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Short question considering 2012 Boss 302 grille & fog light covers

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Dear forum,

I do not have the 2012 manual for my car, but the 2013 manual I got as pdf tells me to remove the fog light covers for track days.

The thing is that in my grille, the are not removable. The grille is cast in one piece.

Are they only removable on the 2013 Boss? Or does that mean I do not have an original grille? I do know the car had quite an accident and was imported to Europe as a crashed car and was repaired here.

Thank you for your help!

Oliver aka Tomcat0815
 
I am pretty happy with the car so far. I had an BMW E46 M3 before that and I was not expecting the Boss 302 to perform so well even before I had any mods installed. Which probably tells more about my driving abilities than about the two cars...

But about the grille, what's the way to go here? Should I cut out the fog light covers with a Dremel and epoxy in some black mesh, 302S style?

Or should I just remove the whole grille and replace it with chicken wire or whatever when I am on track?
 
@TMSBOSS I'm sure there are, but having them sent to Germany and paying customs and taxes means that parts like these usually cost double than what they cost in the US.

I'll check out the Cobra Jet grill nonetheless, thank you!
 

Grant 302

basic and well known psychic
The 302S mesh is wired in. The mesh is coated 1/2" square. I wouldn't use epoxy but should work okay if you make sure to have good surface roughness for mechanical bond. Wire method seems safer to me.
 

TymeSlayer

Tramps like us, Baby we were born to run...
3,787
2,740
Exp. Type
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3-5 Years
Brighton, Colorado
I went with a seven billet Roush grille. There are many options out there that you can change out to. But in a pinch, do what Bob did or cut them out completely and throw on two circle screens.
 
Welcome! I bought a cheap 7 bar insert from American Muscle (I think it was $55 or so) then purchased a Grille surround from Rock auto for $50 and made my own cheap grill (looks to me like a Roush). Let's in a ton of air and I can swap back in the stock grille for that look for the street. Just another cheap option for you. It certainly gets A LOT more air in the engine bay. If you look closely, the stock boss 2012 grille has a lot of the areas blocked off, very little air flow.
 

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Exp. Type
HPDE
Exp. Level
3-5 Years
Irvine, CA
Spencer brings up a good point about the blocked off areas.
I also drilled out the space in the center of the grille between the horizontal bars which are blocked off as he mentioned.
This would be easier with a small dremel but I just drilled lots of holes.
 

xr7

TMO Addict?
706
821
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10-20 Years
Minnesota
The 302S mesh is wired in. The mesh is coated 1/2" square. I wouldn't use epoxy but should work okay if you make sure to have good surface roughness for mechanical bond. Wire method seems safer to me.
I would also go for wired in, easier to repair than a piece that installed with epoxy
 

302 Hi Pro

Boss 302 - Racing Legend to Modern Muscle Car
2,009
441
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So back in the day, (2012) Ford Racing came out with a 2012 Boss 302R front grill to improve air flow and of course I order it for something like $300USD.

Here is what I got: A stock or production Boss 302 grill that they cut off the back of the faux fog lights to open it up & then they installed a 1/2” coated wire mesh that was wired into 8 drilled holes on each opening. When I say “wired in” I mean like safety wire(ed) in. It works & I came to actually like it.

Maximize the air flow by cutting out the fog light plug. It also greatly improves the air flow to the air cleaner cold air box.

Save yourself some cash or Euros and DIY it. Just another thought.

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