1971 Mustang Boss 302 Prototype
- Thread starter GURPS
- Start date
Grumpy
Well-Known Member
Good stuff, but that guy is over the top anal in his restoration..who ever heard of trying to match the overspray from a production line. Guess it comes down to whatever floats your boat.The guys collection of OEM / NOS Stuff for concurs restorations is mind boggling
Production Line original Parts was interesting as well, he can make the car look like production line original
That BOSS 302 Engine
Back in the early 90s when I rebuilt the 289 in my 65 mustang upon tear down, I spec'd all the parts and spent much of the time writing it down because nothing seemed to match the book on a standard C motor of that time.
Valves were over sized, rods, lifters and cam were different... Codes on the block and heads matched two other designs and it was all FACTORY. found build sheets when the interior was removed and it confirmed much of the confusion.
They definitely didn't always stick to a plan.
OCD-Restoration.
Odd..because Ford never produced much variety in the 289s. There were only the three variants (2V, 4V and Hipo) with two different heads. And two blocks..5-bolt bell and 6-bolt bell), And that was it. Anything else was aftermarket production, mostly Holman Moody at that time, and none of those engines were ever installed at the actual Ford plant.
Very typical...standard even..for a seriously high quality restoration. Friend of mine does that for a living and he goes to great lengths to match all original details, down to the hue of the final cadmium plating on all the fasteners and metal parts that are/were cad plated.
Perhaps, but when I pulled the heads and found larger valves it started down a scavenger hunt.
Ford only produced one set of valve sizes for all 289s from '63-'68: 1.45" ex and 1.78" intake. Even the hipo heads used those valves. Same is true for the 302. It wasn't until the 351w came out in '69 that Ford made larger valves for that engine family... 1.54" exhaust and 1.84" intake. I ran a set of those '69 351w heads on the 289 in my '66 Mustang drag car in the mid 70s...that was the "go to" old school upgrade back in those days. Taking it one step further, we/I put Chevy 1.60"/1.94" valves in those 351W heads.
What you can buy now, off the shelf, in comparison to what we used to hack together is amazing.
Sounds like someone did some upgrading to your engine along the way.
It had 1.94 intakes, and I believe, 1.60 exhaust.
Push rods were a few hundredths of an inch longer too.
I'm betting is was factory done as everything else seemed correct, sheets, marks etc. Right down to the rope seal.
Ford never made those valve sizes back then. Even the SK and XE experimental listings don't show them. That's why we used the Chevy valves in the Ford heads.
I can only tell you that was what was in it.
The car had a June 18 build date on the sheet and several strikethough lines where changes were made to the build.
I figured it was just a leftover frankencar.
It would be worth a Franklin mint if it was an original hand-built prototype...especially one that's never even been rumored to have existed. Be like that '71 Boss 302...only rarer. The only "similar" example I'm aware of was the rumored one-off 427 powered '65 or '66 Mustang. None of those prototypes or experimentals were ever built in the regular factory production lines though, because that was flat-out impossible to do. The special vehicle guys had their own shop, own budgets and even their own special access to foundries to make one-off or low-production castings.
I dont' think it was a prototype, I'd bet it was thrown together with whatever leftover production crap they had to get it down the factory line. There was nothing special about the car as far as body, interior or accessories either.
That they ever did that is a myth, first of all...and secondly, how could "they" do that with parts that never existed in Ford inventories...ever?
Kinnakeet
Well-Known Member
True but it could not match the ole chevy small block and big block motors
That must explain why Ford dominated the various racing venues back in the day ...with Chevy always a distant second. Shelbys...GT40s...Cosworth Indy cars..and on and on. ;-) What does the Chevy equivalent of a a Ford 427 SOHC or Boss 429 look like? Oh...right..they never built anything like that.