Awesome!

 

I agree. Would totally buy from these guys in the future very, very (did I say, "very"?) impressed.

 

That is so freaking cool!!!!! Congratulations.

 

We had 3 LS "participating in the test. One stock, one stock with the addition of an oil temp gauge and my car with the fog lights completely cut-out and the oil cooler.

In the very first session all 3 cars overheated. Temp in 90's, 4500 elevation and intermediate to advanced drivers. each car was seeing 240-250 water temps. Totally non-functional. (Note: We were running the full track and we were on the track with Ford GTs.) We had a few engineers from a certain auto company present and supporting our Ford GT event (which we crashed with the Boss's) and it was they that said to pull the grill off. After the first one, removing the grill takes literall about 3-minutes to remove. There's one tricky tab on each side that requires a screwdraiver to coax into releasing and that's it! Re-install takes about 2-minutes. Keep in mind all of this effort is less than it talkes to adjust tire temps!!

FORD -YOU HAVE GIVEN US A GREAT, GREAT CAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Throughout the day, I was encouaging many Ford GT owners to go take the Boss out. Keep in mind that most of these guys have multiple exotic cars - either past or present. WITHOUT EXCEPTION, each of these guys was simply blown away with the Boss. As we became more comfortable with the track, at any given time the Bosses were tracking in the midst of the GT's. The long straight was no contast - the GT's would blow right past, but in the twisties, the Boss was MARVELOUS!!!

GO TAKE YOU BOSS TO A TRACK! YOU WILL NEVER REGRET IT!!! DO IT! (Yes, I'm shouting at you!!!) LOL

 

LOL, you guys are too nice. Like you, we just want a product that works... and I'm convinced we can deliver one. We have a lot of very good components in our prototype. We have an excellent block adapter, lines that have withstood 330 degree oil and 100psi. We have a good remote filter and thermostatic control. I think we have good line routing. BUT - where we blew it (no pun intended) is that we really need to get the cooler into a better airflow. We had the benefit of having a few different racing engineers make a lot of good suggestions for us. We will capitalize on this input. More things are right about the kit than are wrong - so this is cool.

We will definitely keep the Forum posted - and continue to appreciate all of your insight!!

 

Before I go do something stupid, could someone post a video or step by step instructions (with pics) for removing the grill?

 

Dave
I do not have a vid (or even good pics) but remove the four plastic pins in the front of the grille on top, then the four pins on the black cover and remove it. Then removed the two bolts on top between the headlight and grille.


Then you will see six tabs on the bottom and two on each side. I started by lifting upward on the bottom tabs and pulling the grille out a little bit but the tabs do not clear the hold downs at this point. I did this since the side tabs are a tad more difficult to release and it helped by not having them snap back in place as you go.

Anyway pull the two side tabs toward the center of the car and pull the grille forward. One side is off now go to the other side and do the same then release the bottom six tabs fully and you are done. Anyone have better info please add.



Bottom two middle tabs looking down. If you blow up the picture above you will see what I mean by unhooking the tabs.

 

Are we saying it is a good idea to remove the grill when tracking regardless of ambient temp?
Or, remove the grill when it above 90 F?
Or, perhaps , it seems, do we not have enough information yet to make the call at what temp we remove the grill?

Great Stuff Guys!

 

Great data Kendall.
What a surprising solution.
Thanks again for all your good work on this.
-- Jim

 

Thanks Scott. I guess that will be something I will consider next year if required. I've not had an overheating situation in my two track outings this summer and my next track day is the day before turkey day, so ambient will be in the 60's.

There will be many more solutions to this issue by then, maybe something from Ford.

My immediate concern is damage to the cooling fins due to rubber marbles at high speed entering the lower inlet. I either need to put in a shield or stay out of traffic.

 

That is why I am ordering and modding a second grille, so far no damage on the bottom. I posted about it on BMO. Link about halfway down This should also answer your question Chris, if not needed leave it alone or take the risks. I will try to open every bit I can on the donor grille and see what happens. The light part and the bars that are enclosed up top and the sides. With my lame driving this should be good enough for now.

 

Thanks guys it was really cool. I was on a mission so was pretty thrilled it worked out. Scott's writeup on the removal is excellent. As far as temps to removethe grills, it is hard to say. I was starting to get hot in the upper 70s yesterday which it's never done. With the grille out I was running around 230 with 86* ambient I really think my main issue was the lower condenser fins being so bent they were blocking airflow. I ordered a fin comb and will get them straightened. I will be testing a more open grille design at BIR 9/9-9/11.

 

Are you sure it wasn't air in the system? After draining all the water, you may have had a big air bubble in the block. Usually after a good thrashing, you purge all the air but then your coolant will be a little low.

Have you checked the coolant level since it cooled down?

 

I had an Agent 47 grill in my 06 GT. All though it did have fog lights, the rest of the grill was wide open. They used steel mesh (expanded metal) for the grill. Let all kinds of air through it, but still gave protection to the radiator. I could see using this style of a grill in the Boss. Maybe they will make a grill in the future?

 

The agent 47 grill sans lights looks like a good option.

 

Good thought Dean and it was the first thing I hoped as well. When we installed it he let it run with the heater on for a couple hours I think. He kept topping it off and at that point we had put in 16 quarts. The stock system takes 15. After letting it cool it dropped again by the time I came back to the dealership and I put in another 2 quarts. I drove it for about 3-4 days on the street before my track day. After the first day, I added another quart but it never dropped after that. I figure we have about 19 quarts in the system now and I'm not sure how much more capacity the 302S radiator holds, but an additional gallon seems about right. I did burp the reservoir at the track after each of the first three sessions when it was running hot to see if it was trapped air. When I checked it this morning after fully cooling, it was still at the bottom of cold fill line, so I don't see how there's air still trapped in there.

The temperature dropoff after pulling the grille was so dramatic, that airflow has to be the issue. Ambient temps were about 5 degrees hotter and the car ran 15-20 degrees cooler!

 

It also depends on how you are driving I have run in much hotter temps without hitting 250, still got a long way to go till flat out. So for the beginners or occasional track day I think it is a non-issue.

If you don't mind cutting the grille up you can do the fake light drilling mod but since the grille removes quickly that just may be an easier way to go. Remember you will take a risk of damage running without it.

Gary, on your condenser fins, it may be time to look into some kind of lower protection for street and track without restricting air flow

 

When are you getting a 302S hood?

 

When he gets the rest of the 302S.

 

You first this time It could happen, just not sure about that one yet.