Still under development, Ford's surprise for 2010 is the 6.2l V8 engine, now undergoing "intense, cruel, dusty and dirty testing". Ford says the harsh testing procedures are meant to mimic "how a customer would use the engine." And even more...
“Running it over 6,000 rpm for more than 150 hours, which is over the peak power limit of the engine, really puts it through its paces,” Mike Harrison, Ford V8 system manager said in a release. “We’ve tested it in harsher operating conditions on the engine dyno than would ever be seen by a customer who races.”
The testing procedures included, alongside with the rpm torture described above, heat testing. The car was taken into the Borrego Springs desert, were engine cooling was tested on the 62-mile test loop created by Ford’s Special Vehicle Team (SVT).
“We spent a lot of time developing our desert durability test so that it’s very close to replicating the Baja 1000," Kerry Baldori, SVT chief functional engineer added. “Desert testing proved to be a very quick way to learn about the reliability of the truck and it put another level of extreme loads on the engine that our normal durability testing doesn’t cover.”
The 6.2l unit has a cast-iron engine block. It features dual-equal variable cam timing, meaning intake and exhaust valve opening and closing are phased at the same time to optimize fuel economy and performance. Peak horsepower is generated at 5,500 rpm.
The new engine will join the F-150 range in the first months of next year. Further details are expected as we get closer to the release date.
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