Ford is itching to show that its 3.5-liter twin-turbocharged EcoBoost V6 engine is tough enough to take whatever F-150 buyers can throw at it. In order to do so, the company has lined up a bevy of torture tests and enlisted Mike Rowe to narrate a documentary on the whole affair. Things will kick off with Ford randomly selecting an EcoBoost engine off of the assembly line to be subjected to the equivalent of 150,000 miles on the dyno. From there, the engine will be bolted into an F-150, where it will head to Oregon to skidsteer logs for a lumber company.
Then, the same truck and engine will head to Homestead Miami Speedway where it will tow two Sprint Cup Ford Fusion race cars around the track for 24 hours at full throttle, stopping only for fuel and tires along the way.
But wait, there's more.
From there, the engine will be removed from the 2011 F-150 and bolted into a specially prepared race truck, where it will do battle in the Tecate SCORE Baja 1000. After all of that, Ford will tear down the engine and give the public a look at how things went inside. Sounds like a party. You can hit the jump for a look at the full press release and to check out the first video in the series.
10-27-2010, 07:52 PM
sr20s14zenki
thats cooooool
go ford
10-27-2010, 07:52 PM
Type_S1
That sounds insane. Even if the engine blew would they really show the video?
10-27-2010, 07:58 PM
vengie
Sounds awesome! excited to see this
10-27-2010, 08:00 PM
projekz
Wow...looking forward to seeing the rest! Ford has a lot of balls putting a v6 in a F150. I like them more and more, they seem to come out with great products and are extremely customer oriented. My mom returned her BMW at the end of her lease and bought a 2010 Fusion V6 AWD this summer and I was quite impressed on the drive and the quality.
10-27-2010, 08:43 PM
corsvette
I hope it holds up well over time, to me the idea of a twin turbo gas engine in a pickup does not equal long term durability, it will be a tough sell for guys who do hard work or towing. I do think its a great engine that puts down some amazing numbers, i hope it lasts..
10-27-2010, 08:46 PM
Graham_A_M
This is as about as Ballsy as it gets... This will either be a huge hit with the public, or a huge flop, but I think Ford did their math on this on. That being said I cant wait to see this footage either way.
:thumbsup:
10-27-2010, 08:54 PM
Hash_man
Ford FTW yet again... They keep bringing out better and better products lately, it is impressive. I think this motor is a great idea for the F150, especially with the very low cost to put it in any model of F150. As long as it is reliable, they should sell a ton.
10-27-2010, 08:56 PM
Xtrema
Quote:
Originally posted by Graham_A_M This is as about as Ballsy as it gets... This will either be a huge hit with the public, or a huge flop, but I think Ford did their math on this on. That being said I cant wait to see this footage either way.
:thumbsup:
They can't fail. The won't sell enough Fiestas to offset all the V8 F150s.
10-27-2010, 09:01 PM
kaput
.
10-27-2010, 09:18 PM
Cos
Quote:
Originally posted by corsvette I hope it holds up well over time, to me the idea of a twin turbo gas engine in a pickup does not equal long term durability, it will be a tough sell for guys who do hard work or towing. I do think its a great engine that puts down some amazing numbers, i hope it lasts..
They are saying the twin turbos are no where near the limit, and the Garret turbos are rated for 200,000 miles. I bet this engine will last. I think the turbo breakdown is when you push a 2.0L to 300hp. Not a 250hp v6 to 325. Look at diesel turbo's they dont break down and are under the same temps and boosts.
Quote:
Originally posted by kaput Have they released the rated fuel economy for this engine yet?
Quote:
The winning result came from a Quebecbased auto writer who managed an average of 28.9 miles per U.S. gallon in the pickup with a 3.73 rear-axle ratio. While this figure translates to 8.1 L/100 km, the average across the group was closer to 10.2 L/100 km.
Originally posted by Unknown303 I'd say the temperatures are going to be way higher than a diesel engine but that's just me.
You are absolutely right. The diesel may be a bad example. I just cant think of a non-inline 4 turbo vehicle that is introduced stock besides the diesels. I dont like the inline 4 example, although they hold up, because they seem to really want to push the edge of the envelope.
10-27-2010, 10:10 PM
Ukyo8
never liked fords but thats pretty sick :thumbsup:
10-27-2010, 10:20 PM
JordanAndrew
Looks quite interesting. If it does fail, obviously ford won't tell anybody. ;)
10-27-2010, 10:29 PM
Redlyne_mr2
It's smart marketing on there part as I know several people who are looking at getting f150s but are concerned about Ford and there knowledge of building a reliable tough turbo engine. Wonder how this will go? As for using Garrett turbos I would be very surprised to see a modern day Garrett last 200 000miles. Unfortunately Garrett was bought out and most of it's turbo are now made in China. Failures of these turbos has been more and more common, time will tell.
10-27-2010, 10:33 PM
Graham_A_M
Quote:
Originally posted by JordanAndrew Looks quite interesting. If it does fail, obviously ford won't tell anybody. ;)
I dont think they'd need to. The world over knows about this attempt. If it failed miserably there would be much press ado about it regardless if they wanted it or not. Like I said; I'm quite sure they really got their ducks in a row before attempting this one.
HUGE Kudos to Ford. If Dodge would get their shit in even half the line Ford currently does; and willingly: I'd actually hold an esteem for that brand a bit higher then "half a pinch of chicken shit" :rolleyes:
Its interesting in that video, those vast temp differences they test the engine in: if they would have tried that in the late 70's with those turbo Trans Am's they would have noticed early on that the aluminum turbo coupled with the cast iron V8 offered in the (late 70's) Turbo Trans am was a horrendous idea. I know GM had a TON of extra low performance blocks that they had to get rid of, but they should've known that an aluminum turbo coupled with a cast iron SBC was a bad idea: given our winters. (Thats why thanks to a lack of engineering, we had these trans am's with turbo's that would literally blow through the hood). Time is hindsight, but we REALLY could have used this technology 40 years ago. That created an enormous amount of bad-press that still lives on today.
10-27-2010, 10:39 PM
Calgaryrocky
I've always picked trucks over cars but i've never been a big fan of ford. I'm looking forward to driving one of these to see how feels compared to the dodge V8. Turbo Lag???
10-28-2010, 08:23 AM
94boosted
Way to go Ford, I'm really hoping the engine actually lasts.
Quote:
Originally posted by Cos
I think the turbo breakdown is when you push a 2.0L to 300hp. Not a 250hp v6 to 325.
My car has a factory 2.0L Turbo @ 300HP and so does the EVO :nut: