Iron heads boss 429 EX part#

I found some Iron heads boss 429 EX part#, they have been in an attic for yrs.
1 might be cracked ,lots of mods.
peds. milled down for Jessels ,spacers on intake side (for high block)
the mag.covers have spacers WELDED to them ugh!
Blower intake extended for 8 or 10? 71
clutch o matic? c6, weird, not interested
valve covers have ford in raised letters!
they are refuges from a pulling tractor?
I can't find much on the web? Does anyone know what a fair price dould be?
or what they are ? do they use a boss block? I'm thinking old shcool build (street car)

I'm confused? Do you have a set of iron boss heads or just an EX?

Jason, yes he does have a set of the iron BOSS heads. They are really heavy, and if modded much they should be checked out by someone who knows what to look at. As far as value, they are worth scrap price if they are cracked or unusable, and if they are in useable condition, they are worth whatever a buyer is willing to pay for them. There was a set on here a long time ago that a guy had and he was asking $5k for a bare set that IIRC were never used and like new with surface rust. They are fairly rare, but there is little desireability to them in a performance application as there are much better performance heads out there that weigh a lot less. In a factory iron class that would allow them, they would be the best of the best. Not sure if there is a way to use them on a standard block, but there are quite a few on here that can address that question.

Some place around here I have a Hot Rod mag from 1968 with a Boss 429 on the cover with those heads and valve covers. Has one or two pages about the engine details. Those heads and valve covers are prototypes for the Boss 429 engine. The VC's did not clear the MC in the Boss 429 Mustang so they were changed. The heads are (from memory) about the same as production Boss 429 heads, although seem to recall some differences on the rocker mounts. Need to dig out that mag.

Sounds like the stuff you have has been modded a good bit over the years.

.

Wow those things must weigh a ton.. I'll give you $50 for them if they are cracked.

The part number is EX1444 42$32 at least I think that's a part#?
EX = expermental?
I haven't bought them yet but being a ford freak I want em!
I did buy all his Mickey Thompson alumiunum rods (wall hangers ,christmas presents)
Value appears to be 0-3000? But somebody has to know more about them
Thanks

PM Rich Wilhelm aka Boss 429 he knows a good bit about the Ford Hemis he may be able to help you.

They are ford experimental parts, the where origional intended for industrial / marine applications. Some where reliesed to some fueler racers because of issues with the aluminum castings in extreme applications.

Somehow I do not think I will ever find a shotgun 429 powering an irrigation pump although if there is I want to see a picure of it

Here is the article from 1968. Not too much detail, but certainly real information of value and a neat piece of history. BTW it was common for Ford to cast heads in iron back then when on a tight development schedule as it was just easier and gave a better yield. Most of the 427 SOHC heads were cast iron.

Looking at the one picture they did cast in the rocker stanchions, but noted would not for production. They also mention a NASCAR and Drag race version with the drag version being oiled via pushrod which clearly did not make it. Is interesting to note the intake valve in the prototype head was 2.47", yet the chamber was the "Blue Crescent",not the full NASCAR hemi. The head also has no coolant passage on the intake side as the coolant was taken out the front of the head like on the race engines. Intake bolt pattern is different than production in the coolant passage area. Exhaust hard to say.

Steve

The Iron version had a number of intended uses, their where alot of Military projects in the 60's requiring high HP, multi fuel engines IE Patrol Boats, Pumps Ext. But from my understanding it never reached actual production for the Industrial and Boat use. I've never heard why, But I'd assume Ford probably wasn't sucessfull in the bidding to the Goverment? or found other existing powerplants to be sufficient?

Great Info! Thanks to you all!
I did not get pics as it was dark in the barn attic but magazine pics look close.
I hope to talk to the gentlemen again soon ,still don't have a price from him?
0-3000 I'm thinkin ?
Intake and oiling may be a puzzle? and how to showcase it

dfree383 wrote:The Iron version had a number of intended uses, their where alot of Military projects in the 60's requiring high HP, multi fuel engines IE Patrol Boats, Pumps Ext. But from my understanding it never reached actual production for the Industrial and Boat use. I've never heard why, But I'd assume Ford probably wasn't sucessfull in the bidding to the Goverment? or found other existing powerplants to be sufficient?

That is interesting thought to say the least. From the little I know the 427 SOHC and Boss 429 programs were targeted at NASCAR and drag race application, although some Boss 429 stuff was used in road racing. From what I've seen looks like in the 60's the 427 FE was the choice for industrial and marine applications. Would be so useful to be able to talk to some of the engineers who designed all this stuff back then.

Actually There were a few sets floating around the northeast years ago (late 70's) as a engine builder that did work on my 429scj had several sets in his shop. I remember that he said that the iron heads used a different intake than the aluminum heads. I don't remember where or who they were for but they were the first Boss 429 heads I saw that weren't on a car. Had I only known.......

they made 3 diff styles of this head, 1 was a hyd cam,non adjustable rocker w/cast on stands,then an open stand like the alum head, 3rd had removable stands


5500.00 and I'll sell a pair new in the box

these heads were made for off shore racing

I hope to get these for less ?
Are yours a full hemi chamber?
I,ve been surfing on and off 2wks. and found 3 or 4 pics but no perfect match?
Got pics?

2 heads, mag. blower intake, valve covers and jessel rockers
Says they came from cali ,a boat guy orginaly had cast peds.
Any ideas where to get a manifold for carb?
The angle bottom to intake surface 53ish any one know street boss angle?

Post some Pics up.

I'll figure it out soon, dial up challenging

awmach wrote:... and jessel rockers ... orginaly had cast peds.

If these have been apart/not run since the 1980s, you might want to see if those Jesel exhaust rockers are straight-beam or still canted/twisted the way Ford intended and engineered the original setup.

At one point early on Jesel tried to straighten out the twisted valve train/exhaust rocker shape, thinking they were making the Ford design better. In reality, Jesel did not understand the compound geometry the Ford had engineered into the exhaust rocker and which balanced the back-and-forth side thrust articulation that occurs during the opening-and-closing of the Boss 429 exhaust. The changes that Jesel made put the side loading on one side of the exhaust rocker arm 100% of the time, and this affected valve train harmonics significantly. Restoring the cylinder head's modified rocker arm pedestals back to Boss OEM is not easy nor for the inexperienced.

Further, if you do in fact have that particular Jesel rocker and it has been lightened on its underside between the trunnion and pushrod cup, those particular rockers (with the ball milled underside where I noted) proved to be too far weakened in big spring engines.

Find out which rocker arms you have.

Paul

I have 6 nib no plunge mark plus 4 used they indeed have a ball em plunged in that area?
The pedastels are milled on a compound angle does that change anything?

I've been trying to recreate the covers in aluminum & am getting close !
It appears they (Ford ) also moved the spark plug when they went to the crescent chamber?

The part number is XE ( not EX) 144442 the $32 is the serial # or "example #" for that head.

   To clear "some" of the mystery/WRONG information out there on the subject of "experimental parts" I offer the following,

     XE numbers ( for prototype parts) were used by the "production" side of Ford Experimental Engine Engineering ( aka EEE or triple E) The XE number refers to a blueprint used to design a part and these numbers were used on ANY prototype part , fan belts, exhaust manifolds, heat shields, heads , intakes from four cylinders to Boss 429s . Just the fact that it has the XE number on it doesn't mean it's "trick" or  a race part. Not every prototype part WORKED! Some failed and were redesigned several times before they got final approval and a "regular" production casting number. Some programs , like the 428Cobra Jet were done exclusively using XE numbers. The XE number could be cast onto the part or hand stamped or even ink stamped onto the parts

    SK numbers ( also tied to a specific blueprint with the corresponding number on it) were used primarily by the "race" side of EEE. "Most" of the specialty parts associated with the factory race engines were logged this way. Occasionally identical looking parts could be made with XE or SK numbers but there was always some (major or minor) difference. SK numbers were also cast , hand or ink stamped onto parts for ID purposes.

     The $ symbol was used to indicate "example number" or serial number for a finished part , not a raw casting. So in the case of a cylinder head they coud be numbered 1-32 and there would have been 16 pairs made on that run. If a second run was made the number would have the letter A at the end i.e. $1A Blocks heads and intakes were numbered this way. This $ is not to be confused with the $ symbol on many forged steel Ford cranks , that is a different story.

  Another myth is these parts were special "Holman Moody" parts. It is true Holman Moody ended up with many of these parts but they were not ( typically) designed and manufactured "for them". These were Ford parts and Ford paid to have them made for their use first. Holman Moody became a "clearing house" as well as THE source for Ford Racing parts. The 427 SOHC engines prebuilt for possible '66 production car release were sent there for "disposition" after the production deal fell apart thanks to Nascar not allowing the engine to race.

Personally unless you are given the heads they are over priced.. with all the work it is going to entail it is not cost efficient to pursue them...

A pair of dove heads will make more power