Southern California is home to many things, most notably sun, fun, and the ability to go from the beach to the mountains in about two hours. It’s also home to many of the performance aftermarket’s biggest companies, and that’s where we found this awesome 2013 BOSS302 Mustang.

Owner Michael Heintz is an account executive with Scat Crankshafts, one of the largest aftermarket companies around. In fact, if you’ve ever purchased a crate engine from Ford Racing or Chevrolet Performance, chances are that it had a Scat crankshaft and connecting rods inside. When we spoke with him, he was fresh out of work, where the company was preparing their displays for SEMA – at the beginning of October. And SEMA doesn’t happen until the beginning of November, so you can imagine the scale they must be working with.

Photos By Group Editor Mark Gearhart

The gearhead tendencies run deep with Michael. Not only does he have his day gig, where he services some of the largest names in the performance aftermarket like Summit Racing and Jegs, he’s also got this sweet Mustang to play with on his downtime.

“My last car was a supercharged RTR 2011 Mustang that I got when it first came out; we do a lot of road racing out here and I spent a lot of time at the track with that car. Willow Springs and Auto Club Speedway are the biggest places we road-race around here,” he explains.

While the focus for many Mustang owners tends to be straight-line racing, in Southern California dragstrips are few and far between – and the unbearable traffic often makes hitting Street Night after a long day of work prohibitive. “About five years ago, I had an EVO 10, and I decided to take it to the track, but once the new five-liter engine for the Mustang was announced I decided it was time to pick one up. I spent a lot of time at the track with the 2011, but I’ve only had this car for about eight months and haven’t been able to get to the track with it as much as I’d like,” he explains.

Regardless, the car’s been treated to a number of performance improvements that makes track days more fun. Power upgrades to this point are limited to a C&L cold-air intake system in front of the BOSS 302 intake manifold, but the deep breathing of the CNC-ported cylinder heads on the BOSS Roadrunner variant of the 5.0L means there is plenty of power to go around when the loud pedal is pressed. The stock MT-82 manual transmission is retained, and he’s still working with the stock clutch at this time as the power improvements have not pushed it to the limit yet. The rearend houses a Torsen differential and 3.73 gearing.

No Mustang is complete without an exhaust system that lets the neighbors know you’re coming, and Heintz’s machine is no different. As he has many contacts in the industry, he’s managed to have a custom, one-off set of Magnaflow long-tube headers built at their SoCal facility, and a Magnaflow 3-inch X-pipe and Competition cat-back have also been installed. In the process, he did away with the stock side-exit exhaust system and is now pushing all of the spent fuel-air mixture from the rear of the car. Dual 4-inch polished rear tips finish off the system with a bang.

With a 3,600 pound curb weight, Heintz deemed it necessary to gain better control of the suspension, and to that end he’s installed a complete set of RS*R Sports i coil overs at the fore and aft ends of the suspension. They are a development set of dampers, as he’s worked with RS*R to put together a quality package for the Mustang and has been very happy with them so far.

Other handling improvements include the slick set of staggered-fitment Forgestar F14 Gloss Gunmetal 19 x 9-inch front and 19×10-inch rear wheels covered up in Toyo Proxes T1 Sport tires that measure 255/30/19 in the front and 285/30/19 in the rear. As the BOSS 302 was delivered straight from Ford with sweet Brembo brakes, he hasn’t had much of a need to this point to upgrade the binders; they’ve proven quite adequate at the track so far.

Appearance modifications have been limited to a set of TruFiber carbon-fiber side window covers, as Heintz is very happy with the appearance of his machine. In fact, it’s not just a track car – he drives it regularly and it’s made appearances at many of the big shows in Southern California including the Knott’s Berry Farm Fabulous Fords Forever car show and the Queen Mary show.

But he’s not just a late-model Mustang guy. “I had a 1967 Mustang when I was 19, but that car got stolen. I appreciate them all; I’ve always been around them, I like supporting the Mustang hobby and the Mustang vendors,” he says. His enthusiasm for the Mustang came through in our phone conversation, and we’re glad to have had a chance to chat with him – it was refreshing to hear him so excited to talk to us.

Sponsorships from RS*R, Forgestar, TruFiber, Toyo Tires, C&L Performance, and Magnaflow help to keep his project going, and he’s got plans for big power in the future. During our conversation, he hadn’t decided yet whether the car would see a supercharger or turbo kit, but the next stop on the modification list is a set of camshafts.

Thanks for sharing your superb BOSS 302 Mustang with us, Michael!