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BOSS differences vs. the GT

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Grant 302

basic and well known psychic
I'm a little ashamed I didn't notice this earlier...

Bosses don't have the air dam on the under tray. Just noticed in track pics that I can't see the trans scoop in frontal shots of the GT.
 
tlflow said:
My wife has a 2012 GT w/3.73 and brembo package. I have 2012 performance white boss with recaro.
The GT feels very similar at speed, stops same, got different power character, but pulls hard and is really a very good car.
The boss doesn'tmove around as much in the back, it settles quicker and seems to turn in quicker initially. The normal key is not that different really, it's faster but not like a lot faster. I main difference I've noticed between the two is that, when i get the red key out on I-10 ... (deleted useless comment)

I know I'm bad, but it is just that different.

So a few more data points show that the stock 5.0 is tough, but it's really not on same level as Boss302 (much closer than chevy and dodge). The handling is quite different: the Boss can be driven in faster, make transition and exit much faster ... much, much faster.

GT/Boss power delivery is really different. The real difference is in rate of change in acceleration; i.e.,
d(dv/dt)/dt is much higher for Boss302.
 
302BOB said:
I love that the Boss has a 7.5 redline. That indeed separates it from the GT. I don't track my Boss, so I've never hit the rev limiter...yet. Hitting 7 is enough to float my boat.
I tend to hit the rev limiter more on the street than the track. I test it often in first and second gear. ;D
 
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302BOB said:
I love that the Boss has a 7.5 redline. That indeed separates it from the GT. I don't track my Boss, so I've never hit the rev limiter...yet. Hitting 7 is enough to float my boat.

After driving my 4.6L Bulliitt with a 6500 rpm redline for a while 7K in my '12 GT still feels a little unnatural at times. ;)

The power curve in the stock GT is much less agressive than in the Boss. The FRPP calibration for my GT totally changed it. The power comes on instantly and pulls all the way to the 7K redline with no drop off. Throttle control is much easier to modulate as well. You can tell Ford detuned the GT to help meet EPA standards, especially on the low end; the FRPP tune supposedly increased torque by 60 ft-lb at 1500 RPM and 7 ft-lb overall, and you can feel it.
 

MLM

Mike
129
0
PJWANNABE said:
After driving my 4.6L Bulliitt with a 6500 rpm redline for a while 7K in my '12 GT still feels a little unnatural at times. ;)

The power curve in the stock GT is much less agressive than in the Boss. The FRPP calibration for my GT totally changed it. The power comes on instantly and pulls all the way to the 7K redline with no drop off. Throttle control is much easier to modulate as well. You can tell Ford detuned the GT to help meet EPA standards, especially on the low end; the FRPP tune supposedly increased torque by 60 ft-lb at 1500 RPM and 7 ft-lb overall, and you can feel it.

That is very interesting to hear. You may have sold me on doing the FRPP tune to our '12 GT. The car definitely is lacking some oomph at the low end, but that's partly because I often either start in 2nd or shift 1-3-5 around town. More torque in the 1500-3500 range would be nice.
 
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MLM said:
That is very interesting to hear. You may have sold me on doing the FRPP tune to our '12 GT. The car definitely is lacking some oomph at the low end, but that's partly because I often either start in 2nd or shift 1-3-5 around town. More torque in the 1500-3500 range would be nice.

Yeah, I love it. Anyone I recommend it to loves it also. It also deactivates that blasted Skip Shift feature in the computer, so it is worth it just for that. Even though you are stuck using 91+ octane, you actually get better gas mileage too. The Power Pack which includes GT500 mufflers, a Ford Racing Oil Filter, and a K&N air filter is what the car should have come with stock. It costs about a grand installed at the dealer and is a great bang for the buck. I think FRPP sells just the calibration too, but I recommend the whole package. Anyone who cares about performance in their new GT should get it, even before they take delivery. I did it that way to get the full 3/36 warranty on it - if you install it afterward the warranty is 1/12. I have not had a single issue so buy with confidence. It turns the GT into the beast you were expecting.
 

MLM

Mike
129
0
PJWANNABE said:
Yeah, I love it. Anyone I recommend it to loves it also. It also deactivates that blasted Skip Shift feature in the computer, so it is worth it just for that. Even though you are stuck using 91+ octane, you actually get better gas mileage too. The Power Pack which includes GT500 mufflers, a Ford Racing Oil Filter, and a K&N air filter is what the car should have come with stock. It costs about a grand installed at the dealer and is a great bang for the buck. I think FRPP sells just the calibration too, but I recommend the whole package. Anyone who cares about performance in their new GT should get it, even before they take delivery. I did it that way to get the full 3/36 warranty on it - if you install it afterward the warranty is 1/12. I have not had a single issue so buy with confidence. It turns the GT into the beast you were expecting.

Sounds good. I already have the GT500 mufflers on the car so I'll just get the programmer/filter kit.
 
6,362
8,185
I think Ford will be reasonably liberal in covering warranty claims on the Boss as they've marketed it as a track car you can drive on the street. The testing they did on the motor was unbelievable and I think they're pretty confident it will hold up to track use. They've given me two clutches (TSB), a transmission (TSB), two alternators, electric fan, driver's side mirror, front LCAs (TSB) and a gas tank already on my GT500 and the dealer knows I track my car.

Ford has been extremely fair with warranties for their performance cars for quite awhile. They were extremely liberal with their old New Edge Cobra series cars from 99-04. It's nice to see that from a car company, it also encourages a lot of respect and loyalty from the consumer.
 

yknot

Hobbies: Hot Rods & Shooting
You know you here that same crap all the time...How you can simply option out a GT and have a " Boss". It's total bull, you option out a GT and have a GT with a lot of option, some of which are included on a Boss 302, but you do not have a Boss 302, and never will. if that was the case, why did everyone on this site pony up the funds to by a Boss 302 when we could have saved a ton of money and purchased a optioned GT? Because we wanted a real Boss 302, and not a want a bee. Look at the list provided by the posters here in this topic...You Boss has more special features then a GT has features. Another thing about the Boss 302 in all its variations, is that the Forged crankshaft is specific to this engine. it has 9-holes in the rear flange, not 8-as in a regular Ford racing forged crankshaft. The clutch is also a heavy duty version designed for added torque and the abuse of track conditions. The extra hole in the crankshaft was put there becasue the engine as tested was having an issue keeping the flywheel attached, so the easiest fix was to install a 9-hole pattern, which gave more holding pressure and cured the problem.
BUT...one area that really bugs me about these engine is they all had to have the Piston Squirter's designed into the block to keep the pistons cool and the engine temp low enough to pass the engine durability test, which is insane...and they run the engine at wide open throttle for something like 50 hours... Those Piston Squirter's were illiminated due to oil pressure drop concerns. My point is, if they needed the Piston Squirter's to pass there durability test, but they removed them due to post production issues, then really the engine you now have was not the same engine tested by Ford, nor would this engine have made the test so critical to Fords test procedures.
I love the new Coyote engine, I think it will be the V-8 remembers long from now as the engine of the early 21st century. But, it has had some teething problems. In fact the block is know in the Drag racing world as a very good performer, but not very reliable under anything over modest boost pressure. Ford has a new block, known as the BLUE BLOCK, that they have in testing right now. There are several race cars testing this newly developed block to see if it helps elevate these problems in HP engines. So far it looks very promising, but who knows. They took a little cooling room out of the block to get more mass around the cylinders to keep them stable in use, as the old block liked to crack right down between the enter cylinders. On a production engine this is not that big an issue, but when people start adding blowers and racing tyhe engines, if's considered bad form if they crack in half. I suspect this will efect the Cobra Jet engines, and possible the new GT 500 engine, which should be out in 2015 or 2016 as a twin turbo 5.0l engine, and the 5.8L engine will be dropped from production.
Still it does concern me about the lack of Piston Squirter's, as the block was designed for them,, and evey other engine for makes uses them, as does the competition.

ALL in ALL, I think Ford did a great job on the Boss 302. I like that you can get a regular 302 a 302 LS or a 302S, a car for every need. Much better job then Chevy which simply dumped all the categories into one pot and built the Z/28, which will be out latter. The Boss 302 is very street able, and I think that was very important to many that purchased it.
 

Justin

Save the dawn for your dishes!!!
the boss does not have a 9 bolt flywheel....the oil squirters were removed because of windage at 7500rpm. the blocks dont crack in half the sleeves are what fails. the clutch that comes in the boss IMO is a POS.

I have installed an aftermarket clutch in my boss so I know for certain its not a 9 bolt.
https://trackmustangsonline.com/index.php?topic=3209.msg51578#msg51578
 
Justin said:
the boss does not have a 9 bolt flywheel....the oil squirters were removed because of windage at 7500rpm. the blocks dont crack in half the sleeves are what fails. the clutch that comes in the boss IMO is a POS.

I have installed an aftermarket clutch in my boss so I know for certain its not a 9 bolt.
https://trackmustangsonline.com/index.php?topic=3209.msg51578#msg51578
Justin - how do you like that clutch setup?
 
Justin said:
the boss does not have a 9 bolt flywheel....the oil squirters were removed because of windage at 7500rpm. the blocks dont crack in half the sleeves are what fails. the clutch that comes in the boss IMO is a POS.

I have installed an aftermarket clutch in my boss so I know for certain its not a 9 bolt.
https://trackmustangsonline.com/index.php?topic=3209.msg51578#msg51578
Justin - how do you like that clutch setup?
 

Justin

Save the dawn for your dishes!!!
Bad Boss 302 said:
Justin - how do you like that clutch setup?
so far with about 8k miles on it I love it. my only complaint is the noise it make with the clutch pushed in. but with the cats deleted I can barely hear it now over the exhaust
 

j3st3r

Brian S.
604
376
Tennessee
BOSS differences vs. the GT

yknot said:
You know you here that same crap all the time...How you can simply option out a GT and have a " Boss". It's total bull, you option out a GT and have a GT with a lot of option, some of which are included on a Boss 302, but you do not have a Boss 302, and never will. if that was the case, why did everyone on this site pony up the funds to by a Boss 302 when we could have saved a ton of money and purchased a optioned GT? Because we wanted a real Boss 302, and not a want a bee. Look at the list provided by the posters here in this topic...You Boss has more special features then a GT has features. Another thing about the Boss 302 in all its variations, is that the Forged crankshaft is specific to this engine. it has 9-holes in the rear flange, not 8-as in a regular Ford racing forged crankshaft. The clutch is also a heavy duty version designed for added torque and the abuse of track conditions. The extra hole in the crankshaft was put there becasue the engine as tested was having an issue keeping the flywheel attached, so the easiest fix was to install a 9-hole pattern, which gave more holding pressure and cured the problem.
BUT...one area that really bugs me about these engine is they all had to have the Piston Squirter's designed into the block to keep the pistons cool and the engine temp low enough to pass the engine durability test, which is insane...and they run the engine at wide open throttle for something like 50 hours... Those Piston Squirter's were illiminated due to oil pressure drop concerns. My point is, if they needed the Piston Squirter's to pass there durability test, but they removed them due to post production issues, then really the engine you now have was not the same engine tested by Ford, nor would this engine have made the test so critical to Fords test procedures.
I love the new Coyote engine, I think it will be the V-8 remembers long from now as the engine of the early 21st century. But, it has had some teething problems. In fact the block is know in the Drag racing world as a very good performer, but not very reliable under anything over modest boost pressure. Ford has a new block, known as the BLUE BLOCK, that they have in testing right now. There are several race cars testing this newly developed block to see if it helps elevate these problems in HP engines. So far it looks very promising, but who knows. They took a little cooling room out of the block to get more mass around the cylinders to keep them stable in use, as the old block liked to crack right down between the enter cylinders. On a production engine this is not that big an issue, but when people start adding blowers and racing tyhe engines, if's considered bad form if they crack in half. I suspect this will efect the Cobra Jet engines, and possible the new GT 500 engine, which should be out in 2015 or 2016 as a twin turbo 5.0l engine, and the 5.8L engine will be dropped from production.
Still it does concern me about the lack of Piston Squirter's, as the block was designed for them,, and evey other engine for makes uses them, as does the competition.

ALL in ALL, I think Ford did a great job on the Boss 302. I like that you can get a regular 302 a 302 LS or a 302S, a car for every need. Much better job then Chevy which simply dumped all the categories into one pot and built the Z/28, which will be out latter. The Boss 302 is very street able, and I think that was very important to many that purchased it.

Wow...guess all of us "wanna be's" should just go home then....seen a lot of Boss' at the track, and have not seen one post faster lap times....just being devils advocate here.
 
1,255
2
GA
I bought a Brembo GT because I couldn't afford what a Boss cost at the time they were new. In some ways it was a better choice for me as a daily driver/track car/show car and it is no slouch. A Boss is a Boss though, as the whole is more than the sum of its parts. :) I will get one eventually.
 

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