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2012 Boss 302 Intake Test - High TimesTesting the high-revving ’12 Boss 302 intake manifold and an 82mm throttle body on an ’11 5.0 From the June, 2011 issue of 5.0 Mustang & Super Fords By Steve Turner Photography by By The Author
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Here's a look at one of the... Here's a look at one of the most anticipated parts for the Coyote 5.0-the Boss 302 intake manifold. Beside it is a nice little surprise in the form of L&M Airflow's new 82mm throttle body for the engine. Once the Boss 302 hits the streets, you’ll be able to buy many of the performance parts developed for it from Ford Racing ( www.fordracingparts.com). That’s because the gear run on the street-going Boss 302 was developed on the racetrack in Ford Racing’s Boss 302R racers. Since there were cars, there were hot-rodders. And, since there were hot-rodders, there were intake manifold swaps. Back in the days of Edelbrock manifolds and Holley carbs, these swaps were as common as today’s cold-air intake and tune installs. Since the modular era, however, these swaps have become less common. That’s because the stock intakes are pretty good and few after-market companies took the plunge to create new manifolds. In recent years, the choices have proliferated but it’s taken a couple years before there were options. It might have been quite the same with the Coyote 5.0 were it not for a second big push from the factory. Charged with creating a next-gen Boss 302, the Mustang team started with a new intake manifold meant to stretch the Coyote’s legs to 7,500 rpm. Since it was first seen on the Boss 302R test cars, it’s been one of the most anticipated engine parts in recent memory. Let's face it, the Boss 302... Let's face it, the Boss 302 intake will sell based on looks alone. As cool as the standard Coyote's with its styled intake cover, the Boss 302 intake is simply sexy. Its short, straight runners were inspired by the intakes run on high-revving Daytona Prototypes. So imagine our excitement when we received a call from our friend Jeremy Martorella at UPR Products. Jeremy placed an order for some Boss 302 intake manifolds with a Ford dealer, and through some glitch in the system, they showed up in advance of the cars hitting dealer lots. He asked if we’d be interested in testing the intake on Keith Waites’ manual-trans car. As you might expect, we dropped everything and headed south to see what this new piece could do on a standard Coyote. Of course, we can never be satisfied with testing just one cool part. We also managed to get our mitts on L&M Airflow’s new 82mm throttle body for the Coyote to see how it worked with the stock and Boss manifolds. Upon arriving at UPR, we met up with tuning guru Jim D’Amore of JDM Engineering. Jim tuned the car’s base configuration so that we had a strong baseline; then Jeremy got down to the business of swapping parts. "It pulls hard up top for sure," Keith said. "I couldn’t feel much difference that it lost down low. The car runs like it did stock, but it runs harder up top. It doesn’t feel like I’ve lost anything." However, on the track it was a break-even proposition for Keith’s car, so he is considering a gear swap to maximize the combination. UPR’s automatic car picked up almost 0.2 and 2.5 mph, but it lost some in the 60-foot. Obviously there will be a learning curve with the Boss manifold. Of course, the high-rpm dyno numbers were quite impressive. Read on to see how we fared on UPR’s in-house Mustang chassis dyno.  Obviously the Boss 302 runners...  Obviously the Boss 302 runners are a free-flowing straight shot into the intake ports. They are certainly made to sing at high rpm. However, it's difficult to tell the difference in runner length just by looking at the two intakes. Not only does the Boss manifold untangle the induction, but its runners are about 2 inches shorter than the stock intake's.  It's pretty easy to optimize...  It's pretty easy to optimize the induction and exhaust systems on an '11 5.0, but up until now, there were no throttle bodies available to remove any last restriction before the intake. For our test, we laid our hands on L&M Airflow's new 82mm throttle body ($399) for the Coyote (left). It features a bell-mouth inlet, a tapered and blended throttle blade, and countersunk throttle-blade screws, which all contribute to increased airflow.  Our test car is an '11 GT...  Our test car is an '11 GT coupe with a six-speed manual trans. Its modifications included a JLT cold air induction system, an off-road H-pipe, and Magnaflow competition mufflers. We started by having Jim D'Amore apply his tuning acumen to create a strong baseline. Jim likes to tune his customer rides to have a consistent power curve, so he brings in the cam timing stronger but carries it throughout the power curve. As such, there is no early hit followed by a plateau-it pulls strong all the way.  It took restraint not to move...  It took restraint not to move right to the Boss manifold, but after establishing a strong baseline, we swapped only the throttle body. It really is the ultimate remove-and-replace job. Just remove the induction tube or CAI, unplug the throttle body's electrical connections, and remove four bolts. Do it all in reverse and your new throttle body is home. In our experience, the car needs one start up and shutdown sequence to learn its new throttle body; after that, it idles like stock.  With a successful first test...  With a successful first test under our belts, it was time to swap intakes. Jeremy did this swap in about a half hour. In less experienced hands, it should still only be an hour or so to swap intakes. Start by removing the fuel connections. Be sure to capture the fuel with a rag. Next, remove the induction tubing or CAI; then remove the vacuum, breather, and electrical connections. Then you can unbolt fuel rails, unbolt the intake manifold, and remove the stocker.  It's an R&R job to put on...  It's an R&R job to put on the Boss intake. It is nearly a direct replacement for the stock intake save for the mounting of the purge valve. If you are nervous at all about the swap, be sure to pick up a Ford service manual. It will go over all the connections and torque settings for the fasteners. For example, the intake and fuel rail fasteners are torqued to 89 in-lb.  In order to get results for...  In order to get results for just the intake upgrade, we switched back to the stock 80mm throttle body for our initial Boss manifold testing.  This is the aforementioned...  This is the aforementioned purge valve. It mounts in a different spot on the Boss manifold than the stock manifold. In a pinch, you can use a longer piece of fuel hose to relocate the connection. If you want to install it just like a Boss, you'll need to pick up the following bits from your Ford dealer: CR3Z-9G297-A, hose; CR3Z-9G290-B, bracket; and W506974-S437, screw. Ford also uses different fuel lines (PN CR3Z-9J280-A) and induction tubing (PN CR3Z-9B659-B) if you are going for the totally stock look.  Your mileage may vary with...  Your mileage may vary with cold-air induction systems designed for the stock intake manifold. In our case, Jeremy simply had to rotate the JLT tube in the rubber adapter to make it fit nicely. Likewise, you do have to slightly re-orient the brake booster vacuum hose to make it fit cleanly as well.  As we mentioned, the Boss...  As we mentioned, the Boss has its own fuel lines, but in our experience, the stock fuel rails fit just fine. Of course, you'll want to make sure to reattach them before you restart the car.  Here's the finished install....  Here's the finished install. It looks awesome atop the Coyote, even without the Boss-specific fuel-rail covers in place. Of course, looks are one thing, but this intake really delivers from the midrange all the way up to wherever you dare to set the rev limiter.  Once we proved out the Boss...  Once we proved out the Boss 302 manifold, it was time to try out the L&M throttle body on the freer-flowing manifold. It didn't provide as big a boost as it did on the stock intake, but it did free up some power.  Keith Waites was kind enough...  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,...  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...  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...  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...  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.
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