Blue II

OHC. Early design concepts were explored with a push rod application.

The Boss 5.8/6.2 (aka Hurricane) is 7 liter capable. It's short block architecture is reminiscent of the old FE 428 CJ. There may be a Boss F-150 and a Boss Mustang with this engine. If you noticed there was no mention of the 4.4 Yamaha V-8. It's too costly to purchase or liscense and manufacture in North America.

HLA?

The Ranger replacement is suposed to be built off the Explorer/Sport Trac platform. (note: Sport Tracs aren't selling well at the moment) It may not be a good move. It may also be called F-100. It may also get the 4.6 3V V-8. They may be better to just stay with the Ranger with fuel prices driving truck sales. The 4.4 Ford/Pugeot Lion Deisel is supposed to be in the next F-150. The 3.5 Cyclone V-6 will be built for RWD applications and grow to 3.7 and maybe 4.0 for Truck use. the 4.0 SOHC and 4.2 SEFI will go away. Lima engine is building the 3.5 and the first ones will be in Edge/MKX and MKZ. The Fusion/Milan will follow as Lima spools up production and get AWD.

I wonder if this may be the 6.8 V-10? It may be available for in the F-150 for 08.

The Ford Racing Performance Parts (FRPP) division is the topic of two articles on Blue Oval. They are discussing the succeses of 25 years. Everything can't be all roses. Not too long ago they were trying to get Roush to take it over. He said they wanted too much for the business. FRPP's big block (385 series) parts program will be discontinued. Currently the A-460 block is on back order. The tooling is of a poor design and the vendor who casts them has told FRPP several times about the problem and FRPP will not correct the problem. The 460/514 crate engine program will go away when FRPP runs out of junk yard blocks. (note: Ford no longer has any service replacement blocks for the 460 engine and will not cast any). I know this is a small part of FRPP but it is disappointing for a company who claims to be involved in all forms of racing. You would think that Dan Davis is afraid of Drag Racing. It is second only to NASCAR in popularity. Mr. Davis would rather badge Cosworth Champ Car engines with a contract that lasts through 2015! When you attend an NHRA event there is almost no Ford presence. All you see is John Force with a Chrysler powered Mustang Funny car. Dan Davis has been accused of being afraid of supporting a Pro Stock program. DCX and GM own this class. The sportsman racers get exactly no support. There isn't any NHRA representative at FRPP to work with Stock and Super Stock Ford racers on a replacement parts program. Ford has the largest grass roots group in Drag Racing and they totally ignore them. FRPP is a marketing tool and hopfully Mark Fields can fix this are as well.

The 4.4 Yamaha for the MKS and 500 has been cancelled. It looks like a twin turbo 3.5 may happen though.

Slightly OT, but has anyone heard that Mazda would like to buy it's way out of Ford?

That is official policy. The new North American Ranger will be built off the Explorer/Sport Trac chassis. It would be nice to have the Diesel though.

I still don't understand all the criticism of Ford in regards to Mazda's success. Mazda would not be where it is today without Ford. It took Mark Fields and Ford money to fix Mazda. The biased auto media goes out of their way to downplay any Ford involvement whatsoever. Example: The CX-9 is powered by a 3.5 liter engine. Who built the engine? Ford. All the whoopla about direct injection and Ford not having any. The Mazda 2.3 Turbocharged engine has it. Where did it come from you ask. Answer: Oakwood Blvd. This media bias is deeper than I had originally thought. I hope this turnaround becomes a big snowball and rolls over all the doubting Thomas's.

Internally it is called Boss. It also has 7 liter capability and may be a Mustang engine option. The Hurricane has been around for awhile. It was cancelled and then brought back by Mark Fields. More attention needs to be given to the powertrain engineering group and allow them to do what they do best. The talent is there. Upper management and marketing just don't get it sometimes.