A new supercharged five-litre V8 engine developed by UK race-engineering specialist Prodrive is claimed to have taken the latest Ford Falcon GT straight into the lead in the Australian performance car market.
Developing 335hp at 5750rpm and 570Nm from 2200 to 5500rpm, the ‘Miami’ engine is said to have received rave reviews from the country’s specialist press.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
The Miami replaces the 5.4-litre Boss unit used by Ford Performance Vehicles which had reached the limit of its emissions development and mechanical strength.
Bryan Mears, managing director of Prodrive’s Asia Pacific division, said the new engine took three years and AUS$36m and described the result as a new benchmark for a high-performance V8.
The new engine is not only more powerful, but lighter. Its supercharger also helps deliver more torque at lower engine speeds than its predecessor. Straight line performance figures include a standing start quarter-mile time of less than 13 seconds and 0-100kmh (62mph) in under five seconds.
The Miami engine is produced in two power ratings by altering the level of boost from the supercharger: a 315hp model in the Falcon GS and a 335hp version in the GT, GT-E and GT-P. These four high-performance vehicles are produced by FPV, a joint venture between Ford and Prodrive.
Mears said: “The challenge for the project team was to find an affordable way to produce a new, market-leading engine with the headroom to meet future emissions and performance targets. It also had to satisfy the demanding new ‘One Ford’ global standards for engineering and durability.”
Within the Ford empire, the team identified the Coyote V8 block and twin overhead cam cylinder heads from the 300hp Mustang as a starting point.
New parts include uprated exhaust valves, pistons, connecting rods, the complete intake and exhaust system, a high capacity sump and oil cooling jets to control piston temperature. Even parts that are retained from the Mustang have been optimised for the new application, such as resetting the standard fuel injectors to suit the new combustion characteristics and rebalancing the crankshaft to suit the new pistons and rods. Unlike a ‘bolt-on’ supercharger conversion, engineering changes are carried right through the engine to ensure long term reliability.
Prodrive ran the Miami programme as a ‘turnkey’ project within the framework of Ford’s recently introduced Global Product Development System (GPDS). Prodrive Australia became the nerve centre for complex communications and logistics, coordinating input from Dearborn (USA), Canada, Germany and the UK. Powertrain and vehicle testing locations included Germany, the USA and Australia’s Northern Territories.
Rigorous development and validation processes included accelerated engine endurance tests, simulating 250,000km use in 14 weeks, and a vehicle durability programme of 170,000km. The programme used three levels of hardware: hand-made prototypes for early evaluation, pre-production samples for development and production parts for final validation.
Approximately 40% of the engine is manufactured locally and all engines are hand-built at FPV on the only V8 assembly line in Australia. Volume is predicted to be around 1,500 engines a year.
