1971 Mercury Monterey in Oregon

hey, hey, hey

429-4V... That should mean it's the same engine you would find in a Boss 429 Mustang. Plenty of get up and go! Would that I could. this is a nice wagon.

 

not exactly.......



Boss 429... A bit more "umph", not a streatable motor, made for lets giver sh**... Great 1/4 mile engine but still trailered behind the Mopar Hemi's when it came to NASCAR....

Fords, "semi" Hemi...... I'd still love either

Just a little....well completely different.........

 

I totally get it regarding how hard it can be to pin a price on these cars. To most people, they aren't worth much at all, but to a few folks, they are worth a decent amount. The trick is finding one of those folks that is in a position to buy!

If I had factory Boss 429 Mercury Wagon, well then I could probably retire on the proceeds from that sale!

But with 360hp, my 429 does pretty good

Gregg

 

doink

Got to stop trusting Car And Driver and Road And Track to be know-it-all experts on things automotive. What I'd read was; that Ford cut it's engine production down to just a few engines in the 70's, as compared to the mid-60's. Where they had five different types of 289, for example, and went down to just one type of 302---The Boss. Implication being, all cars that had 302's had The Boss 302, even if it was Falcon Ranchero or a Maverick. There is an obvious difference between those engines mere words cannot describe. Thanx for the pix. Now, those two magazines said that the 2V and 4V in Ford engine designations meant how many valves per cylinder the engine came with. Were they right about that? Also read somewhere, and this would've been something along the lines of Hot Rod Magazine; in 1969, the last year of Falcon, only five Ranchero's came with Boss 302's, all with four speed manuals. Otherwise, they came with the last of the 260's.

 

I'm no expert on Ford engines, but I can answer the 2V versus 4V part. In "old-school" terms, 2V = 2 barrel carb and 4V = 4 barrel carb. Today, "V" usually does denote valves per cylinder or valves per engine (like 16V).

Regarding the various flavors of motors, my understanding is that the Boss motors were typically modified forms of the base V8, usually with bigger heads, beefier blocks, better carbs, etc... I'm also pretty sure there were always multiple version of most of the V8's, from the base, grocery-getter models to the borderline race models. The emissions era of the 70's certainly cut out a lot of the high-performance versions, however.

Gregg

 

Gregg is right. There was certainly more than one version of the 302 in the early 70s. The regular, 2V (2 Venturi, hence 2 barrel) engine that ran on regular fuel. There was also a 4V version of that same engine. Then there was the BOSS 302 engine, which was a very different beast. In the 429, there were 4 different engines available, depending on model and equipment. There was the base 2 bbl, running regular fuel. There was the 4bbl, running premium fuel. There was the Cobra Jet, which ran premium fuel and a 4 bbl, but had other improvements, including a different cam. Finally, there was the Super Cobra Jet, which was a 4 bbl, with optional 3X2 bbls, and ran premium fuel, with a solid lifter cam. For one thing, a/c was NOT available on a SCJ engine. In the 351, there was also a choice. There was the 2 bbl as the base engine, with the 4 bbl option. There was also the BOSS 351 in the Mustang, for one.

The final year for the Falcon was 1970, not 1969, but it grew into the very base model of the Fairlae/Torino. If you ever come across one, there were 2 or 3 of these Falcon wagons built with the 429 Cobra Jet, but none with the SCJ. Also, there were no 260s used in the 69 Falcon. You could get the 289, though, as an RPO.

To take this one step further, in 1989, there were 3 different 351W engines. There was the regular one, there was the HO version, and there was the Canadian version which was closely related to the American HO, but was not quite the same. That situation continued through the 91 model year, after which the 351 was discontinued in passenger cars.

 

Too much misinformation

From '71 on it was only a 302 2V. Last yr for 2 different 302s was 1970; 210HP F-code 2V in almost any Ford product or 290HP G-code only available by ordering a BOSS 302 Mustang. The only non BOSS 4V 302 Ford built was the single yr 235HP '68 J-code available only in Mustang. Ooops, almost forgot the '83 - '85 carburated 5.0 HO.

The 429 2V didn't last long on the option sheet. Both CobraJet engines were limited to midsize models (Mustang, Torino, Cougar, Cyclone); never offered in any full size Ford/Mercury. The 429SCJ had a Holley 4V ONLY; the last 3x2 Ford engine was the '63 406. FYI; the 429CJ/SCJ only appeared one yr ('71) in Mustang/Cougar. Don't forget the 1970 only BOSS429.

The last 260 was 1964 & the last 289s were used up alongside the (newly introduced) 302 in early 1968. No 289s in '69.

Canadians could still order the 351W in a full size Ford/Mercury thru 1991. It had the troublesome but poorly understood Variable Venturi carb. Stateside, the 351W was only avail in the Crown Vic police pkg. Sometimes referred to as the HO, both 351Ws were identical. Ford did offer a 351W HO w/ Holley 4V in trucks/vans fr '84 on.

 

djjsc, I was one of the Canadians who ordered an 89 Grand Marquis LS sedan with the 351. I also ordered the Trailer Tow III Package, and that gave a tow rating of 6,000 pounds. Quite impressive for a car. It was also an amazingly frugal car on the highway, and no harder on gas in the city than the 302. The 351 was available in more than just the police package in the U.S. On a film shoot, we had a Coroner's car from Ohio, and that station wagon had the 351, but did not have a police package. It was funny, nobody could get the poor thing to start until I had a look at it, and saw a carburetor. Problem solved. That VV was rotten, and it was best ripped out, and an Edelbrock Performer 4 BBL intake and square bore carb put on. Even better mileage that the VV, and lower emissions, too. The 351 was a whole, hot $185, too. I remember, it was $2 LESS than the cost of the no draft vent windows!

 

"Rotten" VV carburator

Our '87 Colony Park had the 351 w/ VV; one of the best induction systems ever put on an internal combustion engine. With minimal effort I could get 26 mpg (parents CrownVic EFI was good for just 28) & the torque was unbelievable! Passing gear seldom needed; just push the accelerator to just before kickdown & feel the pull. It's hard to understand why a constant velocity carb works so well on motorcycles, snowmobiles etc but didn't do well on a Ford; something told me by a Ford service tech helps. Very few (almost none) automotive techs understood the VV. In the dealership where I bought the car only one tech was able to service a VV; the others regarded him as some kind of genius when it came to rebuilding any carb. A VV was VERY sensitive to substandard fuel & poor air filtration; 2 items that too many vehicle owners ignored then & still do today. Another thing; the ENTIRE vacuum system had to be in good working order; a leak anywhere would throw a VV off it's calibration. That was our problem; I discovered too late a cracked (by the dealership) tee fitting that made any carb service success impossible. Ford sank something like 700 million into bringing the VV to market but clearly didn't make an appropriate investment on the service side. I've had opportunities to talk w/ a few who understood the VV; all praise the design & it's benefits. Truthfully, it was all going to end up as fuel injection anyways.

PS: Similar to your Grand Marquis, ours could PULL! I once had close to 8K behind me (loaded flatdeck). And no, I did not get 26 mpg on that trip! Something like a (still impressive) 16.