OK nitro fans Boss500

[Stray Kat]

From the Competition plus website

 

http://www.competitionplus.com/index.php?o...93&Itemid=6

 

 

Racing enthusiasts know that the true heart of a race car is its engine – and Dan Davis, director of Ford Racing Technology, wants to make sure that the “heart” that powers NHRA Funny Car Mustangs of John Force Racing is pumping “blue” blood in the future.

 

Davis and John Medlen of John Force Racing challenged themselves to develop the new Ford BOSS 500, the first modern nitro engine for drag racing. The BOSS 500 was tested on-track for the first time on Oct. 18 and was unveiled for media today.

 

“We wanted to be in NHRA Funny Car with an engine that we really could call all our own,” David said. “I wanted people to see a Ford Mustang race car and know that it’s winning races with true Ford power.”

 

Davis and Medlen looked at the current nitro engine, discussed where they felt it had weaknesses, and decided to design and build a new engine to address them.

 

The BOSS 500 is the first nitro drag racing motor designed with analytical tools. It has a strengthened block for better durability and new cylinder heads developed by Ford and Force engineers. The basic design will favor areas such as the main caps register and the main webs in the block. Its engine block also is anodized blue after machining, helping ensure fans and competitors alike know when they’re seeing a Ford nitro engine under the hood.

 

Most of the external surface areas on the new 500-cubic-inch engine have been redesigned; a new belly pan was designed for better sealing; and the valve covers purposely call back the old Ford BOSS motors. The engine also features Ford main bearings with actual parts numbers in the Ford performance catalog.

 

“We had three things in mind when we set out on this project,” Davis said. “First, for marketing purposes, we wanted to say that we were putting reality behind the term ‘Powered by Ford.’

 

“Second, on the technical side, we have always helped out with aero, chassis development and now safety, but we always stopped short of the engine. This project has been a technical exercise for our engineers and the Force team to take the current motor, redesign it and make it

a Ford.

 

“Finally, we want fans to associate this engine with Ford and Force, but we also know this provides a new revenue opportunity for us,” Davis added. “In Funny Car, the plan is for this to be a John Force Racing-exclusive engine at the start, but we do want to be able to sell it to Top Fuel teams for competition in the near future.”

 

Davis said that the current plan is for new Force Mustang driver Mike Neff to use the Ford BOSS 500 engine full-time in 2008 as it goes through its development phase. The other Force Mustang drivers – John Force, Ashley Force and Robert Hight – will use the engine after it has been further developed.

 

Ford and Force Racing also are investigating a team to be the first development operation in Top Fuel, with a measured, commercial rollout to more competitors after it has gone through a prove-out stage in that division.

 

 

Edited October 30, 2007 by Stray Kat

[Stray Kat]

This as close to a Ford engine as the NHRA would let them build. Certainly the NHRA kept them on a short leash, thus it still make do with the 4.8" bore center. Looks like Chrysler style mag drive still and probably the same bellhousing flange so all the clutch parts still work. IMO this is Ford finally claiming credit for the advances that Force and Ford have brought to the nitro state of the art. Albeit they're hogtied a bit.

[Stray Kat]

'nuther link......

 

http://www.fordracingparts.com/sema/2007.html

[Blueblood]

Awesome, I've been waiting for this for a long long time, I want to see pics of that block!!!

[Blue II]

Now maybe Dan Davis will approve a new NHRA Pro Stock block and cylinder head.

[goinbroke2]

4.8?? I thought they went to the 4.9 bore centre of the BBF years ago? Or am I thinking of pro stock with the copy cat Olds DRE from Warren Johston?

 

Regardless, this is good news on a couple of levels. Fords continuing involvement in dragracing, somebody concerned of mopar based powerplants in ford and chebby's,etc

 

Now if ford would only support the sportsmen too!

 

STOCK AND SUPERSTOCK RULE!!!!!! :happy feet:

[Blue II]

That engine program probably cost Ford at least $10M. It doesn't share any Ford design assumptions.

 

Ford Racing recently had a complete NHRA Pro Stock engine design offered to them with private funding and they are sitting on it. It is a REAL Boss engine not some Chrysler clone.

 

I'll bet the Glass House doesn't know about this.

[therealmrmustang]

That engine program probably cost Ford at least $10M. It doesn't share any Ford design assumptions.

 

Ford Racing recently had a complete NHRA Pro Stock engine design offered to them with private funding and they are sitting on it. It is a REAL Boss engine not some Chrysler clone.

 

I'll bet the Glass House doesn't know about this.

 

 

A Ford in NHRA Pro Stock would be fantastic! This needs to happen in a big way... I lost interest years ago when it became an all GM show. Ford Racing had a new (...in 1996) Pro Stock engine in development when Ford Quality Care pulled Gliddens sponsorship.

 

The are many reasons for the clean sheet design of the Ford Boss 500. One being the NHRA decision to outlaw the 4.9" bore center (...article below), and the fact that there hasn't been anything new (technologically speaking or otherwise) in that arena in 20 plus years.

 

 

Article:

 

written by Todd Milles

published by The News Tribune

June 18, 2004

copyright 2004 Tacoma News Inc.

 

 

Boss thrown for loss; Comeback by Tacoma's Walt and Pat Austin cut short by NHRA ruling on their innovative Boss 429 engine

 

The excitement in Walt Austin's voice quickly turned to fed-up disgust.

 

Austin, of Tacoma, has been one of drag racing's most innovative car builders for a half-century. His son, Pat, is a four-time National Hot Rod Association Alcohol Funny Car champion, and was voted one of the all-time 50 greatest drivers when the NHRA celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2001.

 

After nearly a three-year layoff from full-time racing, the Austins were due back for the 2004 season in the NHRA Alcohol Funny Car class, debuting a Ford Mustang Boss 429 Hemi engine as their power source.

 

When word of the Austins' new vehicle reached racing circles, the project quickly met resistance -- so much, the NHRA passed a new block-specification rule that rendered the Ford engine obsolete.

 

Even though the rule does not go into effect until the 2005 racing season, the Austins aborted their plans to return to the sport they so greatly benefitted, both as racers and spokesmen.

 

"We were going to upgrade (the Boss 429) with the latest technology with state-of-the-art stuff," Walt Austin said. "Word of what we were doing got out. The NHRA wants to keep a level playing field, and they were nickel and diming us on some of the changes anyway.... but then they came out with this big deal, saying the specs have changed."

 

The rule specifically deals with the spacing of cylinders in the engine block. To bore a cylinder is to enlarge it to accomodate a bigger piston, which allows more fuel and air to pass through, thus creating more horsepower.

 

In the 429 Boss engine, the spacing between cylinder bores, from center to center, is 4.9 inches, which is what the NHRA has previously regulated as being legal. Since the Austins revealed their designs, the new dimension will be limited to 4.84 inches, starting in 2005.

 

The Austins said they have not received a clear explanation why the rule was passed, although many of the association's recent decisions have been to stem rising costs. Attempts to reach officials in the NHRA national technical department this week were unsuccessful.

 

What is clear is that two of the sport's primary aims have been affected - innovation and history.

 

First of all, the Ford engine has had a place in the sport for a long time.

Carroll Carter is an engine builder and Ford supplier from Manassas, Virginia, who has been a consultant on the Austins' project for the past year. He has been involved in the sport for 35 years, and has manufactured the Boss 429 engine and parts since 1995.

 

Primarily, racers in the sportsman classes such as Alcohol Funny Car or Comp Eliminator have used the 429 Boss. But so did Bob Glidden, the famed 10-time Pro Stock champion from the 1970s and 1980s whose 85 professional victories rank him No. 3 on the all-time list.

 

"Several (drag) racers have been racing it, off and on," Carter said of the Ford engine, which was first raced in NASCAR in the late 1960s. "In the last 1 1/2 years, people have showed (moderate) interest in it, but then Walt really got interested in it. He tested the engine on his dyno in his shop and that is how he got familiar with it. He wanted to do a new project, and got an idea to build a Ford."

 

Walt Austin has been experimenting with the engine for three years.

 

"We knew it had a lot of potential, but it had a lot of problems," Austin said. "We were going to eliminate the problems. But it wouldn't be something that would be half-a-second faster than the (Funny Car) class."

 

The Austins had their engine block built by John Rodeck of California, a builder they've used for 15 years. They claim the cylinder spacing of the Boss 429 engine allows for a thicker sleeve to give the block more stability and protection from wear during high-speed runs.

 

Sure, the bigger block creates more horsepower, but Pat Austin said his car already had more horsepower than the tracks they race on will hold.

 

"What we did was take the combination of the 429 Boss and have made it more user-friendly," Pat Austin said. "It is a cosmetic change, really."

 

Early in the year, word of the Austins' project spread. The NHRA asked to review the blueprints, Walt Austin said.

 

In late March, several racers, including the Austins, were sent a letter by the NHRA stating that engine specifications for the Alcohol Funny Car class had been changed.

 

"I'm not angry at anybody," Pat Austin said. "It's their playground, and they make the rules."

 

The Austins are not the only ones affected by the rule change. Greg Hunter, a native of Canada who now lives in Sheridan, Wyoming, was planning on racing in NHRA divisional competition full-time this year with the Boss 429 engine in the Alcohol Funny Car class.

 

Hunter tested his car in Las Vegas, got mixed results (6-second range on a quarter-mile track) but was pleased enough to start scheduling divisional races.

 

That is, until the NHRA stepped in.

"It blindsided me. I've been putting my Ford combination together for two years," Hunter said. "When I first heard it, I thought there was no way they could do that... to completely outlaw the Ford engine."

 

The first weekend of April, Hunter went to the NHRA stop in Las Vegas, circulated a petition of protest among the drivers and even tried to talk to NHRA officials about the rule change.

 

"They haven't given me a reason whatsoever," Hunter said. "I went to one (tech official) to ask, and he turned his back on me. It was sort of like, 'Oh my God, what's going on here?"

 

"I even talked to Bernie Fedderly (pro driver John Force's co-crew chief with Austin Coil) just to see if somebody from Ford would help me on this. Bernie said their crew was doing the same sort of (testing), putting parts on the car that would handle the force and make them run better.... but that the NHRA stopped them as well."

 

Hunter, 33, went to the crew of another prominent engine builder in the sport who told the racer what the Austins were building would make everything else "obsolete" and dominate the sportsman class.

 

"I don't know how (the NHRA) can base their input on what somebody else is saying," Hunter said. "We have a ways to go."

 

The rule change has affected all parties involved. Carter said his business has declined -- drivers who were going to purchase his engines and parts now don't need to, and the builder has a garage full of Ford engines.

 

Walt and Pat Austin still plan on racing, but not under the NHRA umbrella. Instead, they will enter some open events for match racing.

 

The NHRA? The motor sports association is losing one of its best drivers ever -- a driver who does not expect the differences to be reconciled anytime soon.

 

"When you take innovation out of the sport, it is just not appealing to us," Pat Austin said.

Edited November 2, 2007 by therealmrmustang

[6t5frlane]

Pro Stock Mustang NOW !!!!!

[Stray Kat]

Rumors are about new "Factory Experemental" classes with real cars and their factory drivetrains going at it. Sounds great, would get me back in a seat at an NHRA event.

 

This Boss 500 is everything that the NHRA would allow Force/Ford to do which I dont think was not a whole lot. The good thing is other racers can use the Boss 500 without many changes. This will help it's cost effectiveness.

 

Personally I was hoping for more distinctiveness. Even though I'm sure a bunch of Ford's resources and engineering strength went into this, the NHRA would'nt budge and let them do an engine that was more Ford- ish.

[therealmrmustang]

Pro Stock Mustang NOW !!!!!

 

 

Amen brother!