Thread: Ford BOSS

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Anyone have any experience with BOSS 302's, 351's, or 429's. How do they compare with engines of similar displacement? How are BOSS 351 heads different from Cleveland heads? What exactly are "canted valves"?

http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=for...utf-8&fr=b1ie7
Should keep ya busy for a while!!

The "Boss" design was brought on scene in the 60's to rival the "Hemi" head of the Chrysler corporation. Small block boss heads tried to emulate a hemispherical design without truly being 100% hemispherical. Not a bad job though. Combustion chambers were opened up to allow good flame propagation and the spark plug location benefited from this because of the "Cleveland" heads this originated from. 302 engines always had a "Windsor" head until the introduction the 4 bbl cleveland head with the afore mentioned "Boss" design. They got the "Boss" designation on these specific blocks. 351c engines had the cleveland heads and depending on whether they were 2bbl or 4bbl production they could get and exchange the Cleveland head style. The Cleveland head had canted valves which means they had staggered valve placement compared to inline placement. The standard inline placement of a Windsor head approximiately 23degrees in relation to the piston. The staggered Cleveland head was produced to place the valves over the piston for better flame propagation and air flow across the cylinders top during piston quench. The 4bbl Cleveland and Boss heads had very large runners and the Boss enjoyed pushrod guideplates. The 429 boss engine was truly a "Hemi" and the originals offered a "T" designation or a "S" designation and came with a "Big" Holley to feed the beast. This is a short and abridged synapsis of the storied history of the "Boss" and I know there are better experts with good detail on these things to fill in the blanks. Are you shopping specifically for a boss or at least toying with the idea of running one? Would be fun to run.

Nitrowarrior, I am just playing with the idea.

What kind of setup? Street rod? Muscle? Drag car?............could be fun.

Daily Driver.

Mustang, Fairlane Torino?..........

Actually, I am planning out my build, which I intend to start this december. Though I am not sure of what I am going to do, I plan on doing a 1929-1931 Model A with a four-speed manual. I will post other details later, but I am at this point just playing with ideas on what to do. The engine choices I have gone over so far are early Hemis, Chrysler big blocks, and recently I have found a sort of interest in the other hemi-the BOSS (maybe even a 428 or 429 Ford). All of these engines, except the BOSS, are avalible for cheap on ebay. Again, I am not 100% sure of what I am going to build.

The 429 boss heads work on the 385 series engines 370- 429-460 {cheap and plentiful}and to make those boss heads work good on the street ,it would be nice to have a 545 ci stroker kit under them,because they were not very street friendly motors with the huge ports .The 545 kit is a bolt in deal on a ford,it needs less clearancing than 383 stroker kit.Carol Carter is the man on those I believe....contact Carol Carter at candcmotorsports.com........I think........

Boss 302 heads are Cleveland Canted valve heads, the Clevelands were not in production when the 302 Boss came out in 1969, Clevelands were set to go but hadn't been released at that time. The Boss 302's also had to utalize a special intake to mate to the Cleveland heads

Now if you should run across a set of those old Cleveland heads that have the Jack Roush high port exhaust reconfiguration, I'll take em!!!!

I really appreciate the responses, so please keep them coming. Shawnlee, I don't want to sound like a jack @$$, but BOSS 429 blocks are completely different from 385 blocks, according to Hot Rod Magazine http://www.hotrod.com/featuredvehicl...ford_boss_429/ . Do Cleveland heads just bolt onto 302 blocks? Do stock Cleveland manifolds work? What about BOSS 351's? Are there any repro BOSS 429 blocks, heads, etc.? Again, please keep the responses coming.

Originally Posted by Dreamin' Mike

I really appreciate the responses, so please keep them coming. Shawnlee, I don't want to sound like a jack @$$, but BOSS 429 blocks are completely different from 385 blocks, according to Hot Rod Magazine http://www.hotrod.com/featuredvehicl...ford_boss_429/ . Do Cleveland heads just bolt onto 302 blocks? Do stock Cleveland manifolds work? What about BOSS 351's? Are there any repro BOSS 429 blocks, heads, etc.? Again, please keep the responses coming.

Cleveland heads do just bolt right onto the 302 blocks, BUT, they require a special manifold no longer produced, to work, nothing else lines up

Originally Posted by Matt167

Cleveland heads do just bolt right onto the 302 blocks, BUT, they require a special manifold no longer produced, to work, nothing else lines up

Ahh, the old Clevor deal.

They bolt on, but they do require some mods on the water passages!!!!! I've still got the templates around here someplace....