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Pretty cool cooling mod

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IMHO, the Boss 302 grill is hideous. OK, here come the flames. The fake foglights not only block air but look REALLY tacky (IMHO). My plan is still to go to a billet grill sans pony or anything else blocking air flow. I'll keep the unmodified stock grill put it back on the car when I eventually sell it. I bought the car to drive and not to be a garage queen. Ford did so many things right with this car and just screwed up a few:

1. Inadequate engine cooling for track work.
2. Specifying frequent rear diff lube changes (if tracking the car) and not having a drain plug on the diff.
3. Single piston rear caliper (even much cheaper Camaro SS has Brembos all around).
4. Wal-Mart grade audio system (the car isn't ALWAYS on a race track). Better system with Sync should be offered as option.

I'll withhold comment on the Chinese transmission as mine has been flawless (so far). IRS would be nice and I assume that will come in a later model. That being said I still love the car!
 
5 DOT 0 said:
JScheier said:
I keep going back to the 302S cars. What are the differences:

1. MGT radiator
2. 302S Grill (cutout fogs with wire)
3. air/oil cooler

They aren't having issues.
You forgot no emissions, runs on high octane race gas, and different exhaust and tune. ;)

Plus the hood, I may go down that road someday but not in the cards right now. We are lucky to have several guys looking into this, I am a follower not a leader ;D I still have a long way to go in my driving skills to this becomes a problem for me. Modifing the grille is a piece of insurance for now without other expensive mods. You have to give a ton of credit to Kendall for the work and honest results he has posted, many others would have given themselves credit, reported the problem fixed and tried to sell the parts they worked so hard on.
 
Shoot I knew I forgot one. The hood has to help. I just sent Gary and email so he should be reporting in soon on his progress.
 
ChuckP said:
IMHO, the Boss 302 grill is hideous. OK, here come the flames. The fake foglights not only block air but look REALLY tacky (IMHO).

not really if you look at the heritage of the Boss but to each his own, I like it since it sets the Boss apart also. Again Ford sells cars from Canada to FL and AZ, there has to be a compromise in there somewhere. They can not sell a car that does not get to operating temps for people that drive them in the winter?

ChuckP said:
1. Inadequate engine cooling for track work.
2. Specifying frequent rear diff lube changes (if tracking the car) and not having a drain plug on the diff.
3. Single piston rear caliper (even much cheaper Camaro SS has Brembos all around).
4. Wal-Mart grade audio system (the car isn't ALWAYS on a race track). Better system with Sync should be offered as option.

1 agree on the track cooling
2 the rear heats up quite a bit, not sure changing fluid is that out of the ordinary on any track car, my first change was pretty dirty so I recommend people keep up with this. Adding a plug is easy and I did it but pulling the cover is not a big job.
3 the rear brakes are fine, two piston would have been over kill IMHO.
4 never listen to it so no comment ;D sync would have been nice but oh well.
 
Ok guys....here's the update. I ran today with the new 302S radiator and my fogs completely opened up. The car was actually running pretty hot in the first couple of sessions - hotter than normal. I was pushing 250 ECT at 80* ambient. Couldn't figure out why I was running so hot. I got down and looked at the lower half of the condenser and the fins were in really rough shape. Large areas of it appeared to be almost completely blocked. I figured it had to be an airflow issue. I've seen the reports of pulling the grill so that is what I did. It was unbelievable - the ECTs dropped 15-20* and the highest I ever saw after that was 235* and the ambient was up to 86*. For the most part I was running 220-230 and I was pushing the car hard. Clearly opening up the grill is the solution. I will be looking to open up the grill even more before my next trip to BIR on 9/9. I am going to be ordering an air condenser fin comb to clean up the condenser and get airflow restored. The best part of the day was that I think for all intents and purposes I have found the solution to our cooling issue, but more importantly...

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I ran about half of my laps in the 130's with a low lap time of 138.92. ;D
 
1,255
2
GA
Ford Racing sells a finned aluminum rear diff cover that helps with cooling the fluid, increases fluid capacity, and I think also has a drain plug. That would resolve that problem.
 

ArizonaBOSS

Because racecar.
Moderator
8,730
2,734
Arizona, USA
PJWANNABE said:
Ford Racing sells a finned aluminum rear diff cover that helps with cooling the fluid, increases fluid capacity, and I think also has a drain plug. That would resolve that problem.

That is what is stock on the Boss........
 
PJWANNABE said:
Ford Racing sells a finned aluminum rear diff cover that helps with cooling the fluid, increases fluid capacity, and I think also has a drain plug. That would resolve that problem.

It is the same as ours and can be drilled out look here:
https://trackmustangsonline.com/boss-302-technical-forum/dam-thought-i-got-lucky-(/15/
 
JScheier said:
I keep going back to the 302S cars. What are the differences:

1. MGT radiator
2. 302S Grill (cutout fogs with wire)
3. air/oil cooler

They aren't having issues.

You forgot one other major one (in addition to the already mentioned hood)
-> No A/C condenser - that will definitely increase the airflow through the rad.
 
PTRocks said:
JScheier said:
I keep going back to the 302S cars. What are the differences:

1. MGT radiator
2. 302S Grill (cutout fogs with wire)
3. air/oil cooler

They aren't having issues.

You forgot one other major one (in addition to the already mentioned hood)
-> No A/C condenser - that will definitely increase the airflow through the rad.
Where is the air/oil cooler condenser located?
 
5 DOT 0 said:
PTRocks said:
JScheier said:
I keep going back to the 302S cars. What are the differences:

1. MGT radiator
2. 302S Grill (cutout fogs with wire)
3. air/oil cooler

They aren't having issues.

You forgot one other major one (in addition to the already mentioned hood)
-> No A/C condenser - that will definitely increase the airflow through the rad.
Where is the air/oil cooler condenser located?
I don't know, but I would expect it to be mounted in front of the rad (as opposed to in front of the A/C condenser which is in front of the rad)
 
1,255
2
GA
ArizonaGT said:
PJWANNABE said:
Ford Racing sells a finned aluminum rear diff cover that helps with cooling the fluid, increases fluid capacity, and I think also has a drain plug. That would resolve that problem.

That is what is stock on the Boss........

OK, then I got nuthin' ;)
 
ArizonaGT said:
Gary, what's the significance of the wood carving? Do only people under a certain laptime get to make an inscription?
It's the "1:30s club" they started. You have to run a lap time in the 1:30s to be admitted. The rite of passage allows you to engrave your name on a table top in the clubhouse with a wood burner. To my knowledge there are no other Mustangs in the club at this point. Most of the cars are C6 Z06s, motorcycles or full out race cars like the Viper ACRX that was there on Thursday.
 

ArizonaBOSS

Because racecar.
Moderator
8,730
2,734
Arizona, USA
cloud9 said:
It's the "1:30s club" they started. You have to run a lap time in the 1:30s to be admitted. The rite of passage allows you to engrave your name on a table top in the clubhouse with a wood burner. To my knowledge there are no other Mustangs in the club at this point. Most of the cars are C6 Z06s, motorcycles or full out race cars like the Viper ACRX that was there on Thursday.

That's awesome, man!

I guess if you run into any snarky Porsche owners in the paddock, you can just point them to the table before they point you by on track :)
 
CONGRATS GARY on making it to the 1:30 club.

George was right when I spoke to him on the phone.....it was just a matter of when, not if for you and the Boss. Way to go!
 

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