Build a better BOSS Engine

[VTBoss302]

you going to get it dynod when you finish it?

Reading is fundamental

From above:

" I do believe at a point after break-in, I will get a dyno tune to make sure everything is optimized, but safe for race duty. "

 

[blacksheep-1]

Someplace in the tech session I put a source for for oil/intercoolers and what not, basically a list of reasonably priced heat exchangers.

 

[NewBossowner]

Reading is fundamental

From above:

" I do believe at a point after break-in, I will get a dyno tune to make sure everything is optimized, but safe for race duty. "

I never learned to read because I was born blind. ;D

 

[pufferfish]

Ugg...waiting sucks!

I tried to coordinate the purchases over my vacation so I would come back to a staggering display of daily deliveries, but I am still missing just the right parts to not allow me to put ANYTHING together. I have a the block on the engine stand and that's as much as I have been able to do...with $5k in parts staring me in the face! EPIC LOGISTICS FAIL

Venting over. Carry on.

 

[Brandon302]

I think a time lapsed movie is required for this build, be cool to see it come together.

 

[pufferfish]

You offering to be my a/v guy Brandon? ;D

 

[pufferfish]

alright, I finally got all the parts last week and started assembling over the weekend.

first, I attempted to drop the main bearings and crank in. that didn't work so well. it seems I was sent 3.7 bearings instead of 5.0 bearings. hopefully getting the right ones send out today. notice in the pic that this block isn't machined for the piston squirters. its a new part number FRPP is offering. costs $200 less than a block with the ports machined and you also save the blockoffs cost!

interesting side note...the thrust main bearing is different from what I am used to seeing. the old pushrod 302's put the thrust bearing in the #3 position. the new 5.0 is in the #5 position. this make far more sense as all thrust loads come from the clutch, so it should be as close to the clutch as possible. but I think they over-complicated the bearing itself. the old 302's had a 2 piece design with radial and thrust surfaces, so it was basically a U profile in a circle. the new 5.0 is messed up. the block half is a standard single surface bearing (the same as #1-4 mains) and then uses a separate thrust bearing "crescent" that sits up against a recess in the side of the block. the cap half is the U shape seen in the old 302's! friggin bizzare!

next up was pressing the dowels and plugs into the new block. the front oil galley plug is too small for the hole. figuring that one out today as well.

then, I moved on to piston assembly. I first weighed each part. then, I matched up heavier and lighter parts to balance out each assembly. this should help internal balance. I was able to get each assembly within 2 grams. for giggles, I weighed the stock gt assembly against the boss assembly. there really IS a weight difference in the forged pistons...39 grams!

GT:

BOSS:

all the rings were checked for gap.

the BOSS rods come as a solid part. the caps have not been cracked off yet. the idea of whacking the end of a rod was, at first, a scary proposition. but, it was very easy and predictable. I removed the bolts, clamped the rod to the end of a table with a 2x4 ledge. they were positioned so the score marks lined up with the inside edge of the ledge. that gave a place for the caps to fall without being damaged. I placed a shim block over the cap and gave it a it with a small sledge hammer. then, I cleaned any loos metal bits from the cracked areas and reassembled.

notice there are very slight differences in the GT hyperteuctic piston vs the BOSS Mahle forged piece. the ring lands are exactly the same. it appears the full width skirt on the Mahle is where the weight difference is.

rings were tricky. there are no instructions readily available and the top and #2 rings are nearly identical. I wasn't sure which ring went where until I took a look at the GT rings on the pistons. the #2 ring has a tiny groove on the bottom surface right next to the outer edge. it took a keen eye to spot it. both the top and #2 rings feature a circular indention to indicate which face is up. I found one of my ring sets had 2 top rings and no #2 ring, so that will have to get remedied as well.


can't put the slugs in the bores until the crankshaft is in, so I moved on to the heads. I cleaned and reused the lash adjusters and roller followers and inserted them into the new BOSS head assemblies with engine oil. then assembly lubed the cams and installed them. I decided on factory boss cams (which uses a factory gt intake cam with a higher lift exhaust cam). I debated the variety of comp cams, but $450 vs $1400 was one factor, special tune was another and I was really unsure of idle quality and potential drivability issues. I will continue to daily drive the car, so I don't want to get all race car crazy just yet.

I found out that reusing the phasers wasn't going to work out. the chain gouged the teeth on the drive phasers, so I will end up buying those as well.

a couple of notes on the cams. first, if there is any question which head the cams go into, I found out they are different lengths. the right side cams physically don't fit into left heads. also, factory cams are erector sets, not single pieces. the body is one part. the lobes are individual parts and so is the nose, where the phasers attach. kind of crazy to see. they don't look like they would handle high rpm harmonics, but they apparently do! another note is that there are filter screens in the center of the nose. got to make sure to transfer them over if doing a cam change!

there wasn't much else I could do at this point. I attempted to install the oil filter standoff and BOSS oil cooler, but the standoff blocks access to the #1 main cap side bolt. I did install the new crank seal in the rear cover. I forgot to order a new crank seal for the front cover, so that will come with the other replacement parts. I did take a look at the CJ pulse ring vs the stocker. there is almost in indetectable difference. the teeth are exactly the same spacing (even mic'd them). the only difference is the depth of the recess between the widest tooth gap. it is shallower on the CJ. I don't know how this makes any difference, but at $50, it was a no brainer to throw in there.

I had a little time left before my free time was up, so I weighed the flywheel and clutch assemblies. dropping 10lbs of rotating mass will surely help this thing move!
stock GT:

SPEC aluminum flywheel and stage 1 clutch:

well, that's as far as I have gotten to date. I am waiting to speak with the FRPP sales rep at Tousley Ford (where I purchased everything) to get the right parts ordered and hopefully get them here so I can get more done this upcoming weekend.

 

[bigh3410]

Looking good!

 

[Brandon302]

I would not be the best A/V guy, but that would have been awesome to see it slowly come together. Planning to be out on the 14th and 15th?

 

[pufferfish]

it will be real close. all the parts setbacks are killing my schedule. If I can get the parts sorted out to complete the assembly this weekend and get the engine to Koons Ford Monday, I might be able to get my break in miles done in time.

I won't push things, though. I thought about coming out and just instructing with no track time for myself. I am jonesing for some track atmosphere, if not track time

 

[Brandon302]

Why Koons Ford, I thought Apple had a better service department. I am hoping to stay close to the GT-R that will be there. Good luck on the build, I would love to tare down and build back up a motor, prefer it to be under different circumstances then your's.

 

[ArizonaBOSS]

Looking good dude. That must be the '13 block you got. I'm assuming you got the proper head changing kit with the 11mm bolts (or studs, if you went that route).

I'm wondering if the various fitment issues are PN conflicts between 11/12 parts and 13 parts. Only speculating at this point.

That 1mm difference in the CJ Pulse Ring allows the CPS to pick up the gap at high RPM, I guess on the stock Pulse Ring, the magnet has a tough time detecting that region above 7800 RPM.

 

[Justin]

nice build you have going there.

I saw you said you have a bama tune previously...thought there tunes came with an engine warranty.

anyways I would give AED a ring and get a tune from Shaun his tunes are awesome. Forceofwill has had both tunes bama and AED in his 12 GT and he can tell you night and day difference especially on the lopey idle tunes.

 

[pufferfish]

Why Koons Ford, I thought Apple had a better service department.

bought it at Koons and its 30 minutes from me, whereas Apple is 1:15 from me.

That must be the '13 block you got. I'm assuming you got the proper head changing kit with the 11mm bolts (or studs, if you went that route).

I'm wondering if the various fitment issues are PN conflicts between 11/12 parts and 13 parts. Only speculating at this point.

I assume you are under the generally accepted understanding that the '13 GT's extra 8hp was because of no squirters? if so, it may be rumor. There has been some discussion on the various forums about this and every person who has personally seen the inside of a '13 GT engine has found squirters (including MMR, who sees a lot of engines). I searched for any confirmation that Ford indeed states they were eliminated and found nothing. The closest was an intention to eliminate them (but they don't state the extra hp is because of eliminating them), but possibly the parts bin was chock full of machined blocks and squirters, so they put them in until they ran out?

In any case, the bearing issue isn't because of the block change. my '11 GT bearings fit perfectly into the new block. oh, and yes, my ARP studs are 11mm.

That 1mm difference in the CJ Pulse Ring allows the CPS to pick up the gap at high RPM, I guess on the stock Pulse Ring, the magnet has a tough time detecting that region above 7800 RPM.

interesting. well, I suppose the smallest things can upset the balance with 1 pulse every 0.0002 seconds!

 

[pufferfish]

nice build you have going there.

I saw you said you have a bama tune previously...thought there tunes came with an engine warranty.

anyways I would give AED a ring and get a tune from Shaun his tunes are awesome. Forceofwill has had both tunes bama and AED in his 12 GT and he can tell you night and day difference especially on the lopey idle tunes.

yes, I have bama. I got mine before they offered the warranty, but they only warranty against the #8 failure anyhow, which was not my issue. I know there are better tunes than ANY canned tune, but bama has served me well as I have gotten free retunes for everything from headers, to boss intake on-then off-then on-then off, to tire diameter changes. I will likely make the trek up to philly to have them do a dyno tune on it, just so I can keep my free retunes.

 

[Justin]

yes, I have bama. I got mine before they offered the warranty, but they only warranty against the #8 failure anyhow, which was not my issue. I know there are better tunes than ANY canned tune, but bama has served me well as I have gotten free retunes for everything from headers, to boss intake on-then off-then on-then off, to tire diameter changes. I will likely make the trek up to philly to have them do a dyno tune on it, just so I can keep my free retunes.

AED does free updates as well so long as its not a power adder. I have gotten a few updates from him already great service and turn around.

I take it you have read the various threads where bama tunes werent making any power over stock tunes?

I am glad they treat you well. they told my brother to go "f" himself after they couldnt get his car to run right he now runs brenspeed tunes.

 

[ArizonaBOSS]

Dunno about the squirters increasing/decreasing any power. I'd be the 8hp gain for '13 was largely marketing only.

FWIW if this is an open discussion: I would definitely recommend AED for tuning; get your base tune from them, then get some good datalogs and let them dial it in.

 

[Justin]

Dunno about the squirters increasing/decreasing any power. I'd be the 8hp gain for '13 was largely marketing only.

FWIW if this is an open discussion: I would definitely recommend AED for tuning; get your base tune from them, then get some good datalogs and let them dial it in.

I think it was a MMFF or 5.0 article where they said the squirters were deleted to reduce windage and along with some tweaks to the tuning they gained the 8hp.

 

[pufferfish]

AED does free updates as well so long as its not a power adder. I have gotten a few updates from him already great service and turn around.

VERY INTERESTING! I have heard really good things about Shaun, but with my on again, off again relationship with the boss intake (I still believe I might be going GT intake on top of this BOSS engine), I figured I better stick with a free retune place. I didn't know AED offered this. I will have to make a call when everything is up and running.

I think it was a MMFF or 5.0 article where they said the squirters were deleted to reduce windage and along with some tweaks to the tuning they gained the 8hp.

I knew I read it in a printed article somewhere, but couldn't find it when the discussion came up on corral.net. but, it sounds like the plan to eliminate them was too late for the 2013 model year to make a clean break. I wonder if any 13's actually got the deletes? FWIW, I just got the 2013 FRPP catalog and nowhere is this new non-squirter block listed. its part number: M-6010-M504VA

also, it occurred to me, the reason for the squirters was to cool the heat sensitive hyperteuctic pistons under the high cylinder pressures developed by 11:1 compression. to eliminate them, they would have needed to replace the pistons with stronger versions. well, I went on tousley fords website and its confirmed to have a different piston, but the change occurred on 12/8/2011. so, all 2012+ gt's have a different piston than the 2011 models. hmmm...

also, I discovered the ring package is the same in every year of GT and BOSS. just a tidbit of random knowledge picked up along the way.

 

[steveespo]

Steve
Please don't top this engine with a GT intake, you will be giving up a lot of the potential of the Boss heads. If you are running headers torque will not be an issue ( I make 379 ft/lbs with GT cams, Boss intake and ARH 1 7/8" headers). If you don't want to spin it up it still makes great power with 7000 rpm shift points. Better yet get the CJ Intake setup. I know you took a hit but this build deserves to make all the power it can.
Steve E