I remember reading about this engine, and its failures, in my jr. high years, but never anything about how the race engines had O-ringed heads like the Boss 429. These engines were run (and blown up) in the 1968 Trans-Am series, so it actually pre-dated the Boss 429. Thanks for sharing this look into the past. You enlightened us all.
I believe early 69 boss 302s head C8FE blocks Which were leftover tunnel port blocks. I had one several years back I should’ve kept it. They are the strongest and thickest cylinder wall blocks of the 302 family.
My engine builder and friend, Dave Tatum , ran one of those in his Burien Lincoln Mercury Cougar during the 67 Trans Am season......he had connections with KarKraft as he had been working on the GT-40 project and managed to get a Tunnel port 289 that they installed on the sly. As I recall , he said they ran it in a few races before they were caught and had to take it out. He also said it was really peaky and had no bottom end and they were shifting at close to 9,000 rpms.. I had always thought the small block was patterned after the 427 Tunnel Port, but Dave say's it was the other way around. I believe Dave worked with Jack Roush and others at KarKraft to develop the head design. Brent , if you're going to build a tunnel port for the street , you'd better stroke it to 347 cubes to get some bottom end on it.
The street heads really aren't out of line for a street head. I checked the port volume on a street head on one of my other videos and it was much smaller than a 4V Boss 302 head. The biggest issue with 60's Ford engines were the lazy camshafts. I do a lot of camshaft design and testing and it's pretty easy to improve low end manners.
@@lykinsmotorsports Hi Brent, I was totally unaware that they ever made a street head Tunnel Port 289/302! They must have sold them over the counter through Hi Performance Parts? Did the street heads work on the stock block?
Been around Fords and have built a lot of Ford performance motors much of my life (55 years) never seen or have heard of this tunnel port motor. Very rare indeed!
Thanks for sharing this! That's gotta be one of the coolest pieces of SBF nostalgia I've ever seen! I really want to build a 363 Clevor for my 20th anniversary Fox body in the next couple of years and I'm sure I'll be in touch.
Only ever heard of them, and maybe saw an article way back in my pre teens, during the early 70s or so. IIRC, Junior Johnson and Bud Moore were involved with these heads, some way or another. NASCAR was dumping the big blocks, and were starting to mandate small blocks, so they were trying to get some TP tech into the small blocks. The Boss and Cleveland wound up doing so good, they quit on these heads. I do have senioritis, so someone else may have better knowledge than myself.
Man I love it. Had they over head cammed that little thing it would have been insane...... I know they did a smaller OHC engine years before this but it didnt have heads like that... Dump that push rod tube and thats massive.
Neat Brent. These were as I was told developed as an answer to the Westlake heads. However Ford's race director only let UAW team members build the engines.This was the real downfall , the UAW team members were not schooled , in assembling high performance race engines. Late in the 1968 season, Shelby got his people to be allowed to "work" on the engines. The other "problem" was one Mark Donahue. Excellent chassis engineer!
ford had lots of killer race stuff back then they just never put it on the street ,, it did`nt happen but imagine millions of BOSS 351 powered mustangs from 65 to 70 ..
Brent on the 302 tunnel Port heads what can be done with porting heads and intake so you could use them on a 434 inch motor and is the exhaust port good enough to get the power out of the engine can you discuss this in detail
Ford had good head designs but their weak point was the exhaust port flow due to the design if the tunnel port came out 10 to 20 years later with all the the design changes that were developed in testing like high port position and they put it on the mustang motors it would have increased the sales of the car to the point where the other two manufacturers would have to burn the midnight oil to keep up with them
Being an old Ford OG, I remember these running in the Trans - Am racing series. The biggest problem was the insane (for it's time) rpm range for max hp, very few builders thought to change the valvesprings for every race - which lead to dropped valves quite often. They were dominant in the series until outlawed.
Lee Holman said that these engines blew up all the time, and the just threw away the damaged ones and installed a new unit in the Trans Am cars. I am sure with todays valve train parts, they can be made to live.
Similar design concept when compared to the 427 TP. This is one of the first one's I've seen. I can't imagine they flowed that well with the pushrod tube running down the center of the port. As others pointed out, may have made a decent cammer.
From what I understand the tunnel ports were not at all succesfull. Very peaky with little driveability and had to be revved to the moon. This from early TransAm racing. That is why they came up with the Boss 302 using the 4V Clevo heads. Which too were very peakey and lacked driveability. Though were clearly better and cheaper to produce. The Boss used the same block casting,, probably drilled and machined differently. Those caps look the same. There was a lot more iron in those main journals to cater for all those 1/2 bolts. The rods too were the same, they are NOT near standard, bigger all around and used 3/8 bolts. A modern 4 bolt block by Dart [not currently available] are made from better material and lighter than those 50+ y/o pieces. This block seems to be using 1/2 head bolts as well which on modern production blocks are NOT recomended to be used. 7/16 studs which do not pull the block out of square as much. Ditto for the mains.
WHEN FORD DESIGNED THE 427 TUNNEL PORT ENGINE. IN HEAD FLOW TESTS THEY WANT TO SEE HOW MUCH FLOW WAS RESTRICTED BUY THE TUB IN THE INTAKE PORT. STRANGELY IT HAD NO EFFECT AND FLOWED THE SAME AIR WITH OR WITHOUT THE TUBE. THE 427 TUNNEL PORT MOTOR WAS DESIGNED FOR NASCAR. IT WAS DESIGNED TO USE A DUAL QUAD SET UP. ONCE NASCAR REALIZED THE TUNNEL PORT DESIGN WAS DESIGNED AROUND A DUAL QUAD SET UP. TO PROTECT THE HEMI WHICH ALSO WAS USING A DUAL QUAD SET UP. THEY RESTRICTED THE RULES TO A 1 CARBURATOR SETUP. THIS IS WHAT KILLED THE TUNNEL PORT MOTOR IN RACING. JOHN DELOREAN HAD A BROTHER GEORGE. WHO WORKED AT FORD AND WAS ONE OF THE ENGINEERS WHO WORKED ON THE TUNNEL PORT HEADS. THIS IS HOW PONTIAC GOT THEIR RAM V HEAD DESIGN FROM FROM THE FORD TUNNEL PORT PROJECT.
I notice the bottom of bores are scalloped for rod clearance yet the rods seem to miss by quite a bit. I have a B302 block that is scalloped under the cam with cast in grooves.?
I used to have one of these blocks 25 years ago didn't have any heads for it though I wanted to try to build it with boss pistons and 351 modified heads but ran into the oiling issues with the lack of oil galleries to feed the valve train my dad ended up selling it at a car show I didn't make it too he let some guy have it for 50 bucks to pay his booth rental on Sunday before he left I would probably still have it and made a coffee table with it so I guess if the guy was able to build it I hope it got some use in somebody's car somewhere
Those are marks left from where the pistons were machined. Not spark plug impressions. This is an engine that had been ran a lot. Of course the decks are going to be filthy. Why does every comment have to be so dramatic? Do you realize that this is a customer's project and ongoing build? You're going to call someone's project junk? I'm going to start posting videos and not allow people to comment. There's a lot of bravery behind the keyboard.
@@lykinsmotorsports don't kill the comments section cos there's a lot of good information & it makes for entertaining reading, especially comments like the one you replied to 🔥👍
I was wondering if that tunnel port is going in a cougar? I have seen one in auto cross, here in Oregon, but it must be geared to the moon, they top out around 60 mph.
I was just down there a week ago talking to Randy he told me about it when I went to his house . Picked up a FT crank and a set of C70E -A. Rods from him we chatted a bit known Randy since 08
There are vintage races where these parts are used. Sorry you have a disagreement and have posted twice about it, but there are lots of guys out there who want to run these types of heads in road racing. You'll have to express your deep concern with them...................
@@ldnwholesale8552 Seems you didn't read my entire comment "continue with the development" four bolt mains and shaft rockers are pretty good as people pay decent money for those in 2022, imagine of all these millions of 302's came stock this way.
Again, please read the description of the video. This is a core engine coming in to be rebuilt. I couldn't care less if the lifters bounced off the floor because they will never be used again. These race heads will be used on an aftermarket block with a fully aftermarket rotating assembly and a solid rolle camshaft.
![Natanael Cano - Amor Eterno [Official Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/EO4prCs6WpM/mqdefault.jpg)
I really like your videos, Brent. And I learn a lot watching them. Thank you! 🙂
Paul 😎
Nice to get to see what these parts looked like.
Rare indeed.
Great content.
Thank you, EM.
I remember reading about this engine, and its failures, in my jr. high years, but never anything about how the race engines had O-ringed heads like the Boss 429. These engines were run (and blown up) in the 1968 Trans-Am series, so it actually pre-dated the Boss 429. Thanks for sharing this look into the past. You enlightened us all.
I’ve never seen a 302 tunnel port apart before. Very cool
Thank you!
I wasn't aware of a 4 bolt 302 block , other than the Boss . Very interesting with stock rods . 👍
Definitely not stock rods lol if they're Ford stock rods you can bet that Ford forged them
I believe early 69 boss 302s head C8FE blocks Which were leftover tunnel port blocks. I had one several years back I should’ve kept it. They are the strongest and thickest cylinder wall blocks of the 302 family.
Great history lesson
My engine builder and friend, Dave Tatum , ran one of those in his Burien Lincoln Mercury Cougar during the 67 Trans Am season......he had connections with KarKraft as he had been working on the GT-40 project and managed to get a Tunnel port 289 that they installed on the sly.
As I recall , he said they ran it in a few races before they were caught and had to take it out. He also said it was really peaky and had no bottom end and they were shifting at close to 9,000 rpms..
I had always thought the small block was patterned after the 427 Tunnel Port, but Dave say's it was the other way around. I believe Dave worked with Jack Roush and others at KarKraft to develop the head design.
Brent , if you're going to build a tunnel port for the street , you'd better stroke it to 347 cubes to get some bottom end on it.
The street heads really aren't out of line for a street head. I checked the port volume on a street head on one of my other videos and it was much smaller than a 4V Boss 302 head. The biggest issue with 60's Ford engines were the lazy camshafts. I do a lot of camshaft design and testing and it's pretty easy to improve low end manners.
@@lykinsmotorsports Hi Brent, I was totally unaware that they ever made a street head Tunnel Port 289/302! They must have sold them over the counter through Hi Performance Parts?
Did the street heads work on the stock block?
@@godsowndrunk1118 Ditto, very interesting this engine.
@@lykinsmotorsports Lazy camshafts for very weak valve springs in the day. I'm betting it has the old LeMans cam installed.
Ow, nice one. We get to see the best of the best on the tube. 👍
Never knew about this type of small block Ford .
Thanks for sharing this one.
Been around Fords and have built a lot of Ford performance motors much of my life (55 years) never seen or have heard of this tunnel port motor.
Very rare indeed!
They had a 302 SOHC too.
4 bolt c8 (1968) casting fe style wow
I didn't know that they even made one before great video how does the push rod hole effect air flow low rpm.or higher rpm.s
Like your content alot!
Just read an article , those heads are good for 9000 rpm . Do not modify , they are good the way they are
Yeah, unfortunately, the articles are not always correct.....
Nice !!!
Would that have been a option in the Shelby Cobras 🐍, would of sounded pretty mean , big comp, solid cam , pretty restrictive intake ports though
Thanks for sharing this! That's gotta be one of the coolest pieces of SBF nostalgia I've ever seen!
I really want to build a 363 Clevor for my 20th anniversary Fox body in the next couple of years and I'm sure I'll be in touch.
This content is GOLD! thank you for sharing!!!
Only ever heard of them, and maybe saw an article way back in my pre teens, during the early 70s or so. IIRC, Junior Johnson and Bud Moore were involved with these heads, some way or another. NASCAR was dumping the big blocks, and were starting to mandate small blocks, so they were trying to get some TP tech into the small blocks. The Boss and Cleveland wound up doing so good, they quit on these heads. I do have senioritis, so someone else may have better knowledge than myself.
Build and dyno.....PLEASE..
ford sure had some exotic stuff back in the day.
Very cool stuff 4bolt main tunnel port 67/68 trans am 302 Ford! Can't wait to see the dyno #s
Man I love it. Had they over head cammed that little thing it would have been insane...... I know they did a smaller OHC engine years before this but it didnt have heads like that... Dump that push rod tube and thats massive.
WOW
That intake port looks just like a Pontiac Ram Air 5….
Cool to see one, neat piece of history.
Neat Brent. These were as I was told developed as an answer to the Westlake heads. However Ford's race director only let UAW team members build the engines.This was the real downfall , the UAW team members were not schooled , in assembling high performance race engines. Late in the 1968 season, Shelby got his people to be allowed to "work" on the engines. The other "problem" was one Mark Donahue. Excellent chassis engineer!
What CC runners are they?? Maybe a 245 intake runner? Also, what size valves? So much questions. Really cool nostalgic 👌
Well that’s cool. Can’t say I heard of that ford engine before. Thanks for sharing
ford had lots of killer race stuff back then they just never put it on the street ,, it did`nt happen but imagine millions of BOSS 351 powered mustangs from 65 to 70 ..
Brent on the 302 tunnel Port heads what can be done with porting heads and intake so you could use them on a 434 inch motor and is the exhaust port good enough to get the power out of the engine can you discuss this in detail
Ford had good head designs but their weak point was the exhaust port flow due to the design if the tunnel port came out 10 to 20 years later with all the the design changes that were developed in testing like high port position and they put it on the mustang motors it would have increased the sales of the car to the point where the other two manufacturers would have to burn the midnight oil to keep up with them
Being an old Ford OG, I remember these running in the Trans - Am racing series.
The biggest problem was the insane (for it's time) rpm range for max hp, very few builders thought to change the valvesprings for every race - which lead to dropped valves quite often. They were dominant in the series until outlawed.
They weren't outlawed....they got dominated by the sbc 302.
Pontiac had a tunnel port head called the Ram Air V. Rare as the tunnel port Ford 302.
Huge ford fan. Always heard of these motors but never saw one. Still haven't actually seen one, but closest I will ever come lol.
Lee Holman said that these engines blew up all the time, and the just threw away the damaged ones and installed a new unit in the Trans Am cars. I am sure with todays valve train parts, they can be made to live.
An other fantastic video. Well done informative.
Similar design concept when compared to the 427 TP. This is one of the first one's I've seen. I can't imagine they flowed that well with the pushrod tube running down the center of the port. As others pointed out, may have made a decent cammer.
I'm from Mexico city, how you do that kind of ignition ports and which size ok valves you put in the head?
31st of May, 1968. Come on Ford guys, did I read that correctly?
Darin Morgan commented that the tunnel port design is basically garbage.
From what I understand the tunnel ports were not at all succesfull. Very peaky with little driveability and had to be revved to the moon. This from early TransAm racing.
That is why they came up with the Boss 302 using the 4V Clevo heads. Which too were very peakey and lacked driveability. Though were clearly better and cheaper to produce. The Boss used the same block casting,, probably drilled and machined differently. Those caps look the same. There was a lot more iron in those main journals to cater for all those 1/2 bolts. The rods too were the same, they are NOT near standard, bigger all around and used 3/8 bolts. A modern 4 bolt block by Dart [not currently available] are made from better material and lighter than those 50+ y/o pieces.
This block seems to be using 1/2 head bolts as well which on modern production blocks are NOT recomended to be used. 7/16 studs which do not pull the block out of square as much. Ditto for the mains.
Boss 302 used k code 289 rods that are 5.155 long. They come with 3/8 and a beefier cap, these really look like hipo or K code 289 rods to me
WHEN FORD DESIGNED THE 427 TUNNEL PORT ENGINE. IN HEAD FLOW TESTS THEY WANT TO SEE HOW MUCH FLOW WAS RESTRICTED BUY THE TUB IN THE INTAKE PORT. STRANGELY IT HAD NO EFFECT AND FLOWED THE SAME AIR WITH OR WITHOUT THE TUBE. THE 427 TUNNEL PORT MOTOR WAS DESIGNED FOR NASCAR. IT WAS DESIGNED TO USE A DUAL QUAD SET UP. ONCE NASCAR REALIZED THE TUNNEL PORT DESIGN WAS DESIGNED AROUND A DUAL QUAD SET UP. TO PROTECT THE HEMI WHICH ALSO WAS USING A DUAL QUAD SET UP. THEY RESTRICTED THE RULES TO A 1 CARBURATOR SETUP. THIS IS WHAT KILLED THE TUNNEL PORT MOTOR IN RACING. JOHN DELOREAN HAD A BROTHER GEORGE. WHO WORKED AT FORD AND WAS ONE OF THE ENGINEERS WHO WORKED ON THE TUNNEL PORT HEADS. THIS IS HOW PONTIAC GOT THEIR RAM V HEAD DESIGN FROM FROM THE FORD TUNNEL PORT PROJECT.
Its going to be a problem geting oil to up the pushrods on that if there is no oil gallery to feed them ??
The heads will not be used on this block. They will be used on an aftermarket block, with lifter oiling, so they will oil through pushrods.
I notice the bottom of bores are scalloped for rod clearance yet the rods seem to miss by quite a bit. I have a B302 block that is scalloped under the cam with cast in grooves.?
B2 blocks were also notched from the factory. Almost like they knew what was gonna happen LOL
I used to have one of these blocks 25 years ago didn't have any heads for it though I wanted to try to build it with boss pistons and 351 modified heads but ran into the oiling issues with the lack of oil galleries to feed the valve train my dad ended up selling it at a car show I didn't make it too he let some guy have it for 50 bucks to pay his booth rental on Sunday before he left I would probably still have it and made a coffee table with it so I guess if the guy was able to build it I hope it got some use in somebody's car somewhere
Very cool!
spark plug impressions on top of the pistons ! = i think you got a rusty junker deck looks filthy = i would rather trick flow twisted wedge heads ?
Those are marks left from where the pistons were machined. Not spark plug impressions. This is an engine that had been ran a lot. Of course the decks are going to be filthy. Why does every comment have to be so dramatic? Do you realize that this is a customer's project and ongoing build? You're going to call someone's project junk? I'm going to start posting videos and not allow people to comment. There's a lot of bravery behind the keyboard.
@@lykinsmotorsports keyboard warriors.😂
@@techs1smh13 "I'm a plumber, but I feel confident in telling professional engine builders how not to do things."
@@lykinsmotorsports 😂😂😂
@@lykinsmotorsports don't kill the comments section cos there's a lot of good information & it makes for entertaining reading, especially comments like the one you replied to 🔥👍
Awesome
Probably one of the best design ford ever made. Why did they not continue producing these?
What's the compression ratio?
I was wondering if that tunnel port is going in a cougar? I have seen one in auto cross, here in Oregon, but it must be geared to the moon, they top out around 60 mph.
Whoa!
I think that 302 tunnel port came from Randy a friend of mine. He had 2.
You may be correct. I think my customer bought it from him.
I was just down there a week ago talking to Randy he told me about it when I went to his house . Picked up a FT crank and a set of C70E -A. Rods from him we chatted a bit known Randy since 08
you really need to sell this package to a collector. don't alter parts in anyway. buy modern race parts.
There are vintage races where these parts are used. Sorry you have a disagreement and have posted twice about it, but there are lots of guys out there who want to run these types of heads in road racing. You'll have to express your deep concern with them...................
Pretty Cool 👍
Oops on the lifters.gonna lube it back up and send it?
Send it? This is a core engine that came in for rebuild.
FOMOCO pop ups factory. Chevy don't have a hair on it's ass😆🤘
Such an awesome engine top to bottom
This is cool, shame Ford didn't stay with this 302 version and continue with the development thereof.
Sorry but it was then and still is a lemon!
@@ldnwholesale8552 Seems you didn't read my entire comment "continue with the development" four bolt mains and shaft rockers are pretty good as people pay decent money for those in 2022, imagine of all these millions of 302's came stock this way.
Apparently the Cleveland heads flowed as good & had more midrange hence the Boss 302
My word what is the compression ratio on that motor?
Must be sky high with that pop-up and what looks like a smaller chamber
very rare parts like these should be left "STOCK " ..lifters should have been kept in order , and removed before rotating engine over.
Again, please read the description of the video. This is a core engine coming in to be rebuilt. I couldn't care less if the lifters bounced off the floor because they will never be used again. These race heads will be used on an aftermarket block with a fully aftermarket rotating assembly and a solid rolle camshaft.
I would clay these pistons.
All that on a measly 302.
Trans Am had a 5 liter limit.
What a terrible idea to run the pushrod through the port.
I've never heard of a tunnel port 4 bolt main non hydraulic 302 that wasn't a boss engine! what did these come in?