Ford To Open Up Torture Test Engine At Detroit Auto Show

Ford really wants you to know how durable the new 3.5 liter twin turbo V6 is that’s going into the new 2012 F-150 trucks. They are going well out of their way to overcome what is conventional wisdom, that there is no substitute for cubic inches – especially in a truck. People tend to assume that a smaller high strung engine would be far less durable than a big one that doesn’t have to work very hard.

To wit, Ford has been testing and proving their mighty EcoBoost V6 in ways very public to assure the masses that this engine is not only small, powerful and efficient, but can endure. Ford powertrain engineers will tear down an engine that has gone a distance equal to six times around the earth and three quarters of the way to the moon. Or put another way: the engine has the equivalent of 160,000 miles and 10 years of rugged use.

Ford engineers want you to see how the engine’s parts and components held up. They will disassemble and examine it for long-term durability in front of the public at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit on Jan. 15, 2011 at 11 a.m.

“Customers will be able to see for themselves how the components fared during a regime of tests that, when taken together, are far more extreme than even the harshest-use customer could dish out,” said Jim Mazuchowski, V6 engines programs manager. “This EcoBoost truck engine received no special treatment, and now we’re going to see how it did.”

The F-150 EcoBoost engine saw its first action on the dyno in July. Engineers punished it in temperature and load extremes simulating nearly 10 years of use – a regimen tougher than any consumer could ever subject a truck to. At this point, most engines would be ready to be rebuilt or retired, but the EcoBoost testing engine was just beginning.

The engine was dropped into a regular production 2011 F-150 at Kansas City Assembly Plant Then it hit the road and saw some of the most severe use Ford engineers have ever dreamed up.

* It hauled 55 tons of lumber
* It ran at full throttle for 24 straight hours towing 11,300 pounds
* Beat competitors’ larger engines in an uphill towing competition
* Completed the world’s toughest desert endurance race, the SCORE Tecate Baja 1000 in Mexico

Go to http://www.ford.com/trucks/f150/experiencef150 to see firsthand how the EcoBoost truck engine performs in each of these events.

Last month, the engine returned to the Dearborn dynamometer lab – where it started its “torture test” – to have power levels and output checked at a speed range from 1,500 rpm to 5,000 rpm. The results:

* Produced best-in-class 420 lb.-ft. of torque at 2,500 rpm on regular fuel
* Produced 365 horsepower at 5,000 rpm on regular fuel
* Power and torque met with the same level of boost as the new advertised power engine
* Cylinder compression (a measure of how efficiently the engine makes power) and leakdown (measures pressure lost due to worn piston rings or defects in the valvetrain) both were still in specification
* No oil or fluid leaks

Well they are obviously very confident in their engine and you too will be able to see.

Interesting and perhaps the next motor for the Mustang, I have wondered when the Mustang would end up as a V6 only , I thought it would be soon but with a new 5.0 I wonder what the plan is now.