Street Mustang out

I must say that I was dissapointed the 1969 Mustang did not have the side scoops over the rear wheel wells. It was on the Boss and Mach 1 models for the street. Not having the scoops sort of ruined the looks for me. It is possible the racing version did not have them for aero reasons - but I would have liked the street version.

Good catch on the gas cap for the street cars - and the back was blacked out on the 70.

I read a test report on the 429 Boss when I was a kid. The thing was faster than they expected. The article praised the handling for a big block Pony car saying they dived in the turn harder each time and still came out with a zero slide. Another test report of the 1970 Boss 429 in the 1/4 mile was 12.4 seconds! The 302 was strong by today's standards but not back then - when the idea of downshifting for a big hill was considered crazy.

I drove a 1967 fastback that was retrofitted with a 302 - I had fun.

I wonder if there is some way to artfully carve those scoops into the 1969 version. Add the louvers, wing and move the gas cap and things are happening

QUOTE Both the Boss 302 and the Boss 429 Mustangs get a lot of press. I personally feel that both cars were pigs on the street.

In a general way, I agree. Especially with regard to the 429. It was a nose-heavy slug that would not go around corners. And didn't produce the HP that you would expect from its size - it was definitely no 427! But the 302 was a similar car to the 302 Z-28 Camaro of the day - low cubic-inch displacement meant that everything happened at high revs. Yes, the Chevy was a bit better, but the Ford was no dud. Like the Chevy, it was only happy when screaming, and it handled much better than any larger-engined Mustang did. The small engines were slapped into the cars for homologation purposes and, if you looked at them as road racers and not dragsters, they were fun and fast.

I have to agree with that Fergy. I've built both a '70 Boss 302 and a '69 Z28 Camaro with the infamous DZ code. The real cars, not the toys They weren't a whole lot of fun for commuting but when the road got a little twisty and you could open them up, things got fun real fast. We limited the Boss to a 6500 rpm shift point since it was driven often but the Z car was a tad bit more powerful since it didn't go out much. Can you say 8500 rpm shift points? It still pulled at higher rpms but I prefer to remain conservative so the rev limiter was set at 9K

OK, so neither engine was perfectly stock when we got done with them but they were close to stock? Since then the Boss was utterly destroyed and the Z car is supposed to still exist but it's kept under wraps. Apparently the value soared when I wasn't looking.

You still see the occasional Boss 429 car running around here. It's kind of rare but they are here. I can probably see three or four a year if I bother to look. I stand by my earlier comments pertaining to the 429 car, it was a pig. It managed maybe 14s in the quarter and don't even think about road racing that thing. The one you want to watch for is the Boss 351 car. It looked like a boat but it ran like a scalded dog. I've never worked on one of those but they are here too.

Yes, the motor was fully balanced and blueprinted using not exactly stock components Lightweight pistons, forged crank, solid lifter cam, GM off road racing heads (fully ported and polished with stainless valves, lightweight retainers and double valve springs) fully ported intake specifically made for the heads, half inch diameter fuel line, etc etc etc.

The 302 (4.9L) was considered a tiny engine up until a few years ago so it has no reason not to rev. The racing versions run up around 10K rpm. The guy I race toy cars with has an old '71 Ford Torino with a 429SCJ. That motor is mostly stock and is shifted at 7200 rpm. It does high 11s NA and 11.20 on the bottle.

215ci alloy V8 based on the 50s Buick motor.

I've never used that motor because it's too difficult to get here. Where I am it's a whole lot cheaper to just use a small block Chevy and call it a day. My current daily driver uses an alloy DOHC V8 (4.6L Ford) and with it's automatic transmission the factory shift point is 6200 rpm.

If anyone ever tells you American engines won't rev, they don't know what their talking about. We can make anything rev up but why bother if the engine can make 950 hp @ 5200 rpm? (Chevy 454 with twin turbos @ 5psi running on 91 octane pump gas, currently installed in a 25' Checkmate. The turbos are good for 17psi boost on race fuel )