I8AHSV

Does anyone know what's the deal with the ford 302 BOSS rods... Are they any different to the 302 windsor rods besides the rod length... The 302 windsor rods are 5.09" long & the 302 BOSS rods are 5.15"... this would mean that

a. You will need a different piston to offset the difference of the longer rod or....
b. You will need to shave the top off the pistons by 0.060 to compensate for the longer rod...This will move the ring pack up for better combustion & will give a lighter piston at the price of a slightly weaker pistons. I have also heard of people doing this with the 289 rods which are 5.155" long....

What's better, to keep factory rods & just get them shot peened & polished or get the BOSS rods & pistons....I need to know which combination is stronger. The BOSS Rods are around $600 & that's roughly what people charge to get the stock rods resized, shot peened & polished & also to set them up for a fully floating pin. Apparently people say that properly prepared factory rods can take 7000rpm bursts considering that the rest of the engine
is also setup to handel those sort of revs

I need to know as much as I can because I am planing to rebuild my 302 at the end of this year when I go on holiday......

T3man

BOSS rods are for BOSS pistons - I'm pretty sure the gudgeon pin is set at a different height.

I'd keep the originals and get the work done on them - it will save the added cost of having to buy BOSS pistons. And if you are going to be running those revs IMO you don't want weak pistons so don't be shaving yours just to fit BOSS rods.

Jase_ELXR8

What are you going to be using this engine for???

I8AHSV

T3MAN: you are right about the gudgeon pin & no I am not planing to shave the pistons.... at least not 0.060 thou....how ever I am thinking about using 289 rods with BOSS pistons if possible.... This should be ok and there would be no need for machining of the pistons.... 302 BOSS rods = 5.15 & 289 rods = 5.155 which would bring the difference between the rods to 0.005 thou which means that the BOSS pistons should be ideal for the job.... With the longer rod the engine should make more power & torque but the revs will suffer (minimal drop in engine picking up revs)...This all sounds good in theory but would like to know if it's possible....As for the revs I've been told that the properly setup rods could rev to 7000rpm by few machine shops but I will not rev the engine that hard because it reduces the engines life.... The revs that I am aiming at are around 6000 to 6500 rpm...maximum

Jase_ELXR8: The engine/car will be a cruiser (hopefully when I buy a second car) & will be used for some circuit racing...

Another thing that I've heard is that if you install the piston backwards on the conecting rod the engine will behave as if it has a 0.300 longer rod and would increase the engines power by 15 bhp to 35 bhp.... However the engine will be noisier when cold until the engine oil reaches operating temperature...This is only the case with the 302 windsor as far as I know & I am not sure if this is possible with other ford engines (302/351 clevos & 289/351 windsors)