The reason we have underpowered, pistonplap prone engines was so they could fit a V-8 into a front drive Continental which as subsequently been killed.

Every time Ford ups the performance on our engines, it takes away from engine life. Case in point.... 900HP Honda fours in Formula one. The more you push an engine, the shorter its life span.

Anyone remember how solid the 300 straight 6 was? or the 460? Even the 302's and 351's were rock solid. Maybe not the components around it, but the actual engine block.

Maybe now Ford will give us some decent V-8's for the trucks, Town Cars and Mustangs... enough to stick it to Magnums and Vortecs.

 

J150. Can you explain what this line means?

"Case in point.... 900HP Honda fours in Formula one. "

I don't know of any connection between Honda Racing and Ford, and they don't use 4-cylinder engines in F1.

thanks.

 

Nooooooo,noooooooooooo !!!!!!!!!!!! J-150 Please tell me this isn't true.
Dreaming all my life owning a big American V8.
Now I have one for almost 3 years.
Please tell me you don't mean this.

 

I've never owned or worked on the old 302's and 351's, I've only known this modular engines.

Anyways the way I see it, those are older engines are better for 2 reasons:

1. been out long, more time to perfect
2. were built and put out a longer time ago, back in the time when customer service was good. Back in the time when cutting production costs didn't mean go with cheapest parts and pray they were effective.

 

on paper the 4.2 puts out 200 HP. This is the same as the 5.8's were rated for in 89 to 93 (I'm sure its the same to 96 but cant confirm)

Now are you going to tell me that the 4.2 will last as long as the 5.8? Under load? With a 17 year old driving it?

The Tritons are nice engines.... but I am not firmly convinced they are stronger than Magnums or Vortecs. And I LOVE Fords. I will buy another Ford. I just want a decent V-8 that is comparable to the other guys.

 

I agree with that

i saw something in the engines forum about the '03 engine getting a 3rd valve and hp will be boosted to 300.

 

Is comparing the 4.2 to the old 5.8 a fair comparison? Sure, the hp numbers are roughly similar in the comparison you cited. But comparing the biggest engine at the time in an F150 to the smallest currently availible isn't exactly apples to apples comparison. Of course, if compared the 4.2 to the 4.9, we'd all agree the 4.9 would last forever. But put the 5.4 vs. the 5.8, and you have different comparison. Only time will tell on the longetivity of the 5.4, but the 4.6 has demonstrated pretty good reliability in fleet services and has been around for nearly a decade.

As far as producing a v8 that competes, I'll stick myself out on a limb and say that for the F150 to sell as well as it has, they are doing OK. Ford is getting around to revamping the lineup in 2003 or 2004. In the meantime, the newer GM's and Dodges will have there days in the sun. Ain't competition great?

 

The 4.2l V6 isn't even a Triton.