post from another site,,, SVT NEWS from SEMA -

I have a friend who sat in on a "closed" session at SEMA put on by FORD to explain what is going on about the demise of the SVT group.

1) Organization changes -

a) John Colletti is running the Ford Racing Products group and is still in charge of the FORD GT.
b) Tom Scarpello is working on the Jaguar now.
c) The Bean counters at Ford cut the budget of SVTOA (Owners Association that FORD sponsors) by 20 % (compared to the previous year). This is no biggee as 20 % is not much to me.

2) Product Changes -

a) The LIGHTNING - The project is totally dead atleast for now. Here is what happened. The new motor they were building which is a 5.4L made about 600 EHP at the Flywheel as "pullied" from the factory. They kept blowing up lots of Auto Transmissions. So the transmission put the nail in the coffin (for now). They supposedly sunk a ton of money into the overall Lightning development (not just for performance) and the people upstairs looked at the total anticipated sales of the SVT products and came up with less than 1/10 of 1 % of product sales and killed off the Lightning.

b) The COBRA - Let me clarify first. When I refer to the COBRA in this post I am not talking about the Shelby COBRA Coupe. I am talking about the follow on to the TERMINATOR. Officially, this project is NOT YET DEAD. They need to see as many letters to SVT that HAMMER is trying to get everyone to write/FAX/send to keep the remaining plans alive.

Here is what I know about the COBRA's configuration -
-
1) It will not use the V-10 and it will not use the 4.6L either. They decided to use the Engine Development from the new LIGHTNING and the COBRA will have a 5.4L (around 330 cubes) topped off with a Twin Screw Blower.
2) The COBRA will retain a "manual transmission" (6 speed).
3) The IRS Geometry has been re-designed from the Ground up and is also alot "Stronger". The IRS will come completely pre-assembled as far as the way the overall COBRA will be assembled.
4) The cost has been kept down to around $5,000 more than you paid for your 03 - so again it is a "No Frills" car except that most of the development money was put into the Integrated design of the Engine and the IRS.
5) I was told it will be come out around the middle of 06 for the 2007 model year.

 

Good Info BBQ, THANKS,

First I heard of the Gen III L being 600 RWHP though
Never heard of a Trans prob either ??? Hasn't the G man been working with Ford on the Trans, he can build Trans to hold
one Millllllllllllllllllllllllllion HP,
WHATS THE PROB ?????

Either way, I'm still glad they aren't making it, (in a way)
the new style F-150 is ok (I guess) for a truck, but clearly
was not my style for the Best Got Dam All Around Vehicle
on the Planet. I personally don't think they will ever better
the Gen II "Look Wise".
(I AM NOT a truck guy, nor do I consider the Gen 2 L a TRUCK)

Bigger bummer on the Cobra not being around for some more years ("if" they even do it then).....

Man I wish I got to test and blow up stuff under development

 

"No rob, no. Theres' no such thing as a stock vehicle with a 100 shot. Sorry. Now get the hell away from the test vehicle"

 

This is the second time I have heard the reason they scrapped the new L was because the tranny couldn't handle it. Interesting.

 

Hey Rob, put the pipe down and re-read the orininal post. He said they made 600 HP at the FLYWHEEL. Anyway, it was great seeing you at JDM Day and chewing the fat. We now return control of your bong, same time-same channel.

 

NEVER MIND

 

I just spoke to a Rep. from SVT:

John Colletti has been running the Ford Racing Products group for several months. It was a promotion and his former position was filled. He is still involved with SVT but at a higher level.

To Scarpello is still at SVT.

The rumors of the SVT grenading trannies...The overall development costs were extreme but it wasn't specific to trannies.

The Cobra Mustang is currently the only vehicle in the development process at this time.

SVT is continuing to give owner feedback to Ford and later this week they will report again to the Ford Exec's, so please keep the letters and faxes coming!

PS. Shelby is still doing his "own thing" and is not part of SVT.

 

I do not understand the transmission problem. We were shopping for a medium duty truck 26,000 gvw at work. Fords own brochure offers an Allison 3560 5 speed automatic trans rated to handle 300hp and more important 800 ft lb of torque. I would think this would be more than adequate to handle a 5,200 poud Lightning??

 

it cant handle the RPMs

 

exatly what i heard. Their last resort was the Allison, but it was only good till like 4k rpms, and then stuff started comming apart, and the amount of R&D for Allison to reconfigure the trannies for higher rpm must me crazy.

I was looking forward to the GEN 3's but now ****ing it.

Long live Gen 2's!!!!

 

Why doens't ford put a contract to greg evans for mosnter boxes?

theres a tranny thast'll handle 800+hp.

buy in bul;k or contract greg himself to deisgn for the truck...

not a whole lot expensive.

 

http://www.just-auto.com/news_detail.asp?art=46201