As many of you know (especially if you've been following my Boss 340 engine and race car project), I'm definitely a fan of Ford's formidable "Boss" engines of the early '70s.

The engines' name alone says, "power," and once a Boss powerplant (302, 429) was dropped between the frame rails of a '70 'Stang, the Pony instantly became a force to rekoned with on the streets, the dragstrip and even on road courses.

With Boss 340 (the engine), we went "new-school" on the OG Boss 302, by stroking the engine to 342 cubic inches, using a trick set of Air Flow Dynamics aluminum Cleveland-style heads and a custom Boss 302 intake manifold from Wilson Manifolds, and running the whole works with Accel's EFI Thruster engine-management system.

Ford-engine guru, Jon Kaase, has gone new-school with a Boss as well....and Jon's Boss is big; MUCH bigger than our Boss 340.

Find out "how big," after the jump...

The die-hard Ford junkies at Jon Kaase Racing Engines worked, and brought the Boss 429 back to life on its 40th anniversary. Jon’s modern Boss Nine combination is based on a high-nodular cast iron cylinder block that can accommodate 429, 460, 521, or 600 cubic inches (the 521s and larger engines must be built with 4-bolt-main racing blocks) and output extends from 500 to 1,000 streetable horsepower.

The 10.30-inch deck height block receives a cast crankshaft in the 460ci version (600hp). Engines with 521ci and beyond are founded on a 4340 steel crankshaft joined with 4340 forged connecting rods and Diamond forged pistons. For complicity with pump gas, the compression ratio is usually limited to 11.0:1 or less. Jon caps the short-block with new aluminum cylinder heads fitted with stainless steel swirl-polish 2.30-inch intake and 1.90-inch exhaust valves activated by WW Engineering 1.75:1 aluminum roller rocker arms.

Though the rather large round intake, D-shaped exhaust ports, and marginal cam specs of the original 429 hampered low-speed response, the multiple cam phasing applied to the new Boss Nine engines has completely eliminated this problem. There's also an option of using a hydraulic or solid-roller camshaft (521 cubic-inch Boss Nine engines produce approximately 770 horsepower and 730 foot-pounds of torque with a hydraulic roller cam), and Boss Nine engines are fitted with a single-plane intake manifold for a 4150 or 4500 style carburetor.

The new Boss Nine engines from Jon Kaase Racing Engines are big, and most-definitely they're bad to the bone. Can you imagine stuffing one into your Fox or other 'Stang and popping the hood when you arrive at the local cruise spot? The reaction of the onlookers would be priceless.

I think you need to have a look at the Jon Kaase Racing Engines Web site, where there's more details on Boss Nines and all of the other serious Ford engines that Jon develops. www.jonkaaseracingengines.com