Interesting Article on a Trinity Engine Failure

[Blackdevil77]

Did anybody see this article? Sorry if this is a repost, I didn't see it on here. According to this, as soon as you add power, even from minor basic bolt ons, you run the risk of popping the engine because the hardware can't handle more than stock power, according to this article. Seems to go against what a lot of people are here have said and seem to have proven since the modding started with these engines.

http://www.stangtv.com/news/a-failure-analysis-of-one-gt500s-5-8-liter-trinity-engine/

 

[2011 gtcs]

Any car you modify can break/blow up. It's very well Known at this point if you start making more power you have to lower your revs, I'm making 730whp and I shift at 6,400rpms. The rods are the first to break in the 5.8, but this is still a awesome engine and a lot of us are making great power and are engines are perfect. if Ford put a good set of rods in the 5.8 this engine would be unbreakable.

 

[MovingZen]

I didn't know you could bore out a trinity block. I thought somebody who had their engine built said there's just no more room?

 

[Bad Company]

It is a too bad the author of the article didn't do more research. He had a lot of things wrong. One statement was that Ford increased the stroke in the 5.4L to build a 5.8L. Ford used the exact same stoke between the two, but increased the bore diameter to achieve the larger CI displacement of the 5.8L

 

[2011 gtcs]

It is a too bad the author of the article didn't do more research. He had a lot of things wrong. One statement was that Ford increased the stroke in the 5.4L to build a 5.8L. Ford used the exact same stoke between the two, but increased the bore diameter to achieve the larger CI displacement of the 5.8L

I didn't read the hole Article but that's funny the author didn't know what he was talking about, all 07 to 14 GT500 use the same shit powder forged connecting rods. But the 13/14 pistons are from Mahle. but this is the exact reason I never read articles like this.

 

[paluka21]

The article is essentially stating what most people knew; the rods are the weak point, which is what gave out on this persons motor.

 

[kabooka]

Too much incorrect information in this article to give consideration - but I agree about the rods.

 

[1320 Junkie]

I didn't know you could bore out a trinity block. I thought somebody who had their engine built said there's just no more room?

Just like I did with my 5.4 and it was covered by Car craft magazine (June 2015 issue)..you can sleeve the spray bore lined aluminum blocks. It's not cheap but it makes the block 100% rebuildable

 

[Eleanor14]

Has there ever been an engine put into a muscle car/sports car that has never broke? Out of all the GT500's manufactured over the years, obviously some are going to break. I have had a few friends that had bone stock engines break on brand new cars. I know of another guy with an Ferrari F430 that had to take the car back and have Ferrari replace the whole engine because of failure right out of the box. Yes, mods are going to have some risk involved, but it happens to all cars...

 

[2011 gtcs]

Has there ever been an engine put into a muscle car/sports car that has never broke? Out of all the GT500's manufactured over the years, obviously some are going to break. I have had a few friends that had bone stock engines break on brand new cars. I know of another guy with an Ferrari F430 that had to take the car back and have Ferrari replace the whole engine because of failure right out of the box. Yes, mods are going to have some risk involved, but it happens to all cars...

The one engine I'm actually impressed with is the LS9 out of the ZR1, I have a good friend that makes 860whp on his ZR1 with a stock short block, and my buddies shop built another ZR1 that made over 1000whp on a stock bottom end. I'll say GM built that engine right, also the Viper V10 seems pretty damn strong as well, and the Ford GT 5.4 seems to be a hell of a lot stronger than even the 5.8

 

[GotHemi?]

and the Ford GT 5.4 seems to be a hell of a lot stronger than even the 5.8

Does the FGT's 5.4 differ from other 5.4's? True forged rods maybe?

 

[mustangc]

It is a too bad the author of the article didn't do more research. He had a lot of things wrong. One statement was that Ford increased the stroke in the 5.4L to build a 5.8L. Ford used the exact same stoke between the two, but increased the bore diameter to achieve the larger CI displacement of the 5.8L

He also completely blew the reason for the mismatched lash adjuster size. First of all, that had nothing to do with the main point of this article, and thus added no value besides increasing his word count. Secondly, the original modular lash adjusters were the larger size on both intake and exhaust. The smaller adjusters used on the intake side of the Trinity were created by Ford in order to allow more room in the head to enlarge the intake ports, and was actually introduced in the naturally aspirated "Rough Rider" racing truck program and adopted into the 2000 Cobra R cylinder heads... Also naturally aspirated. They are used in the Trinity because they are carry over from the early NA applications.

...but if we spent time debunking everything the author had wrong, we'd run out of Internet.

 

[mustangc]

Does the FGT's 5.4 differ from other 5.4's? True forged rods maybe?

The Ford GT has H-beam rods, if that's what you mean. Plus dry sump oiling.

 

[GotHemi?]

The Ford GT has H-beam rods, if that's what you mean. Plus dry sump oiling.

Got ya. I meant not forged from powdered metal bs.

 

[carguy19]

The one engine I'm actually impressed with is the LS9 out of the ZR1, I have a good friend that makes 860whp on his ZR1 with a stock short block, and my buddies shop built another ZR1 that made over 1000whp on a stock bottom end. I'll say GM built that engine right, also the Viper V10 seems pretty damn strong as well, and the Ford GT 5.4 seems to be a hell of a lot stronger than even the 5.8

The LS motors are strong but with a factory bottom end and 1000 hp, give them time. Something will fail. I'm sure both cars have very little miles on them.

 

[2011 gtcs]

Got ya. I meant not forged from powdered metal bs.

Yup the F GT is built to last, I wish ford did the same internals on all the 5.4 and 5.8 engines.

The LS motors are strong but with a factory bottom end and 1000 hp, give them time. Something will fail. I'm sure both cars have very little miles on them.

LS engines in general aren't that great, they have a lot of weak points just like are engines, my buddy cracked his LS7 main caps and broke the crank shaft from shifting at 7,300rpms. I'll pick a DOHC mod motor over a junk ass LS engine. But both the ZR1s have around 20k miles on them, the 1000hp one just went to a LSX cast iron block.