistons and LeMans solid cam, Hipo
rods, yadda yadda yadda. I believe the little bugger
cranks out a good 375 hp or more. It's compression
ratio is about 11:1. It would almost be a drop in ...
in the Tiger. And I don't think it would have much
trouble turning tires on the Tiger. But I would need
to blend a little 110 octane race fuel with every tank
fill. (It is available here).
I'm not one of these guys that can leave well enough
alone. There are a couple of us our here (and you
know who you are)! I'm a casual collector of Ford
performance parts and am always dreaming of that next
performance engine that I could put together from the
parts I have squirreled away.
I have another standard bore Mexican 302 block just
sitting in the garage gathering dust. I also have a
set of NOS Motorsport C302b aluminum heads that have
been ported by Robert Yates! The heads were custom
ported for a 326 TransAm motor but never made it to
the track. Of note is they have a raised port
exhaust. The port cross section is MUCH smaller than
the Boss 302 heads. They have very high velocity
flows at all lifts and outflow the Boss 302 heads at
all comparable valve lift heights. Without getting
out the flow sheet, I do remember that at .600" inch
valve lift, they flow 324 cfm intake and 248 cfm on
exhaust. I also happen to have a Roush Boss 302
single plane intake which can easily be modified
(epoxyied)(well, my buddy the profession head porter
might not agree) to match the rectangular intake ports
of the heads. (I might be better off with a modified
garden variety dual plane Boss 302 intake). Also
happen to have a set of Titanium valves for the heads.
These head take standard Cleveland valve train parts.
(Sorry for waxing on and on). Just trying a few more
colors in this picture.
So here is my thinking. If I put this little engine
together, it should resemble the Boss 302 in height,
length and width, with the exception that the exhaust
port outlets are raised about .600" over the Boss
ports. Will this cause me a problem with headers?
I'm thinking I can build the machine (maybe 331 cu
in) in a compression ratio around 10:1, use pump gas,
have great throttle response and never have to rev the
little dickens over 6,200 rpm to pass granny on the
freeway.
Now will someone please bring me back to reality.
Thanks again for your patience ... you are a truly
certified car nut with the patience of Job if you have
read down this far.
Gene
=====
Gene Sokolowski
4845 Crestview Dr.
Sioux City, Iowa 51104
(712) 239-4718
B9472068
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