Stage_3

Whatever they do, I hope it's not a V6. I hope it remains a V8. If, in fact, they are building a new GT500!!!

SplitSecond

Personally I will miss the V8 rumble but really I don't mind if a V6 replaces the V8. As long as you still get tire shredding power, what does it matter how many cylinders it has? The only people that are so butt hurt over the possibility of a V8 being replaced by a V6 are the ones that measure the size of their manhood in cubic inches.

Personally I think the fact that Ford put the TTV6 in the new GT and the 2.3T in the Mustangs and is really pushing the 3.5T in the F150s is showing that they are becoming less dependent on V8s and I wouldn't be surprised if they are planning to phase out V8s in the long run. If nothing else they may do it to remain politically correct in the eyes of the average citizen while still turning out bad *** sports cars. And this may not take into effect the possibility of new V8s may be wiped out by laws trying to increase efficiency of cars.

Though this whole argument may be in vain since electric cars may already be a huge part of the market before such decisions have to be made at Ford. Personally I'm excited for electric cars to become more predominant and more accessible financially. Tesla has already proven several times electric works wonders in sports cars. When technology provides us with lighter batteries than can hold charge longer is when I think we will see a huge shift towards electric cars.

laserred38

No. Typically, Mustang and F-150 owners prefer the sound of a V8. It's as simple as that. The fact that Ford incentivized the dealers to order V6 F-150s, and handicapped the 5.0 in the F-150, are the only reasons the V6s are "more popular."

5.M0NSTER

Don't ask me how I know, but the next GT500 will be powered by a supercharged Voodoo. And it will be $%&^% spectacular

ford20

That I doubt. I can see a supercharged 5.2 but a supercharged Voodoo seems like a stretch in my mind. There is only one person I would trust who tells me about the upcoming SVT cars and that is Squidd on S197forum.

laserred38

Lethal and Hennesey have already whipple' their GT350s. I wonder if they changed the Pistons to lower compression ratio though...

m05fastbackGT

IIRC the only 5.2 currently in the Ford line up.. Is the Voodoo !

Evil_Capri

I hope it's the 3.5 TT V6. I choose that engine for my F150 over a V8 . . . and so far so good!

bob

Sigh.... when I Google the word "trite" this is what I get. I wonder if there is something akin to Godwin's Law out there covering the "If you don't agree with me I'll attack your manhood" argument?


Anyways


Tradition aside, a V8 is still a good choice for a performance engine as ultimately (and as GM has most recently demonstrated with its antediluvian pushrod engine in the Camaro SS) there is no replacement for displacement and when you couple that displacement with the same tricks used to pump up the output of smaller engines it will outshine the smaller engine every time even if peak numbers are the same.


When displacements are similar a lesser cylinder count will always win out since there are fewer mechanical losses when it comes to power but once displacement grows beyond a certain amount increasing the cylinder count is the best way to go especially when the engine starts to surge past 500 cc's a cylinder and the cylinder count in less than eight.


This has to do with packaging and the fact that four and six cylinder engines (other than an opposed or boxer four) are inherently unbalanced while a V8 in cross plane configuration is inherently balanced at 90 degrees. A four is balanced at 180 degrees - hence the boxer an opposed engines being better balanced since cylinder banks are spread out over 180 degrees. A six cylinder is balanced at 120 degrees which creates a packaging issue obviously forcing manufacturers to adopt the V12's 60 degree or the V8's 90 degree bank angles unless the six is an inline configuration but that creates packaging issues that either requires adjusting the vehicles dimensions or restricting cylinder size to squeeze down the size of the engine which is something every Ford enthusiast with a Mustang should be acutely aware of since the Coyote and MOD engines are limited in displacement by their short bore spacing and corresponding small bores requiring a longer stroke and correspondingly taller and wider engines to match displacements.


Ford could adopt the TTV6 for the GT500 but they are battling GM 's weight advantage with the F6 Camaro and GM will most certainly have another Z/28 or ZL1 (Most likely like the Z06 the Z/28 will be the range topper) and it is going to use the LT4 out of the Z06 and even if Ford's TTV6 matches or beats the supercharged V8 in peak numbers (both torque ad horsepower) it isn't going to really be any faster since the GM V8 will produce more average power as the tach sweeps through its range.


We already see this with the Camaro SS and the GT350 despite the latter's 70 horsepower advantage (although I hear that is up for debate as the SS consistently out powers the vette on the dyno) the SS is hot on its heels even when the weights are almost similar.


Frankly Ford will be better off taking the 5.2 out of the GT350 and slapping a supercharger on top (packaging being an issue with the V8 preventing a brace of turbos from being installed) as that will offer some parity with the larger GM V8 in terms of average power plus you will get an overall more refined engine (owing the V8's natural balance at 90 degrees) and it will meet almost everybody's expectations for what a GT500 should be except for the "I hate a V8 crowd" who can keep on coddling their rotary engines while they cry themselves to sleep at night.

Boomer

I'd like to believe for the foreseeable future that a V8 will be in the Mustang GT, Ford Performance Shelby line. It has less to do with power or potential and has everything to do with it's lineage and the sound/feeling of those engines.


As technology changes and gets better, or materials allow the car to get lighter. There will always be a way to achieve this.
Forced induction 4s and 6s have been around for a long time and it's nothing new.
Ford has just started to put them in the mainstream vehicles and give them a badge. They've marketed the hell out of it.


Could we see special editions with those 6s, sure why not.
Is the V8 going to go away completely? I highly doubt it.


The V8 ear **** is all part of the experience.

SpectreH

Plus, anything you do to the 4 and 6 bangers to up the power can be done to the V-8's, so the V-8 could be around a long time if federal regulations don't kill it off.

m05fastbackGT

Ford along with GM and Fiat/Chrysler will achieve meeting federal regulations with their mainstream 4/6 banger models.. As long as there's still enough demand for the V-8 ? Ford will make more than enough profit from their mainstream vehicles to keep the V-8 alive for their higher end performance models such as the Mustang GT/GT350/GT500 and so on..

bob

Yep this! Keep an eye on the F150, once the V8 goes extinct there as a mainstream engine then it will mostly become a niche product in the Mustang reserved for the Shelbys.

Then again that reminds me, somebody tell me again why Ford is producing that sweet new Lincoln Continental in FWD/AWD with the Ecoboost 6 as the top option?

Taking the 5.2 from the Shelby and retuning it for more grunt on the bottom and mid-range along with some NVH fixes ( read conventional crank ) and coupling it to a 10 speed auto and a RWD/AWD large car platform seems like it would have been better as a premium car, especially when your billing it as an effortless cruiser.

Lincoln apperently wants to push it as a more bespoke offering but it's still has its bones in the CD4 platform.

Granted it is too big really to use the S550 chassis as a jumping off point but all of Lincoln's rivals are RWD/AWD but more importantly it would spread the V8 drivetrain over another line of vehicles.

The Mustang has a tough job as its Ford's bespoke RWD car platform. Nothing else this there to help amortize the costs of developing the parts and car except a fickle international market.

This is a huge advantage for GM and it's now four alpha based cars ( with the new Buick coupe ). GM will amortize costs very quickly on Alpha which means shorter product cycle time allowing them to either produce an all new car in shorter intervals, produce SE's more frequently or offer a higher level of equipment at a better price point or all of the above or they can keep catering to the shrinking number of yokels that want an endless supply of " '69 maros" ( The new Camaro for the money is a **** good deal but not particularly compelling due to played out styling - GM has more heritage with the F-car to pick from than it's first 3 years of production).

Twin Turbo

I agree, sharing costs with another marque makes perfect sense. In fact, for a mainstream manufacturer, it's pretty rare for a company like Ford to effectively have a unique platform just for Mustang.

I know the timing was wrong, what with the economy in a nose-dive and the Big 3 with their back's against the wall, but I do wish Ford's GRWD (Global Rear Wheel Drive) platform had seen the light of day. We'd already have RWD Lincolns, if that was the case.

Hopefully, perhaps we can see more synergies between Mustang and a RWD Lincoln in the future. Perhaps the 7th Gen Mustang will be designed with this in mind. And, yes, along with that platform, ensure the V8 lives on into the next generation of Mustang (and Lincoln). Whilst I love the fact the Coyote is still normally aspirated, I also wouldn't say no to a 4.0 twin turbo V8 in the Stang, and I'd happily share a version with Lincoln so they can put that in a RWD sedan, and a luxury coupe, as well as using it in the F150s.

laserred38

I've been saying for years that downsized turbo-8s are totally fine with me. I don't get why they haven't done it yet. I bet they will eventually since the luxury marques have all but completed their downsize/FI changeover. Moreover, the smaller twin turbo V8s could be used in the trucks too. Everything the V6s do, apply that the V8 version and you have more power. Period. More effortless power too, since the engines wouldn't be strained as much at low rpm out of boost.

m05fastbackGT

As I mentioned in a previous post.. As long as there's a demand for the V-8 ? Ford will keep it alive, even if that means paying a higher premium for it as a niche option..

Another reason, the 5.2 Voodoo V8 has only been in production barely over a year.. So if Ford were to kill off the V-8 as speculated, then why even bother investing the R&D costs for a new V8 platform if they have no intentions on using it for future RWD/FWD platforms to begin with ?

As far as I'm concerned, this just wouldn't make any logical sense for Ford to develop new V8 technology for just a couple of short years, nor do I buy into that Ford only designed the Voodoo for just the Shelby GT350, but rather as the eventual successor to the current 5.0 Coyote..

IMHO ! for as long as the competition over at GM and Chrysler keep V8 production alive and well, so will Ford..

2 Go Snake

I am thinking Ford may have started to switch too soon to V6 engines in their pickups with the low gas prices, I see more buyers of V8 engines. I would think there would a be a push by some politicians to delay the implementation of the fuel mileage regulations because cheap gas is plentiful.

2 Go Snake

Now that the Ford product planners know gas prices are low and we want a big powerful V8 in the Mustang that is to replace the GT500 , how big of a stroke will they ask the engineers to put in a 5.2 liter Voodoo block with a crossplane crank ?

1 Alibi 2

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5.4L - 2011/12 GT500
5.8L - 2013/14 GT500
.

HoosierDaddy

There will be V8s for as long as enough buyers demand it or too many would jump ship if they were gone. So as long as Camaros have V8s Mustangs almost surely will and vice versa.

But they can kill them and get away with it like they are doing with the V6s, its just harder with the V8 crowd because they are more determined.

I suspect Ford will eventually offer a V6 EB that is close to or even more than V8 power to test the waters. If enough V8 buyers make the switch they can start killing the V8 with a thousand paper cuts like they are with the V6s (reduce the power, take away options, etc.), if that doesn't send people to Chevy they can continue down the path.

So we have a lot of control. But I don't know how many people will stay with a V8 for the sound if a future EB V6 option is faster than the V8 or has other perks like unique options.