They say you can never own just one Mustang...

[Gray Area GT350]

When I picked up my 2017 GT350 (my first ever Ford) back in September of 2016 a wise neighbor told me that I would never own just one. Well he was right.
The Boss: I picked up this lightly used 2013 Boss 302 with a mere 9500 miles back in October of 2019 with the intent of making a track day car out of it over a period of time. Two weeks later the interior and trunk were completely gutted. I dropped it off at a local expert fabricator and had the full roll cage welded into it. Along with some sheet metal work to close off the trunk area and the doors I got it back and spent the rest of the winter installing the rest of the improvements. Brakes (DBA rotors and G-Loc pads), brake cooling, one piece driveshaft, MGW shifter, Setrab oil cooler, front splitter, Apex wheels, Koni shocks and struts, BMR springs, panhard rod, trailing arms and swaybars, Sparco seats and fire suppression system, Safecraft 5 point harnesses, Lethal Performance offroad X pipe, TrackSpec hood vents and a giant G Stream carbon fiber wing.
The inspiration: I had attended the Ford Performance driving school and on day 2 drove the school Boss 302's. Since I like to keep my mind sharp I always have to be creating/building something and felt inspired to build one myself. I think it turned out pretty good. Three full track days so far this year and this Boss is handling pretty well. I will keep improving it over time and thinking if I will ever own more than two Mustangs.

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[svassh]

Looks great

 

[Carpenater]

I don't see myself owning more than one, as I just have a hard time just keeping one. Gone through 7 Mustangs in 6 years.

 

[honeybadger]

Boss looks great! Is the cage from Watson? Happy with the quality?

 

[jmn444]

curious, why sheet metal off the trunk?

 

[DrumReaper]

curious, why sheet metal off the trunk?

Stiffening, wall between the fuel tank and cockpit, etc...

 

[jmn444]

Stiffening, wall between the fuel tank and cockpit, etc...

i get stiffening but didn't think s197 and newer needed that, and fuel tank is forward of that point in these cars isn't it? I did this in my '68 since tank is in the rear, and it's a wet noodle of a chassis, but didn't know the benefits/reasons for the modern chassis.

 

[Gray Area GT350]

Boss looks great! Is the cage from Watson? Happy with the quality?

The roll cage is built very closely to the Watson design that was in the Boss 302S. A lot of reference photos were used and my fabricator used .095 X 1.75 Chromoly tubing. I think my fabricator did a great job of putting the tubes around the top of the interior roofline for maximum headroom versus the Watson cage. Also did a slightly different design for the door bars since I am still using the door glass in this car since it is still street legal. Let me know if you need additional reference photos because I recall reading in one of your posts you were thinking about putting a cage in the Honeybadger.

 

[Gray Area GT350]

curious, why sheet metal off the trunk?

For me it was primarily for sound deadening from the trunk area due to my car currently being street legal. Also some aesthetic value to containing the cockpit area. You are right on the fuel tank location since it is right behind the seats. I have the battery and a Coolshirt type system mounted in the trunk.

 

[jmn444]

For me it was primarily for sound deadening from the trunk area due to my car currently being street legal. Also some aesthetic value to containing the cockpit area. You are right on the fuel tank location since it is right behind the seats. I have the battery and a Coolshirt type system mounted in the trunk.

thanks! looks killer btw!

 

[DrumReaper]

thanks! looks killer btw!

It absolutely does. That SBY is gorgeous on that platform.

 

[PP0001]

When I picked up my 2017 GT350 (my first ever Ford) back in September of 2016 a wise neighbor told me that I would never own just one. Well he was right.
The Boss: I picked up this lightly used 2013 Boss 302 with a mere 9500 miles back in October of 2019 with the intent of making a track day car out of it over a period of time. Two weeks later the interior and trunk were completely gutted. I dropped it off at a local expert fabricator and had the full roll cage welded into it. Along with some sheet metal work to close off the trunk area and the doors I got it back and spent the rest of the winter installing the rest of the improvements. Brakes (DBA rotors and G-Loc pads), brake cooling, one piece driveshaft, MGW shifter, Setrab oil cooler, front splitter, Apex wheels, Koni shocks and struts, BMR springs, panhard rod, trailing arms and swaybars, Sparco seats and fire suppression system, Safecraft 5 point harnesses, Lethal Performance offroad X pipe, TrackSpec hood vents and a giant G Stream carbon fiber wing.
The inspiration: I had attended the Ford Performance driving school and on day 2 drove the school Boss 302's. Since I like to keep my mind sharp I always have to be creating/building something and felt inspired to build one myself. I think it turned out pretty good. Three full track days so far this year and this Boss is handling pretty well. I will keep improving it over time and thinking if I will ever own more than two Mustangs.

Very cool picture of your 2 Mustangs and really like the job that you have done on your SBY 2013 Boss 302 and really miss the 2012/2013 Boss cars that I had a number of years ago including a few Laguna Seca models.

I would suggest that dollar for dollar the 2012/2013 Boss 302 cars may be the best bang for the buck in recent years especially when it comes to taking a stock Boss 302 and modifying it for track duty just as you have done.

During my time with these cars I put on in excess of 25,000 miles on my regular 2012/2013 Boss and LS cars and enjoyed driving them just as much as I do my GT350R's.

The only modification that I made on two of my Boss cars was to replace the 2 piece steel drive shafts (~45 lbs.) and installed one piece CF drive shafts from DSS after which time I was able to reduce the rotating mass of the drive shaft in half and could notice the difference especially when it came to full throttle acceleration.

The weakest link in these cars of course is the Getrag MT-82 transmission and suggest that you noticed a big difference after installing your MGW shifter as they are possibly the best shifter upgrade out there.

With all of the modifications that you have made to your car do you still run the side quad exhaust, TracKey along with the OEM transmission cooler scoop and OEM brake duct cooling hoses?

The OEM tires on the LS cars were Pirelli P Zero Corsa's and just loved those tires as they were very sticky with a treadwear rating of 50 and enjoyed them much more than the Cup 2 tires on my R models.

What tire are you running on your car and what size of wheels front and rear?

In my stock Boss cars with the OEM 3.73 gears at the 7,500 RPM redline I was able to pull ~96 MPG in third gear and ~124 MPH in fourth gear and never really pushed my cars beyond that in 5th gear based on not driving in a controlled environment.

Based on what you have done here I don't have to tell you what these Coyote engines sound like at 7,500 RPM especially with the side exhaust baffle plates removed and miss those cars a great deal!

Congratulations on such a cool build and especially in the same exact same colors when Bud Moore, Parnelli Jones/George Follmer and the Ford Motor Company won the 1970 SCCA Trans-Am Championship Season that year which was Ford's 3rd manufacturers championship up to that point.

 

[Gray Area GT350]

Hey PP0001,
Thanks for all the info and I am glad to hear you enjoyed the Boss as well. Here are some additional details to your questions and comments:

The only modification that I made on two of my Boss cars was to replace the 2 piece steel drive shafts (~45 lbs.) and installed one piece CF drive shafts from DSS after which time I was able to reduce the rotating mass of the drive shaft in half and could notice the difference especially when it came to full throttle acceleration. I also replaced the driveshaft with a one piece unit as well but due to budget constraints at the time I installed an aluminum driveshaft. I too noticed an improvement in the acceleration rate.

The weakest link in these cars of course is the Getrag MT-82 transmission and suggest that you noticed a big difference after installing your MGW shifter as they are possibly the best shifter upgrade out there. You are 100% correct on the shifter upgrade as the MGW shifters are the finest shifters on the market. The original Boss shifter was probably the worst shifter I have ever seen. A stick in a bucket is probably more refined. I am going to try and get as much life out of the transmission as long as it lasts. Fresh fluids should help and so far it is doing well.

With all of the modifications that you have made to your car do you still run the side quad exhaust, TracKey along with the OEM transmission cooler scoop and OEM brake duct cooling hoses? I ended up removing the side quad exhaust as I also removed the cats and installed a X pipe set up that flows into some Borla mufflers. I did mostly for weight reduction and the pipes were a lot easier to wrap with insulation than the side quad exhaust would have been. The Borla mufflers are half the weight of the stock mufflers. I did not have the transmission cooler scoop so I may have to look into that. I am using some Vorshlag brake duct intakes that are in the outer edges of the lower grill area and seem to cooling the brakes well with 3 inch hoses and the Vorshlag plates mounted on the spindles. The TracKey is always used.

What tire are you running on your car and what size of wheels front and rear? I am using the Michelin Pilot Super Sport tires that were previously on my GT350. I scored a few sets of them back when WalMart had that big sale so I have a few sets to use up. I am running the Apex SM-10 wheel in a 19 X 11 with a +44mm offset. Tires are 295/35ZR19 in front and a 305/35ZR19 in the rear.

 

[PP0001]

Hey PP0001,
Thanks for all the info and I am glad to hear you enjoyed the Boss as well. Here are some additional details to your questions and comments:

The only modification that I made on two of my Boss cars was to replace the 2 piece steel drive shafts (~45 lbs.) and installed one piece CF drive shafts from DSS after which time I was able to reduce the rotating mass of the drive shaft in half and could notice the difference especially when it came to full throttle acceleration. I also replaced the driveshaft with a one piece unit as well but due to budget constraints at the time I installed an aluminum driveshaft. I too noticed an improvement in the acceleration rate.

The weakest link in these cars of course is the Getrag MT-82 transmission and suggest that you noticed a big difference after installing your MGW shifter as they are possibly the best shifter upgrade out there. You are 100% correct on the shifter upgrade as the MGW shifters are the finest shifters on the market. The original Boss shifter was probably the worst shifter I have ever seen. A stick in a bucket is probably more refined. I am going to try and get as much life out of the transmission as long as it lasts. Fresh fluids should help and so far it is doing well.

With all of the modifications that you have made to your car do you still run the side quad exhaust, TracKey along with the OEM transmission cooler scoop and OEM brake duct cooling hoses? I ended up removing the side quad exhaust as I also removed the cats and installed a X pipe set up that flows into some Borla mufflers. I did mostly for weight reduction and the pipes were a lot easier to wrap with insulation than the side quad exhaust would have been. The Borla mufflers are half the weight of the stock mufflers. I did not have the transmission cooler scoop so I may have to look into that. I am using some Vorshlag brake duct intakes that are in the outer edges of the lower grill area and seem to cooling the brakes well with 3 inch hoses and the Vorshlag plates mounted on the spindles. The TracKey is always used.

What tire are you running on your car and what size of wheels front and rear? I am using the Michelin Pilot Super Sport tires that were previously on my GT350. I scored a few sets of them back when WalMart had that big sale so I have a few sets to use up. I am running the Apex SM-10 wheel in a 19 X 11 with a +44mm offset. Tires are 295/35ZR19 in front and a 305/35ZR19 in the rear.

Brad, I appreciate all of your comments/feedback and sounds like we both agree with respect to the many aspects of these very cool Boss 302 cars including the very good low end torque of the Coyote engine which is very noticeable especially when driving a Boss 302 back to back with a GT350 but of course once the Voodoo engine gets its RPM's up to ~5000 RPM and up to 8,250 RPM that engine really comes into its own and turns into a real beast for being a NA engine and with only 315 cubic inches of displacement.

Both the Voodoo and Coyote engines could not be much different in many ways but personally I absolutely love both of these engines a great deal and am so thankful to Ford for building both outstanding power plants for our Mustangs!!

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