Ford Racing Peformance Parts Boss 302 Engine Build - Reptile Resuscitation

While the Meziere water pump comes with its own stainless steel fasteners, the same cannot be said for much of the engine. In order to bolt everything together, we contacted two stalwarts of the automotive aftermarket, Automotive Racing Products (otherwise known as ARP) and Federal Mogul, whose Fel-Pro division sent us a 2816 gasket kit. ARP provided us with a set of cylinder-head studs (PN 154-4003) as well as intake-manifold and valve cover bolts (PN 454-2001). Without these two companies, we'd have a nice collection of aluminum and cast-iron paperweights.

AFM equipped our Twisted Wedge... 

   

  read full caption

AFM equipped our Twisted Wedge heads with its Hi-Rev valvespring kit. PN AF-HR15018 retails for $139.95 and will keep the valves moving properly when the B-41HR cam starts working them at high rpm.

In addition to providing the Boss block for our buildup, FRPP sent us a set of its black, crinkle-finish Cobra valve covers to dress up the outside of the engine. FRPP's Jesse Kershaw informed us that the company has a new Boss valve cover coming out, and he plans to send us a set once they're ready for production. In the meantime, the Cobra valve covers look fantastic. Tom Naegele at D.S.S. Racing had specified a multi-index timing chain, and FRPP had just the one. PN M-6268-A302 is a double-roller piece that offers nine different index positions.

While we've made great progress with Stolen Goods up until this point, now is when it starts to get tedious, as we'll come across all of the little nickel and dime items we overlooked, though something tells us it'll add up to more than 15 cents. We've kept a running list of needed items, but we're sure we'll overlook something along the way. We'll mention every little thing we run into, as it may just help prevent you from making an extra trip to the auto-parts store should you find yourself in a similar situation.

Next month, we should have the Boss up and running, and we'll see if we can get a video clip up on our Web site. See you then.

The cylinder-head bolt holes...        read full caption The cylinder-head bolt holes needed to be drilled out for the 1/2-inch ARP studs that we'll be using to secure the cylinder heads. A little WD-40 and a sharp bit is all that's needed. Try to keep the drill plumb and level with the bolt holes.	Since the Boss block is a...        read full caption Since the Boss block is a big-bore motor, we needed a big-bore head gasket so we wouldn't disrupt the airflow in the cylinder. Fel-Pro provided us with a set of MLS (multilayer steel) head gaskets (PN1134). These gaskets feature a 4.180-inch bore size, a 0.041-inch thickness and a 9.3cc compressed volume. As with other Fel-Pro head gaskets, the front end is marked to ensure that you line everything up correctly. The ARP studs are basically the 351-spec pieces, but with the extra-long holes of the Boss block, you'll need to set their height once you have the head on the block, otherwise they'll be too short. We used motor oil to lube the threads that go in the block, and assembly lube at the top.	The head is set carefully...        read full caption The head is set carefully over the studs and seated on the dowel pins.
Here HP Performance's Jason...        read full caption Here HP Performance's Jason Wells torques the cylinder heads in sequence, first at 30 ft-lb, then followed by 60 and 100.	Trick Flow provides two inserts...        read full caption Trick Flow provides two inserts to plug the EGR crossover holes at one end of the heads. Since we're not using the EGR system in this application, we called Trick Flow and had them send us two more.	The Twisted Wedge head comes...        read full caption The Twisted Wedge head comes with a 3/8-inch rocker arm stud, which won't work with the 7/16-inch Comp Cams Pro Magnum rocker arms that we'll be using, so we called up Trick Flow's Joel Fishel who hooked us up with a set of 7/16-inch pieces. With the guideplate bolted on, we used the Comp Cams measuring tool to figure out what size pushrod we needed.