'69 Boss 302 project that we've just started. The body and modifications were completed at one location and then the paint was completed at another. The paint presents very well. We've been engaged to get this Boss back together. We're currently chasing a lot of parts to get it back to where it should be, but we've been able to supply a lot of the used items that are not reproduced, or are bad quality reproductions. The pictures above are how the car arrived to us.
On inspection after the car arrived, we found some very ordinary body work that the vehicle had been subject to. It had seen poorly engineered plates and square tube welded in various unorthodox locations which we're told were to bolt in a panhard rod arrangement. It was evident that this would tear off the car at the first sign of hard cornering and that it would also fail engineering standards here in New South Wales, as every modification to suspension must be engineered for the vehicle to be road legal. Even if you're in a location where engineering modifications are not required to register your vehicle for on road use, it is wise to have an engineer check over any modification work, to ensure that it will actually work as intended and that it's safe.
Part of the plate work was also welded in over the original location for the fuel line wire to exit the trunk space, which didn't seem all that sensible. It drew structural support from 1mm steel on the trunk floors, rather than from something substantial, as would be expected. We feared a Boss 302 wrapped around a tree somewhere after all this add on suspension failed and as such, contact was made with the customer and after a brief chat, we were given the approval we sought, to remove it and return the vehicle to stock. The items were removed per the pictures above and new pieces handformed, returning the car back to original.
Part of the plate work was also welded in over the original location for the fuel line wire to exit the trunk space, which didn't seem all that sensible. It drew structural support from 1mm steel on the trunk floors, rather than from something substantial, as would be expected. We feared a Boss 302 wrapped around a tree somewhere after all this add on suspension failed and as such, contact was made with the customer and after a brief chat, we were given the approval we sought, to remove it and return the vehicle to stock. The items were removed per the pictures above and new pieces handformed, returning the car back to original.
Further inspection found that the tunnel had been modified from stock, raising it exactly 60mm above factory height. The blue tunnel pictured is a stock '69 tunnel and then the modified one is the next picture. You can also see the messy job done on the cross member with patch pieces added in. We thought that it was being fitted with a 6 speed transmission, or some crazy oversized transmission requiring this modification, but after asking, found that the car is and was always going to be the recipient of a 5 speed TKO, which requires no modifications to the tunnel at all, so yet another wasted modification that we're returning to stock with another original tunnel section that we have here in the shop. After this is rectified, we should be able to start putting this Boss back together and the original console that the owner has, should fit properly.
The above pictures show the repair we made to the tunnel. It came up well. The worst part was repairing the crossmember section, but that came up well, too. The owner of the Boss decided that while it was on the rotisserie, that we should repair the bottoms of the rails and jig points, which were fairly well beaten from years of floor jacks etc, so we had to actually cut the rails to repair them, with a super fine coat of body filler to smooth the repair. This also came up a treat.
Check out the engineering on the diff housing, for the panhard arrangement. It just won't make the cut! All removed and returned to stock. Rear end was completely rebuilt returning it to 3.91:1 traction lok as original, new axles purchased (as it had 28 spline axles on a 31 spline rear end and centre), new brakes and internals. Beautiful!
The pictures above show the trunk area repainted after repairs and application of the body sealer that we use. It is amazingly close in appearance to what Ford used and we've fiddled around with the gun to achieve the spray pattern like Ford, which while messy, is really hard to duplicate! Note the masking around the trunk lock support, which is exactly how Ford masked the '69 Boss 302's for the blackout treatment. Overspray shot all over the back of the tail lamp panel, only missing the back of the gas filler area where they masked it up. It also shot all around the trunk floor because of them painting the underside of the trunk lid while on the car, along with the hinge supports. We had to make the inflator bottle bracket by hand, as it hadn't been done during the car's restoration and was simply missing. That's one of the major features of a Boss 302's trunk area!
Also note the jig marks on the under carriage rear, where there are two next to each other. At this assembly plant, both Mustangs and Cougars rolled down the same line and Cougars were longer than a Mustang, so two marks appear on both vehicles.
Also note the jig marks on the under carriage rear, where there are two next to each other. At this assembly plant, both Mustangs and Cougars rolled down the same line and Cougars were longer than a Mustang, so two marks appear on both vehicles.
You can see that because the car was already painted, we had to be very careful to prevent overspray from touching the newly completed paintwork, as we repainted the entire undercarriage and inside the trunk area. We carefully applied the correct slop grey, white overspray and blacked out sill's, to give the undercarriage a nice authentic look.
Finally the big Boss 302 starts to be reassembled back to its former glory. Now it's starting to look the part and while the owner wants a car that he can drive and enjoy, he wanted it to be fairly original looking.
Well, the Boss is basically done less engine and transmission, which the owner is going to play with in his spare time, so it was loaded up on his friends neat looking transporter, before being hauled away into the sunset. This very rare '69 Boss 302 lives to see a new life.