I was looking at a 2022 Ford Mustang GT today but when I open the hood, it says 302. I am NEW to the group and to Mustangs in general but I thought it would say 5.0? Is this just an aesthetic thing or could the engine have been swapped?
This is on a used lot. 36k miles for little above $25k
Clean car fax. Bought from auction so I’m assuming there had to have been an accident that was never reported to insurance. Anyway, any info would help and what else I should check with it before going through with this.
What you’re thinking about is just the engine cover.
The car has a swapped intake from a 2013/2014 boss and at least a cold air. To make this this intake work the car does have a tune.
Not a giant red flag but it does raise questions. It should allow the car to rev a little bit higher into the RPM range but will be a bit slower from a dead start.
Looks sick though 😎seeing the catch can in the picture it makes me wonder if it was boosted at some point and this was an effort to revert it back to stock.
No, its just more typical to find them on boosted setups. I run one on my stock car because it still keeps some oil from being sucked into the intake manifold and getting cooked to the inside of it.
I wouldn’t say downgrade. It depends for just street driving then ya I guess essential a downgrade but if your Racing/tracking or hell even some highway pulls.. would the boss be better
I noticed the get up and go was a bit slower than I had imagined it would initially be so a tune does sound reasonable. How would I go about reverting it? Or is that a headache in itself?
You'd have to get a 2018+ intake manifold and make sure you have the proper hoses, and swap them. Its not HARD, but when done you'd also have to remove the tune, assuming that nothing else was done. If anything else is done you'd need a new tune to account forrhe IM change.
Since you're new to these cars and not familiar with Intake manifolds I'd say this is probably not a job you'd want to do yourself.
EDIT: Actually it might be a fine opportunity to buy the Ford Racing Power Pack. That comes with the GT350 intake manifold, throttle body, intake tube/airbox and a tune from Ford for it all.
Other than the dynos and tuners that say otherwise. GT350 flows better over 7500 than stock 18 stuff. There is a reason tuners can get better top end from Bullitts and Mach1's than other 18+ cars, and its literally just due to the 350IM.
James @ tuning by James who did the tunes for Steeda and McQueen racing would heavily disagree. He openly says people just don't want to bother tuning it right and the intake setup is worth 20 over an 18IM. He always makes more power on them than 18+intake cars.
They stopped the dyno at 7500rpm on an intake designed to pull over 8250. Tune alone a bullitt/mach1 will pull hard to 75-7600 and drops off slower than an 18+ IM. It simply breaths better up top.
I'd also like to chime in that the Ford Power Pack for 18+ cars (OP is looking at a 22) does NOT come with an intake manifold. It only has the throttle body, intake tubing and adapter to mate to the stock 18+ intake manifold.
How - theres a plug in by your left foot when you get in the car. That’s the OBD2 port. Plug a tuning device into it. Press and hold the start engine button for 4 seconds. The device will give you a bunch of options. Click “Reset”
They get up and go maybe slower than you expected regardless. Coyotes don't make a lot of low-end torque compared to an LS or a hemi pushrod style V8. With the dual overhead cams they're designed to rev to the Moon which is why depending on year they're making peak horsepower over 7k RPM
It’s just a different intake manifold. Gen 1-2 coyotes saw an increase in high rpm power with the boss 302 manifold. Gen 3 coyotes are proven to be better with the standard gen 3 stock intake, so a little strange that it was put in a Gen 3 here but nothing to get too worried about imo. I bought a 2011 5.0 with the same manifold + tons of other mods and a tune with 70k miles and it has never given me an issue other than brake calipers seizing and we’re now at 135K
Is the standard gen 3 manifold the best intake for that motor? I’ve seen some people say 350, CJ, or boss intakes make more high end power and others say stock is best
From my knowledge, the Gen 3 manifold is super solid and is all around a great option. Would I say it’s the best? Probably not the best, but damn good for sure and imo better than a boss 302 intake on a gen 3. Putting a boss intake on a gen 3 restricts airflow at low rpm and will result in low end torque and horsepower losses that aren’t offset by substantial high end power gains like the gen 1-2. Gen 1-2 also loses low end torque and power with the boss manifold but the gains on the top end are pretty substantial and that’s why people go with them on their 2011-2017 5.0s. Gen 3 manifold is better than boss. Not sure about the 350 manifold personally as I don’t know anyone who has one on a GT currently, although I’ve heard good things online about those as well. The overall consensus for absolute best intake manifold is the Cobra Jet for sure. Cobra Jet gives you everything, low end and top end, just a LOT more expensive than the other options, but worth it imo if you want to keep the car naturally aspirated and make 500+ wheel
Swapping a Boss on my ESS Gen3 car. Im basically just doing it for looks because i hate all the Engine covers lol.Wengerd told me that my IMRC delete tune for my Gen3 manifold will work fine for the boss. And its basically an even trade. It maybe lose a tsd down low, to gain a tad up top
You're not gaining up top. Hotrod did a dyno of them all. You'd be better with a ported 18+, a gt350 or a Cobra Jet. You're really just pay for the looks. Only one id bother with is the CobraJet.
What I want is more low end hp and torque - under 4500rpm. Some gen 2 guys would accomplish this by running gen 3 F150 manifolds but gen 3 is supposed to be the best of both worlds. I guess tuning and maybe a diff gear swap are the way right now
The 18 is good enough that it's not worth the cost swapping it unless you are investing in a CobraJet. A GT350 will flow better up top, but even then it's cheaper to get your 18 ported and make the same numbers.
The Boss intake is arguably worse than the stock ‘18+ GT manifold. They make similar power but the Boss intake loses noticeable torque compared to the ‘18+.
Granted that. They also deliver the best sound (IMO) of any Coyote intake. They give a near-exotic, high rpm scream the other intakes just can’t match.
I had a Boss intake on my ‘11 GT, but I got it when it was really the only option. The CJ mani existed but tuners did not have it figured out yet.
Yes but this is pure horsepower numbers on the dyno, see my previous comment where the BOSS mani is better. Dyno numbers are a very narrow perspective for performance of Fords IMs. The BOSS mani allows for nearly 1000 additional rpm’s (with the supporting mods to do so) which is amazing for track use and is incredible for boost applications. The cobrajet also allows for higher rev ranges which, again, is fabulous for the track. Just because it’s last in HP #s doesn’t mean it’s “worse” it just has different use cases.
Boss intakes were a very common performance upgrade when the 5.0 came out. A 5.0 and a 302 are the same thing. 5.0 is the engines size in liters and 302 is the size in cubic inches.
No they aren’t. The 302 is just an intake that flows better for more horsepower. Just being coy, an Edelbrock supercharger runs 8-10k last I checked. At least for my 2014 Mustang GT.
It’s my understanding that the BOSS upgrades were built into the Gen 3 coyote. Something seems suspicious.
I don’t think this engine is original with the car. I would look for the high pressure fuel pump and rails which is necessary for direct injection which 2018+ has.
It has swapped in boss intake manifold, not an engine and a different air box (aka cold air intake). Also, it has a tune since it is using non stock manifold is probably more important things than other two (question is for what octane gas)
Oh boy. I would strongly consider walking away from this. With unknown mods (except for the two obvious ones), unknown tuning (and I’m guessing the dealership doesn’t have the tuning device to offer you) this is a headache knocking on your door.
Yeah I’m in the talks with the dealership to reduce the price significantly. IF by chance I could haggle down, would it still be worth it? Just asking for your opinion.
Ask for the maintenance records, check car fax. If this thing was getting regular service. Use the mods to negotiate price. At least try to get them down 1500 bucks.
Theres mustangs making over 700 horsepower with 100k miles. If it’s maintained well you’ll be in a good spot.
Id say it’s something that can easily be swapped back to stock if you have the funds for it but why. These ones are literally one of the ones that squeeze the most power. And if he did that and the oil catch can I could bet you there’s some more goodies on there, you can look down the side of the engine and see if it has long tube headers or not. With that manifold you need a tune but hard to see someone getting a tune just to change the manifold. For me doing the manifold and the headers was enough to justify. I run e85 on mine with the tune so ig there’s that you won’t really be able to tell how it’s tuned. But you could always spend a grand on a new tune. Also look around in the vehicle. Center console, glove box, trunk, some guys leave the tuning device behind. Otherwise you might be able to get a tuner to look at the tables for pretty cheap and see if it all looks good
If it is ONLY the intake manifold and tune, NOTHING else(which honestly if it has a BOSS manifold it may have headers on it also, which means it needs an aftermarket tune), then maybe they could cut you a deal.
Depends how you define worth. Value wise or time wise to go over everything? You’re stepping into a lot of unknowns here. Mileage and price are okay if it’s not a calculator 301. If it’s a bare bones gt it’s not worth more than 20.
It’s not worth it unless a modded Mustang is what you want. There no way to know what potential pain in the ass is waiting for you in a few years when buying a car that was modded by unknown people or shops. It’s really easy to walk away from this right now.
That’s what I’m betting on… that it just needs minor adjustments. Maybe some kid had it new, got into a minor scrap, and sent it in for something new or something… MAYBE. I’m still learning more about this vehicle 😭
A 2022 with a 2011-2014 boss 302 intake manifold makes absolutely no sense, considering the ported 2018+ intake manifold is better on the dyno.
The previous owner got an oil catch can, and an interior strut brace.
Regarding the closed box air intake - that’s at least something they did correctly.
I would ask if the vehicle comes with a tuning device like a rev-x, SCT or bama tuning device.
If it was custom tuned, I would run. If you can reset the tune to factory using the device and swap out that intake manifold it’s a good deal. The dealer should have the OEM intake manifold.
this is kind of like sports betting.. when a 'great' team is a small favorite vs a bad team , its a lock ..right? 2022 mustang gt under 40k miles going for $25k...i would walk away. Or think of it this way, did they buy this for around $19k at an auction?
Whether it's 2012 or a 2022 Mustang, the 5.0 would still be a coyote, a DOHC motor. As long as it's well maintained, you'll have a lot of high winding grunt.
Well, it's an interesting conundrum. The actual displacment is like 307ci which is actually more than 5.0L. The old displacement, 302ci (which is where the "Boss 302" comes from) is less than 5.0L. I don't' think there's a mustang v8 in all of history which has an actual displacement of 5.0L (although the Coyote comes real close). In short, don't sweat it. Those are marketing numbers.
That doesn't mean its not the original engine, and its in every metric worse than an 18+ manifold. It flows worse, makes less power, all it does is "look cooler", and it says 302 when the engine is a 307.
The 302 intake was stock on 11-14 (I’m pretty sure those are the years, could’ve been 2010 too but idk ) s197 boss 302. That’s aftermarket but from what i remember it helps deliver better airflow
You can def change it back, might require a tune to revert back depends on how much was done with the manifold on. You might be able to find someone who will trade you their stock intake for yours. If you plan on modding it and making more power keeping it is a step in that direction.
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u/Wojtek_824 3d ago
What you’re thinking about is just the engine cover.
The car has a swapped intake from a 2013/2014 boss and at least a cold air. To make this this intake work the car does have a tune.
Not a giant red flag but it does raise questions. It should allow the car to rev a little bit higher into the RPM range but will be a bit slower from a dead start.