The Mustang Forum for Track & Racing Enthusiasts

Taking your Mustang to an open track/HPDE event for the first time? Do you race competitively? This forum is for you! Log in to remove most ads.

  • Welcome to the Ford Mustang forum built for owners of the Mustang GT350, BOSS 302, GT500, and all other S550, S197, SN95, Fox Body and older Mustangs set up for open track days, road racing, and/or autocross. Join our forum, interact with others, share your build, and help us strengthen this community!

Pretty cool cooling mod

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Ok, so we've been discussing the potential grille mod to help cool the Boss on very hot and humid track days like we can get here in the Midwestern summer. We saw that Ford Racing has converted the 302S grille to cut out the fog openings and replace with wire mesh. We were heading down that path last night at my buddy's house, but took a detour. I had initially thought trying to just drill out the holes in the "fake" honeycomb mesh fog openings. We were going to start cutting out the entire fog by pilot drilling those holes until we got enough material to use a die grinder. After drilling the first 3 holes with a 1/4" bit and seeing how fast it was going, and how strong the structure appeared to be, we just kept going. 190 holes later and my "fake" mesh fogs are now functional! I calculated it created an additional 9.33 square inches of additional airflow. When you compare it to the rest of the grille opening visually, I would say it almost doubles the airflow into the upper radiator. The lower radiator is almost completely exposed already.




 

ArizonaBOSS

Because racecar.
Moderator
8,730
2,734
Arizona, USA
Gary:

Do you have an ECT sensor for your Interceptor gauge? Could be a good experiment to run these in two afternoon sessions with similar ambient temperature: One session with the fogs blocked off with tape, one with them open as you have now, and see if there is an ECT delta. Quick/easy experiment!
 
ArizonaGT said:
Gary:

Do you have an ECT sensor for your Interceptor gauge? Could be a good experiment to run these in two afternoon sessions with similar ambient temperature: One session with the fogs blocked off with tape, one with them open as you have now, and see if there is an ECT delta. Quick/easy experiment!
Yea I have it set to display IAT and ECT most of the time ;D Good suggestion on testing it. I'll try to do that next time out. At this point the next date is 7/29-7/31, but I'm trying to see if I can sneak in a 7/8 date.
 

ArizonaBOSS

Because racecar.
Moderator
8,730
2,734
Arizona, USA
Good deal...let me know what you find out, I'll have plenty of time to get to drilling before my end-of-September track event. Hopefully it's cooler out than it was last year: 105* ambient! At least this year I won't have a double-layer nomex suit on.
 
Gary, it looks good and you hardly even notice the change! So many ideas, so much time of just dreaming of possibilities!

Now if my car would just get HERE so I can make them a reality!!!
 
2012Boss said:
I like it, great idea. Looks better then the wire mesh IMHO
I agree.
 
Thanks guys I think it keeps a stock look as well. The mesh would provide more air flow, but I'm hoping this does the trick. It's not like the car has a serious overheating issue, it's just that it could use a little help on the hottest summer days at the track.
 
I got a little bored tonight and decided to "be like Gary" ;D
I decided to use a 5/16" drill bit because I thought it fit the hole a little better. Still have to get a little touch up paint.
The tough part was getting up the nerve to drill the first hole, the rest were a piece of cake.
P7120001.png
 
5 DOT 0 said:
You said " be like Gary". Don't you mean "flat out". ;D

The 5/16's holes look perfect.
Because that's how I drive.....flat out :D How rigid is it with the 5/16" holes Dean? It looks like mine's going to have to be "reworked" with another bit....190 times!
 
1,255
2
GA
Dean#4AI said:
I got a little bored tonight and decided to "be like Gary" ;D
I decided to use a 5/16" drill bit because I thought it fit the hole a little better. Still have to get a little touch up paint.
The tough part was getting up the nerve to drill the first hole, the rest were a piece of cake.
P7120001.png

That sure looks like it took a lot of patience. Nice work!
 
cloud9 said:
5 DOT 0 said:
You said " be like Gary". Don't you mean "flat out". ;D

The 5/16's holes look perfect.
Because that's how I drive.....flat out :D How rigid is it with the 5/16" holes Dean? It looks like mine's going to have to be "reworked" with another bit....190 times!

I was concerned about it being too flimsy when I was finished but the construct is still very sturdy.
 
You did a great job.... i will be hoggin mine out to the 5/16 " hole shortly after I get it. Has anyone quantified the modification? does it help?
 
1TRKMND said:
You did a great job.... i will be hoggin mine out to the 5/16 " hole shortly after I get it. Has anyone quantified the modification? does it help?
I had one track day with the mod. At this track I was running into the mid to upper 240s in 89F ambient the previous time. The day I was there after drilling the holes it peaked at 86F ambient and my ECT peaked at 240 but generally stayed in the mid-230s. So I can't say for certain, but it would appear it helped some.
 

TMO Supporting Vendors

Top