I hope this doesn't drive the price up too much.


http://www.gminsidenews.com/forum/in...showtopic=6169

 

We could go on a comfort diet

Power windows
Power seats
Air Conditioning
Full sized spare tire
15 or 16 inch wheels
Standard tranny might be lighter
smaller battery
headphones instead of speakers
Carbon fiber bucket seats
Titanium exhaust system
Lexan side and rear windows

I'm sure there's more

Anythin else?

 

Well, I don't really know what to think of the replies, but I do think it's a great idea. The L had more hp than the Cobra before the Cobra got the supercharger, so I don't think that it would really affect the GT sales if it had 500+ hp. I have a feeling the Lightning will be putting out at least 425 hp to stay ahead of the Dodge. That SRT10 is a brick!

 

Hey lets face it, the Gen II's are pretty awesome now,
plus they were doing this since 99

Be honest, how many bought your L thinking you had a reg steel hood ??? and how many new it had FIBERGLASS Quarter Panels ?

I remember when one of the first Gen II's got wrecked and someone posted some pic's of it, everyone was like
WOW, we have fiberglass Quarters ?

Why not take that even further, schitt I'll take the hi tech suspension and better handling, WHY NOT

Now if they wussy out and throw an Eaton on top of a Stock
F-150 Motor, and we start throwing Rods and spitting plugs
again, I'll be one of the first looking for John Coletti so I can
shove a broom stick up his a$$.
BTW
(thats big here in NY, even the Cops do it, hehehehehehe)

 

I was so surprised when i realized the rear quarters were fiberglass. Especially since i used to sit on the front porch and listen to my quarters on my broncos i had just rust away!!!

Anyone know exactly which pieces are fiberglass.

 

I wonder just how much weight we can realistically shave off from our Gen11's without affecting our daily routine driving, has anyone calculated this yet? I know about the hitch, but I like to keep the spare. Is there anything else we could remove?

 

The bedsides are not fiberglass to save weight. (Fiberglass is heavier than steel - look at the weight of a Corvette)

The bedsides are fiberglass because it is very difficult to stamp compound curves out of steel.

All the "flareside" F-150s have the same bed with fiberglass bedsides. Chevrolet has been doing the same thing with the Stepside bed since the late 80's...

Now making the hood out of aluminum was probably done to save weight, but may also have been an extreme effort to avoid rust and corrosion. Note that all F-150s have aluminum hoods. Not just Lightnings.

 

Ford Step sides have been glass for years...at least back to 1980. And we do still have a steel bed behind those glass skins. (Don't ask how I know!) THere is a lot of weight savings to be had there....maybe lighter with the straight sides? And not a lot of rust prevention (since there is still an inner and outer steel bed there).

It seems bronco's have been doomed since the early models to present...EB's (early bronco's), 78/79, Big bronco's, and bronco II's...all rust buckets, as cool as they are.

 

Three observations:

1. Coletti's "we have enough HP" remarks are based on the current state of the SVT art -- the GT twin screw -- not the Eaton-blown engine that we have. I will be surprised if the Gen 3 does not have 500 crank HP.

2. There is not much that can realistically be done to lighten the Gen 3 without causing the price to skyrocket or the creature comforts to sink to unacceptable levels. Runflats, lightweight seats, a lighter rear axle, and maybe lighter control arms are few easy and cheap things that come to mind. Maybe a few hundred pounds. But the current 2WD is starting out at 4,200 lbs (at least according to Ford specs). Add a/c and heavier-duty L-spec parts, and without any tech it could still be lighter than the Gen 2. If it could just be kept to 4,200, that would be 400 lbs. off the Gen 2 mark.

3. I love this quote: "How can the flimsy ford engine ever beat the mighty v10? Anyone wondered what happens if dodge puts a s/c on top of that monster?" If Dodge were to blow the V-10, all bets would be off. Maybe that will be the Gen 2 SRT-10. At least that's what we should hope for -- competition improves the breed.

 

...."automakers have hit a wall on how much horsepower they can give a vehicle." I would think 4 valves/cylinder and better intercooling ( of course internals being 4340 crank & 4340 H-Beam rods, and forged pistons) could easily do 500 HP or more. All they need is equal HP and our trucks are already lighter than Dodges.

 

Automakers have to get everything emmisions and noise certified, as well as try and keep it efficient enough as to not murder their CAFE numbers. That is where the HP wall kicks in.

 

Did anyone catch the Truck Trend article about the SRT-10 against the Gen II lightning? The Lightning still stacks up despite a 120 HP and 75 lb/ft disadvantage. The article went on to talk about the Gen III Lightning saying several interesting things such as a mid 2005 release date and a possibility of the 390 CID engine that's going into the Cobra. Yeah, Cobra as in Carroll Shelby Cobra. I'm sure everyone's thought of this possibility, but it's cool to see in print.

If the 6.4L V10 were to be put in the Lightning I'd hope that it were tuned for torque. The numbers for the Cobra have it listed at 601 HP at the crank and 500 lb/ft. It would be nice to see the engine tuned for around 525 HP and 575 lb/ft. This would also allow for a little bit of beefing up of the truck for structural reasons. Ford has several resources on tap. Why not use this awesome beast and match the Mopar boys cylinder for cylinder?

 

the L3 getting the Ford GT engine.

I think the V10 is designed and tuned for hp, since the article mentioned the dyno only read to 600 hp and the engine was reading 600+ hp from 5500 up to redline(7500).

http://www.stangnet.com/2005shelbyco...s/SHELBY21.jpg

The problem is, retuning for torque might not make sense, rod-length and other geometry does to a certain extent determine the caracter and mission of an engine. Another thing is cost, e.g. to turn at high rpm you need better rods, and that might only be cost-justified at an exotic-car price.