The Mustang Forum for Track & Racing Enthusiasts

Taking your Mustang to an open track/HPDE event for the first time? Do you race competitively? This forum is for you! Log in to remove most ads.

  • Welcome to the Ford Mustang forum built for owners of the Mustang GT350, BOSS 302, GT500, and all other S550, S197, SN95, Fox Body and older Mustangs set up for open track days, road racing, and/or autocross. Join our forum, interact with others, share your build, and help us strengthen this community!

S197 Kiwi Track Rat's Boss 302 resurrection Build Thread Profile - S197 Mustangs

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

118
275
Exp. Type
HPDE
Exp. Level
20+ Years
Auckland, New Zealand
Just a quick introduction post, Bill dubbed me the Kiwi Trackrat in his intro IM so I thought I would run with that. I live in New Zealand as some might know is a small country at the bottom of the planet. I have been into getting on track as often as I can for a long time now (20+ years) and been fortunate to drive a variety of cars, mainly European and Japanese.

However over that time I have never owned an American car and a good friend of mine has been in my ear for many years to get one. He has also had several Mustangs and I have always had a soft spot for the Boss 302. I love the recipe - V8, manual and not too much intrusive nannying from the safety functions.

Anyway, just after Christmas my friend spotted this vehicle at a salvage dealer and flicked me the link. I was away on holiday and maybe had the holiday buzz, or the rose tinted glasses on but I decided to roll the dice.

So that is a short summary of where I'm up to. I'm currently organising getting the car collected and delivered to the shipper to be exported to New Zealand. At the same time I will be ordering the repair parts and any upgrade parts that are sensible to do. I am sure I will have lots of questions and will be very appreciative of any advice from the members here at TMO.
 
Last edited:

Dave_W

Cones - not just for ice cream
984
1,275
Exp. Type
Autocross
Exp. Level
20+ Years
Connecticut
From the rear wing, it looks like a Laguna Seca version, so bonus! The front bumper beam looks bent in the pic, so consider the Ford Racing tubular replacement, M-17757-MB. Depending on how far back the structural damage is, you may want to look at an aftermarket front subframe / K-member, some of which support conversion to double wishbone front suspension. Good luck with the repairs and hope you can get it on the track easily.

Sidenote - have you been keeping up with the Prada / America's Cup sailing? The Kiwi boat was good in the pre-Christmas races, but Team UK has had a complete turnaround in the round robin matches these past weeks (or they were sandbagging mightily) and looks like they'll be mounting a tough challenge for the cup against NZ.
 

302 Hi Pro

Boss 302 - Racing Legend to Modern Muscle Car
2,009
441
Southeast
KTR:

I’m interested in reading about your planned repair process once she arrives home and you get her torn down. Looking at the relocated position of the L/F wheel/tire, you’ll have pull the unibody frame rail(s) to square up the front end, but after that will you be doing any of the repairs?

This will be an interesting build thread once it begins.

All the best & good luck.
 
118
275
Exp. Type
HPDE
Exp. Level
20+ Years
Auckland, New Zealand
From the rear wing, it looks like a Laguna Seca version, so bonus! The front bumper beam looks bent in the pic, so consider the Ford Racing tubular replacement, M-17757-MB. Depending on how far back the structural damage is, you may want to look at an aftermarket front subframe / K-member, some of which support conversion to double wishbone front suspension. Good luck with the repairs and hope you can get it on the track easily.

Sidenote - have you been keeping up with the Prada / America's Cup sailing? The Kiwi boat was good in the pre-Christmas races, but Team UK has had a complete turnaround in the round robin matches these past weeks (or they were sandbagging mightily) and looks like they'll be mounting a tough challenge for the cup against NZ.

Thanks, I believe it is a Laguna Seca (which was one of the reasons I decided to pull the trigger), it has the correct wheels and rear seat delete. Can a Laguna Seca be confirmed via VIN# or was it just an option package for the Boss 302?

I will check out the tubular front beam and K-member upgrade. That's exactly the kind of advice I really appreciate from everyone who has a lot more knowledge on these cars than me. It's very helpful to get input on what parts should I upgrade seeing as they will need to be replaced anyway.

Interesting sidenote! :) Yes I follow the Cup, depending which course they set I can see some of it from my office (when I have time to look out the window). it is a shame we are largely closed to tourism or the city here would be pumping. One thing I have learned with the Americas Cup is don't believe anything until final outcome!


KTR:

I’m interested in reading about your planned repair process once she arrives home and you get her torn down. Looking at the relocated position of the L/F wheel/tire, you’ll have pull the unibody frame rail(s) to square up the front end, but after that will you be doing any of the repairs?

This will be an interesting build thread once it begins.

All the best & good luck.

Thanks, yes it has had a quite a big impact, that picture is flattering as well as the salvage outfit do give them a "once over" to make them look better than they actually are. I won't really know until it gets here and tear it down though, at which time I will document it better.

It will certainly need a chassis pull, new rail, inner wheel well (I think you guys call it the inner fender and strut mount part), fender, hood, drivers airbag, seat airbags and whole bunch of other parts. The repairs will mainly be completed by my friend John that found the car, the chassis work will be done by a local shop here in Auckland that is one of the best in the business.

My intention is to buy the repair parts new from a Ford dealer in the US, probably South Bay Ford as they are close to my shipping agent in CA (approx 3 miles away) unless people can reccomend something different? I do have a potential hurdle to resolve as I believe some parts are pick up only but I'll try and work out a way around that.
 

Mad Hatter

Gotta go Faster
5,237
4,227
Santiago, Chile
Oh Boy,,, that's a familiar site. Had the pleasure of doing the same type of crash to my Boss 302. All ended up fine in the end. Got all my parts from Tasca and had them ship to my re-shipper in Miami to send by ship to Chile. More or less what your planning to do from CA. Try to get as much as you can in one shipment as it turns out cheaper that way.

Found this parts diagram useful.

Best of luck!!
 
118
275
Exp. Type
HPDE
Exp. Level
20+ Years
Auckland, New Zealand
Oh Boy,,, that's a familiar site. Had the pleasure of doing the same type of crash to my Boss 302. All ended up fine in the end. Got all my parts from Tasca and had them ship to my re-shipper in Miami to send by ship to Chile. More or less what your planning to do from CA. Try to get as much as you can in one shipment as it turns out cheaper that way.

Found this parts diagram useful.

Best of luck!!

Thanks Mad Hatter, I'l take a look. :)
 

Bill Pemberton

0ld Ford Automotive Racing Terror
8,420
8,346
Exp. Type
Time Attack
Exp. Level
20+ Years
Blair, Nebraska
You might check with Capaldi Racing ( Sponsor here ) as they are likely to have some of the parts you need and they work with Ford Performance on many items. The guys there have a great reputation and are good about getting back to you.
 

Bill Pemberton

0ld Ford Automotive Racing Terror
8,420
8,346
Exp. Type
Time Attack
Exp. Level
20+ Years
Blair, Nebraska
I checked for Kiwi TrackRat and his Mustang is definitely an LS, so he will have all the numbers and other info to share with us when it gets there.
 
118
275
Exp. Type
HPDE
Exp. Level
20+ Years
Auckland, New Zealand
He said street manners. Boy are you in for something else. Enjoy the rebuild and have fun.
This sounds like it's going to be fun! :)

Sound like fun. Good luck on the build.

are you going to repaint in the same color or do something else?
Yes same color, aiming to have it original looking except for wheels and suspension.


I checked for Kiwi TrackRat and his Mustang is definitely an LS, so he will have all the numbers and other info to share with us when it gets there.
Thanks for your help on that Bill, much appreciated.

So far I have been organising the shipping. The car is supposed to get collected this week for delivery to Long Beach. So will be with the shipper by the end of next week.

Then it's a matter of a long painful waiting period. Normally around 6 weeks as I understand it however there are various delays in shipping at the moment so who knows!

Next action in the meantime is ordering the parts for the repair!
 
118
275
Exp. Type
HPDE
Exp. Level
20+ Years
Auckland, New Zealand
Well due to the bad weather the Boss hasn't been collected for delivery to the port. Not a lot I can do about the weather so just patiently waiting.

In the meantime I've been compiling the parts order - which leads me to the question of are there things I should upgrade "while I am there" and "while the car is apart" (two famously open ended questions only car people understand :cool: ) instead of just replacing with OEM? Primarily with regards to reliability, e.g. cooling upgrades (rads, fans, oil coolers, water pump, etc), OPGs, baffled sump, etc. Bearing in mind this will be mainly DE / track days usually 6x 15minute sessions per day.

Also interestingly the front bumper cover is listed as "pick up only" from the dealer, which is obviously difficult for me thousands of miles away - so I'll probably hit up eBay (argh) or if anyone has a nice 2013 bumper cover and is happy to send it to my shipper in Long Beach please let me know and we can work something out.
 

Dave_W

Cones - not just for ice cream
984
1,275
Exp. Type
Autocross
Exp. Level
20+ Years
Connecticut
For the bumper cover, you might try calling the Ford dealer closest to your shipper and see if they can deliver to them. I often see dealership vans doing parts deliveries to local garages in my area.
 

Bill Pemberton

0ld Ford Automotive Racing Terror
8,420
8,346
Exp. Type
Time Attack
Exp. Level
20+ Years
Blair, Nebraska
Woodhouse Auto Family ( where I worked at for ages ) has a Dealer Wholesale Warehouse and they ship all over Nebraska and Western Iowa. This type of network normally deals with other Dealers, but you might check with your shipper to see if there is a local Dealer really close as Dave_W suggested. There is a good chance, if close enough, they have a customer or short run delivery driver that might be willing to drop it over for no charge. I agree that it would likely be the most reasonable option for you.
 

TMO Supporting Vendors

Top