well my car has a 302 and i was reading some articles in Musclecar Magazine that the boss 302 could get up to 350 horsepower at 6300 rpm and an average horsepower of 297.5. I was just wondering what were the main differences in the Boss 302 and the one i have in m7 72 maverick. the main thing that i heard was that it had aluminum heads.. any help with this ?
Simply put just about everything but the 302 cubic inches are different,but the most obvious are the heads and intake,they are similar to the 351 clevland.
Boss 302 has heads based on the 351c 4v heads. That is the difference that counts. All the other differences are ones that adapt those heads to the engine, OR make the engine strong enough to handle the rpm levels required with heads that large on a small displacement engine. Edit: The engine did very well at road racing. On the street/strip, they are not the best engines. You won't break one, but there are much better alternatives. The only reason Ford made it such a small cube screamer is that the rules for TransAm racing back then required a max of 5.0 liters and at least 500 engines a year sold to the public in a production car. They did NOT have aluminum heads. Aluminum intakes were pretty exotic for Fords back then. It did have one of those.
didnt the old boss have 4 bolt mains or screw style plugs like the new boss they've released. as well as much stronger webbing and a significantly stronger cam valley area.
Check your VIN .. some Mavericks did come with Factory Boss 302's ... at least that's what I hear ....
acording to what ive heard all bosses were also 4speeds as well aside from the mustang did any other cars of the period get em?
Also,special Domed pistons,broached connecting rods.(the rod was drilled where the rod bolt was fitted to the rod) not cut flat with the bolt head just sitting on top of it.Made the big end stronger.The rods were also steel instead of cast iron on the racing boss.Regular production bosses rods were forged not cast.
i purchased a hot rod magazine this weekend from Oct 71..foulger ford tested a 302 maverick and with a cam changed and headers it ran 13.6 in the quarter mile..they put boss 302 heads on it and it ran the same time and speed..they said more jetting and timing changes where requird...
If you put C-style heads on a regular 302 block you will have to drill steam holes between the bores to match the C-heads and gaskets or you will cook the heads,then the block,etc...And you will need to use 1/2 inch head bolts like the 351-W so some thread drilling and tapping will be in order.
There are a whopping 2 tiny holes that don't line up. I have heard the 'gotta drill the block' thing before, but IMO it's a myth. I don't know anyone personally, or even heard of anyone that has actually drilled the holes. One friend o' mine builds Clevors for a living and has never had one go bad from not drilling 2 little steam holes. The first Clevor he ever built is still out there scaring the 'poop' out of unsuspecting passengers... 427 Clevor, built before off the shelf stroker parts were available. He cut his own 400m crank, offset ground, modded Mopar rods, etc... to make that monster. Also, you don't use 1/2" bolts when you put W or C heads on a 302 block... You either use shoulder bolts or hardened washers. You definately don't need to drill and tap the block for bigger bolts.
Yeah I have heard the same also about the steam holes and the gasket matching.Rather be safe than sorry.As for the head bolts.I dont like step down bolts.Dont have the clamping force due the the stress point created by the step at the thread.Shouldered bolts are a little better and yes I know plenty who use both with no problems,as well as some not so lucky.I prefer to have the deck drilled and tapped for half inch studs.Especially if one intends to wind the wee out of the thing.I agree its not that necessary.I just prefer to over engineer for durability when doing a build like that.You only need hardened washers if you are going to use aluminum heads or studs.
ALL Ford pushrod V8's had forged rods. NO exceptions. There were no cast rods in these engines. Some were better forgings than others, but they're all forged.
