197O Boss 302 vs Equal Performance today: How much on the Dyno?

You know back in the day I installed a 351 Windsor into my 64 1/2 Mustang. My brother in law wanted to race.

He had a Mercury Cyclone with a 429 in it. Guess who won. We talking a quarter mile

 

Ok, here is Edelbrock’s version of 350 HP all in by 5800 rpm (or close to it). It’s their Performer RPM system. Like the Boss 302, it had just around 120 lb ft of torque at 2500 rpm, requiring a lot of rpm to get going.

 

Had a typo on this posting. At 2500 rpm, the Boss 302 made about 125 HP, not 125 lb ft of torque. At 2500 rpm it made 250 lb ft of torque.

 

My 302 has a performer RPM, 600 Holley, GT 40 heads, Mustang GT roller cam ( 210 duration, .444 lift) about 9.9:1, hooker 6901's, 2 1/4 duals into single 3" pipe. It was built out of used parts from pick&pull. 3.25 open diff, 60 foot at 2.5 1/4 mile 14.28 @ 99.95. I think it will run 13s with a trac loc. I would LOVE to build a clevor.....But dont think one with headers will fit in a Comet. Not mine anyway!!!! I have fairly decent torque, but nowhere near 375 HP.

 

Boss 302 was never really for drag racing even thou it was used and was successful at it. It was for USAC/SCCA racing with the 5 liter rule, Just a the 69 Chevy Camero Z-28 was a 302.
Back in the early 90s a magazine "Super Ford", had an article about a guy that redid David Pearson's 72 Mercury Boss 429 and brought it up to current NASCAR safety rules/requirements. Then got permission for Bill Elliott to drive it a Talladega just to see what it would do. After a few laps he came back in and said, "to have such power. You don't have to use a whole lap to get up to speed, this is up to speed by the end of the 2nd turn". "To have such power is unreal".

 

I know a guy who had a '70 Boss back in the day. He told me a story about a 'Cuda wanting to pick a race with him at a 70 MPH roll. He said he down-shift to 2nd gear and punched it. I don't recall the rest of the story 'cause I was still imaging hitting 2nd gear at 70 without going through the windshield. I do remember him saying the Boss wants high rpm to breath. My buddy has a 6.00:1 gear in his '70 Maverick Boss 302 racecar to keep the rpm's high

 

And if we are talking 1/4 mile, dont forget about Bob Glidden's Cleveland headed, undefeated Fairmont. I am sure he had a special way of massaging those heads, but he was legendary with them.

 

Here is a screen shot from a Motor Trend article where they installed a 4.3 rear end, headers and slicks on a Mustang Boss 302 and squeezed a 13.9 second ET in the quarter mile.

 

How fast would that thing have gone if it were 500 pounds lighter? I dont know what the real curb weight was for those, but one post put it at 3,417.