AbusiveWombat said:A better bore/stroke ratio would allow larger valves. This would lead to better breathing and bump the redline a bit. The downfall would be a loss in torque but with 4.6L of displacement, I would expect that Ford could a least come up with 280+ ft-lbs.
fordification said:2005 Mustang GT
4.6L
300hp@5750
325ft.lbs@4500
18mpg-city
25mpg-hw
5-speed
3450lbs
2002 Camaro Z28
5.7L
310hp@5200
340ft.lbs@4000
19mpg-city
28mpg-hw
6-speed
3554lbs
Agreed, the Z-28 is a few years older, but are the numbers really that far off? Less 1 gear and 1.1liters of displacement.
I'll look for trucks specs next.
earl lee said:serpentnoir can you break down what you dont like about the viper engine?
jwfisher said:Ford's modular engines started out on the right track, providing a flexible engine with high-RPM attributes. They were reasonably state-of-the-art way back when, and Ford hasn't done a darned thing since then to keep them that way. Other variants of them - the 5.4 V-8 and the V-10, have been all about quick compromise. The 5.4 has an absurd rod length and cylinder bores too small to accept proper valve sizes, and the V-10 is an even worse example - uneven firing and similarly poor breathing. Serious technical development stopped years ago for lack of funding and leadership, the Yamaha 5-valve with variable intake timing was the best peice of work done but it has all but dissappeared (despite some engineers saying it's still on the table for eventual production).
jwfisher said:The 3-valve heads are a necessary compromise, to pick up the power a bit while improving mileage and drivability. There is hardly anything state-of-the-art about them; cam phasing is a compromise itself; packaging is a bit better; and other manufacturers are or have walkied away from 3-valves (Mercedes in in the midst of walking away from it, having already ditched it on the V-6).
Two projects show there is still some life in Advanced Engines: the experimental 4.6 project that was run to determine the high-RPM attribuites of the engine (9000 RPM, some indications of what's really wrong with the basic design, and a resulting SAE paper), and the FRPP 4.6/Cammer projects that are really just tuning exercises - not engineering exercises. The geometry is all the same and other than some tiny bit of cooling attention, the heads are architecturally identical.
jwfisher said:An engine that started out roughly equal to an early nineties BMW DOHC V-8 has fallen seriously behind. An engine that started out as the equal to the Cadillac engine of the same size has fallen behind (especially behind their new supercharged V-8).
The 2-valve 4.6 is shamefully pathetic these days, a 231-horse version for trucks (how can a 4.6 liter engine make only 231 horses?), and a 3-valve engine that makes only 300 horses. How can such a large engine do so little?
serpentnoir said:Not sure where you are going with this but at 2000 units per year, the viper is a specialty product and DCX treats it as such. Vehicles with "halo" value tend to escape conventional marketing, engineering and design wisdom. I will say that increasing the displacement of an engine that already had 488 cubic inches seems less than intelligent. But that market segment expects this type of engineering from Chrysler. Not being privy to DCX's market studies, I speculate that reducing the displacement to 7 liters and transforming the engine into a DOHC whould have been disastrous to their sales (...for example, although how much lower than 2000 can your sales drop?). I am not sure how you could fit such a monster into the engine bay anyway.
So there you have it: they gave them what they wanted. Everybody is happy.... except maybe jwfisher :cryying: .
On a side note, I found the viper to be extremely difficult to drive and completely different than, let's say, an AC Cobra. I am sure it is very gratifying to those who can master it.
jwfisher said:There you go again....
Everybody except whatever company you work (and that claim is in doubt) for is less intelligent. Everybody who disagrees with you and calls BS is less intelligent than you. And any company that has a leg up on Ford seems to be evil somehow.
Force4.6 said:serpentnoir,just curious I noticed you own a 1999 cobra. However,you listed all the negative points of the "mod" motor. Are you happy with your car? What made you purchase the car? If you had to choose again what would you buy?
earl lee said:I hear dodge is gonna soon stop making that motor and put in a v10 hemi.
fordification said:So maybe I'm not reading this right. Are you guys saying the mod engines are close to being tapped out for performance/efficiency?
http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Features/articleId=104572
KevinB120 said:Hurricane is coming. Same publication said no V6 Powerstroke either was even being THOUGHT of for the 150, but you can stop by and order the LCF work truck with the new 4.5L V6 right now. :rollseyes This 'non-existant' Powerstroke engine will be out on the road by June. Magazine writers are just as stupid as any other person, its just some fat guy who likes cars, don't kid yourself as this being any sort of gospel. These idiots never knew the GT40 existed either.