Why was the 429 Boss called a "shotgun" engine?

[Ghoste]

I've never met anyone who seemed to know the origin of this nickname?

[Drache]

I think it was because of the really large intake and exhaust ports in the huge alloy heads, like "rifle barrels" compared to "shotgun barrels"

[69bronzeT5]

My dad's friend owned a '70 Boss 429 4 speed back in the '70s. My dad always told me they called them "Shotguns" because of the ability to throw you back into the seat hard like a shotgun...

[bull]

Because when they blew up it sounded like a shotgun going off, and the inside of the engine looked like it got hit with a 12-gauge round of 00 buck?

[Aero426]

As mentioned, it had to do with the HUGE intake and exhaust ports in the heads.

[Ghoste]

Shotguns aren't come to my mind when I look at the ports I guess.

[Aero426]

Look at the straight shot from the port to the combustion chamber.

Big round ports + straight path = shotgun.

[Rolling_Thunder]

a tennis ball...      yeah - tell me those flow well below 5000rpm on the street   

[Aero426]

a tennis ball...      yeah - tell me those flow well below 5000rpm on the street    

That engine was designed for 7000 rpm at Daytona all day long.   Street use was secondary to that.   Those users got to suffer the consequences though.    John Craft posted some insightful comments on the Aero Car board.  

The Ford Boss 429 race engine was slightly superior to the Chryco Hemi in peak HP in race tune. That said, the Boss was at a mid range disadvantage in power/torgue to the 426. This is one reason for the greater sucess that Charger 500s and Daytonas enjoyed in short track settings in 1969 over the Boss 429 powered cars. The 426 had more power down low and could more effectively put torgue to the ground than the high rpm loving Boss engines. That spelled success in getting off of the corners in short track competition. Ford engineers seemed always to make the intake ports of their creations too large back during the Total Performance era. While good for maximum breathing, monster intake ports were hard to keep "fed" at lower rpms. As a result, fuel mixtures fell out of suspension and low to mid range power was handicapped. Then there was the equal penchant that Fomoco engineers had for mismatching intake and exhaust port sizes. Exhaust port sizes for Ford HP engines back in the day were significantly smaller than those on the other side off the head castings...especially for Boss 429 and Tunnel Port 427 engines. You can have the biggest and best flowing intake ports in the world and still not go anywhere if you can't get rid of spent combustibles with equal efficiency. 426 I & E ports worked much more harmoniously together in this regard. Another problem the Boss engines had was battleship class connecting rods. Race Boss rods were heavy enough to anchor a John Boat in a hurricane and took lots of energy to spool up. Once at 7,000 rpm, they would live a good long time, though. But it took time to get there. There is no doubt that Boss 429 was a good high speed, superspeedway engine. Which is one reason that Boss 429 race cars won so very many more (almost 2 to 1, btw) superspeedway (mile or more tracks) races than 426 hemi powered cars did total during the 1969 and 1970 seasons...even though little Lido Iacocca cut Ford's racing budge by a full 75% just before the 1970 season.

[tan top]

intresting info  guys 

Because when they blew up it sounded like a shotgun going off, and the inside of the engine looked like it got hit with a 12-gauge round of 00 buck?

thats funny 

[John_Kunkel]

Shotguns aren't come to my mind when I look at the ports I guess.

How often do you see perfectly round intake ports?

[Ghoste]

How often do you see shotgun barrels nearly 3 inches in diameter?

[pettybird]

Shotguns aren't come to my mind when I look at the ports I guess.

How often do you see perfectly round intake ports?

Boss 429, 427 tunnel port, 427 SOHC (Ford loved 'em, I guess) and the Ram Air V.  I'm sure there are others but those jump out at me...

[Cooter]

How often do you see shotgun barrels nearly 3 inches in diameter?

Elephant gun?

[surmanajaja]

Shotguns aren't come to my mind when I look at the ports I guess.

How often do you see perfectly round intake ports?

Boss 429, 427 tunnel port, 427 SOHC (Ford loved 'em, I guess) and the Ram Air V.  I'm sure there are others but those jump out at me...

yeah Ford went crazy with the heads back in the day. a guy in sweden had these INSANE heads on a 302 ford..

http://mustangtek.com/heads/C8FE-6090-A.html

1968 Tunnel Port 302, street version prototype Overhead valve pushrod engines face a design dilema: the pushrods compete for space with the intake ports. Conventional design places the pushrods along side a rectangular shaped intake port. These ports also steer around the pushrods. The Ford tunnel-port design runs the pushrod through the center of a round intake port, within a thinwall tube. The ports flow better due to their round shape and straight path. This design was first used on the 427, and then in 1968 on a special 302.

These round intake ports are 3.8 sq. in. in area at the intake manifold face. The Tunnel Port 302 cylinder heads feature 2.12" intake and 1.54" exhaust valves. By comparison, the 289 HiPerf engine used 1.78" intake and 1.44" exhaust. These large valves completely fill the wedge shaped combustion chamber. The exhaust ports are larger than normal 289/302 heads. Two 540 cfm Holleys sit on a high-rise aluminum manifold. Autolite 4300s were used on the street version.

The race version featured domed pistons, yielding a compression ratio of 12.5:1, a solid lifter camshaft and forged steel crankshaft. The nodular cast iron rocker arms are shaft mounted, similar to those used on the Y-block V-8. Lubrication for these shaft mounted rockers required a special block with revised oil passages. Also used was a special road racing style 8-quart oil pan. Some used an early transistorized ignition.

The street version used flat-top piston, for 10.5:1 compression, and a hydraulic camshaft. Notice from the picture, the engine was complete with thermactor emissions control hardware, 289 HiPerf style exhaust manifolds, and a thermostatic clutch radiator fan. 1,000 engines were required for 1968 Trans Am homologation. As used in Trans Am competition the engines produced approximately 420 bhp with an 8,500 rpm redline.

[Indygenerallee]

I always heard the Ford guys call them "semi-hemi's" because of the head design. They were a pretty great engine alot better than any Chevy junk.