(http://www.saacforum.com/gallery/44-300321142612.jpeg)
Eric English just came out with an article in the May Hemmings Muscle Machines magazine on Mark Hovander's 1970 Boss 302 that he had when he was in high school. It is an amazing story!
Check it out here. (When you click on the link it will download the entire magazine to your computer. Go to where documents get saved on your computer and read the entire issue.)
https://app.blackhole.run/#QHIfY9FrHb1BMFcHr36aepo2wkmdfjaBGUJtnZnYjbM5 (https://app.blackhole.run/#QHIfY9FrHb1BMFcHr36aepo2wkmdfjaBGUJtnZnYjbM5)
Very cool! Congratulations Mark! ;D
(http://www.saacforum.com/gallery/44-300321142902.jpeg)
+1 I got the tale in person in Mark's garage looking the car over. :)
Mark really enjoys 'in the day' accounts from owners decades ago.
This will be one of the most amazing car stories you ever read.
Very cool, thanks for sharing!
Veey kool, congrats!
Great story - Good guy!
Awesome article, Mark's car is a great story, every detail and dent is awesome.
John
And so is Mark .... ( a great guy)... ;D
Thanks Brian, Dan, Dave, Charles, JD and Craig. I have read a lot of car stories over the years, sometimes I don't quite understand the barn find stories if the car was sitting on soil over many years, it tends to lead to a lot of corrosion under the car. In contrast, this was more of warm garage find, it was only moved once in 33 years, to the second enclosed garage in front of its resting place. This was done so radiant floor heat could be installed and then the car was moved back. While it is not a Hemi Superbird, Yenko Camaro or a Cobra, but it represents what I worked for during the summer of 1980. A good friend of mine, Jon Berhold, once asked me, Does a car ever talk to you? I could not understand what he was talking about. As rough as she is, her heart is strong, I smile every time I walk into the garage and yes, she talks to me all the time. She is a driver and that is my focal point for the hobby now. It is not getting any easier to enjoy these cars. As I mentioned in the article, the cars are one thing, but where they carry you to and the memories of that trip you will have for the rest of your days. The people you meet along the way is even more important. On the drive to Montana, every rest stop, motel, gas fill up was full of people whose friends once had a BOSS or was just glad to see her on the road and could not believe the story. Eric English did a great job on trying to narrow down the story, thankfully the magazine gave us two extra pages, so much more to tell, so many photos I have from 1980-1981, so I am working on the War and Peace version too. The people you meet along the way is just a continuation of the story, that will continue until I am no longer functional. A recent addition to the SAAC forum is John Slack who has a fascination with high performance BOSS 302 induction systems. John's mechanical upbringing as a mechanic on the world's speed record WWII Bearcat has now carried his meticulous attention to detail to working on the CROSS BOSS. For me, what was initially a sight of beauty and uniqueness when I was 18, is now about function. I have no doubt, John will dial her in. Thanks again for the nice comments, hope you enjoyed the story. Mark
Sorry Jon, it was Cris , my mistake.
Quote from: Hov on April 01, 2021, 10:12:00 AM
While it is not a Hemi Superbird, Yenko Camaro or a Cobra, but it represents what I worked for during the summer of 1980.
It is in the same class as far as I am concerned.
^^^+1^^^
I'd love to have my high school car back.
It was a pretty quick '69 Pontiac Grand Prix 428 that delivered many exciting street racing encounters (and girl encounters too) from 10th-12th grade.
No, it was not a Ram Air IV GTO, but it meant as much to me as if it were one.
Rock on 8)
Here are original pictures Mark took when he and his friends were first installing the CROSS BOSS on his car.
(https://i.imgur.com/AoYNNMf.jpg)
CROSS BOSS Picture #01
(https://i.imgur.com/4atkOCf.jpg)
CROSS BOSS Picture #02
(https://i.imgur.com/dTYOxld.jpg)
CROSS BOSS Picture #03
(https://i.imgur.com/LcWxfub.jpg)
CROSS BOSS Picture #04
(https://i.imgur.com/a0C9GOO.jpg)
CROSS BOSS Picture #05
(https://i.imgur.com/M7l7oCK.jpg)
CROSS BOSS Picture #06
(https://i.imgur.com/eCIOorx.jpg)
CROSS BOSS Picture #07
(https://i.imgur.com/sMk9Zkx.jpg)
CROSS BOSS Picture #08
(https://i.imgur.com/ciCTsBF.jpg)
CROSS BOSS Picture #09
Mark can write his own captions based on the picture numbers
John
Great pix, thanks for posting. How'd the car run after the install?
Great stuff, I like 'em all but have a personal appreciation for the driven cars!!!
Quote from: Side-Oilers on April 15, 2021, 05:20:54 PM
Great pix, thanks for posting. How'd the car run after the install?
We are tuning it right now, hopefully soon it will be just fine.
John
That driveway looks like the Wedgewood neighborhood.
Hey 2112, Its been a while since we last spoke. Wedgewood, well similar, North Ballard, Olympic Manor, once was a golf course in the late 1950's, overlooked Puget Sound. My father bought a sand trap in 1961 for $10,000 , all of his friends thought he was nuts. He designed the house himself, it was well built. It is actually worth more than $10,000 today. By the way , my twins are finishing up their second year at the U of W Dental school. Hope you are well. Mark
Mark,
I think your new username should be 'no scoops'
Jon
Quote from: Hov on April 17, 2021, 01:09:38 AM
Hey 2112, Its been a while since we last spoke. Wedgewood, well similar, North Ballard, Olympic Manor, once was a golf course in the late 1950's, overlooked Puget Sound. My father bought a sand trap in 1961 for $10,000 , all of his friends thought he was nuts. He designed the house himself, it was well built. It is actually worth more than $10,000 today. By the way , my twins are finishing up their second year at the U of W Dental school. Hope you are well. Mark
Well, at least the neighborhoods were at the same latitude! 😄
Did your kids mention Dr Marty Anderson? He has been running the 2nd year operative department for decades. Great clinician, great instructor, great man and one hell of a car restorer. In fact won 1st place at Pebble Beach with a '33 Pierce Arrow he restored in his garage!
What a great story! Tons of memories! Congrats on the write up, Eric is really good at this stuff, he did my Boss 351years ago.
I recently found my first car, 73 mach 1, that i drove in high school. Sitting in the same garage for 36 years, never moved. Restoration is pending.
Looks like a few goodies in that tightly packed garage.
Great story, history, and photos 8)
Thanks for posting.
Drive on!
That was a great read! I had no idea, looking forward to more stories at a future WASAAC event...
Quote from: Side-Oilers on April 15, 2021, 05:20:54 PM
Great pix, thanks for posting. How'd the car run after the install?
Adequately, quite adequately.
John
I never really doubted John Slack's mechanical ability, it was more the idea if a racing induction system could be made to work on the street or if the CROSS BOSS was one of those factory efforts that just did not work well. It makes sense when you are responsible for a 4,300 hp, 12 cylinder racing airplane engine, the same process can be applied to sorting out the issues we had on the CROSS BOSS. It was a learning experience to watch John investigate several aspects pertaining to the prior installation of the CROSS BOSS. The final area were modifications to some of the internal parts of the In-Line carb. All these changes and new pieces were made from scratch right at John's shop. Multiple drives provided feed back in degrees of improvements and other areas that needed to be addressed. When I was once thinking about putting Webers on a '65 GT350, Jack Hoare (Shelby American's tuner for the Daytona Coupes) told me to read the plugs. Sure enough, after each drive we would look for changes in the plugs. It all has come together in the end, the CROSS BOSS is running better than it ever has. John feels it is 95% percent there, I was pretty happy at 75%, John wants to go after the other 5%, that's John. My first 100 plus mile drive is tomorrow morning, at that point, we will have another 8 to 10 heat cycles and it will be time to re toque and safety wire the intake bolts for the second time. A learning curve on how it is done correctly. People like John and Randy Gillis are blessings to our club and now I can touch the surface on understanding where the shortcomings were on the CROSS BOSS but also how it can be improved upon from when Ford stopped the project. Mark
Very enjoyable story. Thank you!
Richard E.
what is a cross boss and manifold worth? my friend has one.
Quote from: EdwardGT350 on June 18, 2021, 09:30:13 PM
what is a cross boss and manifold worth? my friend has one.
I am not saying this is the Market as of today but;
https://bringatrailer.com/listing/original-ford-cross-boss-intake-matching-autolite-850-carburator/
(https://bringatrailer.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/15455828217dff9f98764daIMG_7256.jpg?fit=940%2C705)
Quote from: EdwardGT350 on June 18, 2021, 09:30:13 PM
what is a cross boss and manifold worth? my friend has one.
Worth more than any diamond ring and it holds its value much better. That's what a Cross Boss is worth.
Quote from: EdwardGT350 on June 18, 2021, 09:30:13 PM
what is a cross boss and manifold worth? my friend has one.
As with everything condition, condition, condition is a big determination in the value of the CROSS BOSS intake and carburetor. In addition to that which carburetor the D0ZX-9510-A (875 CFM) the D0ZX-9510 (1425 CFM) brings a lot to the table. The "B" carburetor is useless on the open plenum CROSS BOSS intake manifold. So if you have a "B" carburetor and the single four intake manifold you find yourself shopping for the "A" carburetor. I have heard stories about these carburetors being NOS but spent the best part of the last 50 years on display not in the best environment and having slight corrosion on the insides of them. A few have been abused, so even being brand new doesn't necessarily make them usable. Typically it is best to have your carburetor prepared for use by Kelly Coffield. He supports all the spare parts you would need.
As for the bigger "B" carburetors they are happy used in an IR application.
John
As an update to this thread and since this litle project grew out of the tuning of Mark's BOSS 302. I thought I'd share some pictures of a system that Kelly and I are putting together, Not to produce, but as a proof of concept piece as to what FoMoCo should have done with the BOSS 302 and IR Autolite Inline Carburetors. Anyway it is a project that Kelly Coffield and I wanted to explore after conversations regarding Mark Hovander's BOSS 302 CROSS BOSS tuning. So Kelly cast up the intake, The front cover and several other supporting pieces. Where as I'm supplying the engine, and building the internal parts for the extended distributor drive and the oil pump drive unit. The concept is to use only items that were available in 1970.
Picture #1 is;
The modified package sitting next to a concours engine package to show the package size comparison.Picture#2 is;
Due to the shorty water pump being used the extended timing cover size difference is only 7/16" longerPicture #3 is;
The height of the carburetor mounting pads are level on the Autolite Inline intake, the front of the factory intake is lower than the height of the Autolite Inline intake but the rear of the Autolite Inline intake is lower than the factory intake.
Picture #4 is;
The difference between the straight edge on the stock water pump pulley mounting flange to the shorty pump water pump flange pulley.
Here is a link to the BOSS302 Registry where the more complete story resides. Including links to videos and the Hemmings story regarding casting the intake and parts.
https://www.boss302.com/smf/index.php?topic=88291.0
Wow! That will be cool!
As I stated on the Boss 302 site: Kelly and John you guys are re-creating history (so to speak), and this project is out of this world! Excellent work!
Thank You guys for the nice words. I'm adding one more picture shot across the carburetor pads of Kelly's intake manifold. This picture shows the overall height difference between the intake manifolds. I had a text from someone that wanted to know if I had any better illustration of height difference other than the front shot of both, this is the picture I referenced in my text.
John