289 mini boss?

[chad.c]

a friend told me that if you take the heads off of a larger motor and put them on a 302, with a little modification you can turn the motor into a 302 mini boss. What heads were he talking about and is it possible to do it to a 289. I would also like any tips to make my 289 faster.

 

[D.Hearne]

a friend told me that if you take the heads off of a larger motor and put them on a 302, with a little modification you can turn the motor into a 302 mini boss. What heads were he talking about and is it possible to do it to a 289. I would also like any tips to make my 289 faster.

Swapping heads doesn't change the cubic inch displacement. What he's probably talking about was a swap done back in the late 70's-to-mid 80's to 302's before the explosion of aftermarket heads for small block Fords. This entailed bolting on 351 Cleveland heads on them along with a Boss 302 intake to make a "Bogus Boss". You had a Boss 302 top end, but a weaker 302 bottom end, or in other words a motor that would turn more rpms than the bottom end would stand up to. With the aftermarket heads out now, this is not a cost effective swap anymore. Different, yea, but not worth the cost.

 

[65ShelbyClone]

Not only is it not cost effective, its not practical anymore either. You have to move some coolant holes in the heads, track down a Boss 302 intake, and you still have iron heads with giant valves and poor low lift flow and low rpm driveability.

 

[Stang_1973]

Too agree with the other two posts, the idea is outdated. Alot of work has to go into making 351 cleveland heads work on on a small windsor.

Not only that but it just wasnt the intake and heads that made it a Boss engine. The internals were different too.

Id rather build or see a well done 289 or 302 than some one make minor bolt on mods and try and pass it off as a Boss. (which is done by many who prey on uninformed buyers).

 

[Protowrxs]

Could be talking about 351W heads on a 289/302 as well to stick with the Windsor parts?
I ran 351W heads after swapping out some small chamber 289hipo heads for a while back in the late 80's. My problem was the 289 heads had ported exhaust but small chambers and intake ports while the 351W had bigger intake and chambers but no exhaust porting.

When gas quality went to heck back then the 351W heads kept the detontation down but with no exhaust porting they didn't really perform any better.

It's amazing to me how many different head options there are in the aftermarket now.

-Stephen