Topic: 69 Boss 302 Disassembly

[J_Speegle]

Recently started the process of replacing the engine in my Boss that I've had over 20 years. Car has about 30K miles but has a body repaint   When I purchased ti we did the paint, freshened up the engine compartment and dropped in an engine I had rebuilt for a friend.  Finally found all the parts I needed fro the original engine, had it rebuilt and figured I needed to put them both together again.  As usual nothing is that easy, can't just drop the new engine in the old engine compartment and that front suspension is showing a little age (cleaned and cleared it years ago when I first got it) so you get the idea. Currently engine bay is being repainted, original suspension is out, being cleaned again and refinished if needed.

Will be repairing the drivers seat (just got a rear seat for a donor panel) and the antenna will disappear since we've since discovered it was a radio delete car originally

Purpose of this thread is to share some pictures of the original pieces, finishes and such in a hope that I can help someone else our provide a base for further discussions. Hope its helpful


For the record (I better not forget to include this   this is a April 24th Dearborn built Boss 302

Before





Now




More to come

 

[Dads Boss]

Best of Luck I'm sure you will do a great job.

[J_Speegle]

Best of Luck I'm sure you will do a great job.

Thanks - no restoration this time - but must confess  its often difficult to stop yourself from going to far or too detailed

[J_Speegle]

Spindles

Nice shape for 4 years old.

Worst looking of the two sides





69 Boss/HD spindle identifier





Another angle





Quenching effect and coloration of the metal still visible after all these years. A little cleaner after some degreasing. You can make out the difference in finish on the steering arm where the original arm paint mark was located





Close up of the darkened verses machined surfaces - Yes a little grease and chips - look much better after they were fully cleaned. Got to love those original Calif cars

[J_Speegle]

A couple of additional spindle shots

Driver's side





Passenger's side





Spindle Hardnest test location - The close up shows the wrinkle effect the quenching oil can produce in some of the bends and curves of the surface

[app01]

Thanks for sharing them. Interesting  note on the hardness test point. I never picked up on that before.

[J_Speegle]

..... Interesting  note on the hardness test point. I never picked up on that before.

Thanks the reason we share - we can all learn from each other.

Now that you know its there you'll take notice

[Armond]

Well all I can say is it is about time! Looks like a nice solid car.

[krelboyne]

Is the passenger side spindle a service replacement with the D0ZA casting number?

[J_Speegle]

Is the passenger side spindle a service replacement with the D0ZA casting number?

Can't make that call. Know its been discussed over on the Boss site over the years and there seems to be a fair amount of 69' with the DO spindles (fair number of examples of DO parts used on cars originally if built during certain  time periods. Tie rods were replaced on that side (again only 3K miles on the car) but can't say that they are connected.

[PerkinsRestoration]

 Jeff, Typical Spindle for 69 Boss 302 has DOZA casting number. The Typical 70 Mustang with disc brakes also has DOZA casting # but different suffix. The bearing size is different and rotors are not interchangeable. The KKX spindle is common on 69 302, but not as Typical as D0ZA from my obsevation. Same thing happened on 69 Shelby's with F 60 option. Many items on 69 Boss 302 have 70 engineering numbers due to late year introduction.The Exhaust system intermediate pipes and resonators also have D0ZA engineering numbers. I can check the Engineering numbers later as we are heading to Carlise. I'm sure Ed has them written down as this is a 69 Shelby oddity also. Talk to you soon.

[J_Speegle]

Jeff, Typical Spindle for 69 Boss 302 has DOZA casting number. The Typical 70 Mustang with disc brakes also has DOZA casting # but different suffix. The bearing size is different and rotors are not interchangeable. The KKX spindle is common on 69 302, but not as Typical as D0ZA from my obsevation. Same thing happened on 69 Shelby's with F 60 option. Many items on 69 Boss 302 have 70 engineering numbers due to late year introduction..................

That's what I recalled but found it sort of self serving in this thread

You guys have a safe and rewarding trip - leading a hand at the MCA show this weekend instead.

[specialed]

In my 69 Shelby meetings letters it says maybe 50 shelbys to get the new remachined (shorter) kkx 69 b9 spindles in late march as part of new HD f-60-15 tire option. So early 69 b2s would also get these being built around same time as shelbys changover to bigger heavy duty suspension.  I think jeffs b2 has original spindles on it as I have seen several shelbys with both re-machined kkx & new doza on same car & his has the double wire twist on them & that was assembly line ID & in 1970 assembly line ford used the green tape for ID.   The easy way to id the 69 1/2 Shelby & b2 spindles from the regular (all 1970) disc brake spindles when installed on car is to look at the cast metal rib (with hole) just below cast ID # kkx or doza on jeffs picture & notice the way it is cast as the rib is thin & tall with hole  but in 1970 & up the spindles have flat & wide rib below casting doza #s. Later on in 69 production the doza replaced the kkx (early remachined shortened b9) spindle.

[J_Speegle]

Getting ready to put the engine compartment black back on (not restoring just freshening up)  and I thought I would show the factory markings I found on the radiator support. I hesitate doing this (since I don't want people copying them) but I hope this motivates others to take the time to look to see what their cars have.

This car is a spring built 69 Dearborn car

These are the marks we sometimes (depending on plant and production year) find on the radiator support. They appear to have been applied to the bare steel as helper codes for other workers and painters who would later cover them with paint. It appears that the wax based crayons were absorbed into the metal and often are still there today if our cleaning methods are careful and we take the time to seek them out.

Sometimes the coding is fairly straight forward - things like first rotation number, exterior or interior color codes are found. Sometimes the coding is not understood so we just document so that if one day we done gain a greater understanding we have the information

Passenger side - Pretty straight forward exterior color code of "3" and a first rotation number that starts with the letter "A"

Letters and numbers were highlighted in paint by me so I could document the markings




Passenger side is allot more involved than I have seen on other cars and I have no idea what any of them relate to (wish I did) but really in the big picture not that important at this point




I traced over again with paint - this time in two different colors just to identify different letters and markings. Worked much better than all one color




Found the second rotation number  (would match the upper left corner on the buildsheet - and elsewhere, if I had one where I expected on the front cross member - unfortunately only one digit. Will have to search the interior for the rest of the numbers (001-999 was typical for most plants, most years during 64-70)

[J_Speegle]

Engine compartment black is on so time for reassembly





Did try out something new, I reapplied the writing found on the radiator support with crayon again. Since I'm using newer paint with hardener its present look is more of day one - rather than maybe day 90 but we'll see what happens. Surely a different effect than under single stage original paint

Did shot a test panel to play with - might try tracing the letters with a brush and acid to see if I can get the crayon to break through and what ever takes place next