2012 Boss 302 Intake Test - High Times

Keith Waites was kind enough to share his Boss 302 intake installation with us. Before our test, his car featured a JLT cold air induction (www.jlttruecoldair.com), an off-road H-pipe, and Magnaflow mufflers. The six-speed manual car also rolled on real Ford GT wheels, which we've never seen on a Mustang.

To make sure we had a strong, consistent baseline, Jim D'Amore of JDM Engineering tuned up the car for its existing mods with SCT gear. Our baseline tagged in at a robust 437 rwhp on UPR's Mustang dyno.

We weren't sure what to expect from just 2mm of inlet opening, but L&M's airflow magic proved itself quite nicely. Adding just the throttle body lifted the peak rearwheel horsepower by 11 to 448 rwhp.

Take one look at the power curve on the Boss 302 pull and you know this thing is working. Compared to the stock intake and stock throttle body, it boosted peak power by 31 to 468 rwhp. It gives up a bit down low, but from the midrange on up, it takes off like a rocket all the way to the rev limiter. UPR also added a Boss intake and L&M throttle body to its automatic '11 GT with an Airraid CAI and stock exhaust. It topped out at 447 rwhp.

Adding the L&M throttle body actually picked up power down low and increased the peak by 1 hp. Either the system is optimized at this point or the Boss manifold could use even more throttle body. Time will tell on that front.