Ford's Mod Motors Are "Top-10 Engines"?

Wow thanks for all your work in putting that together, Patrick! And it sure made me feel even more good about my undying 4.6!

the 4.6 will be remembered one fords best engines, what makes it so is the equal bore and stroke.

Perhaps the first part is true, but the topic of bore to stroke ratio is not one that can be boiled down to "equal = best". If it were, wouldn't you think all great and memorable engines in automotive (and other) history would have at least approximated this? They haven't, because it's just not so. It might be a good ratio, but it's certainly not the single ideal.

For argument's sake and example, this reputable SBF builder has a different idea.

Those of you who are more technically inclined, let's start a thread on this here. What are your thoughts? Inquiring minds want to know.

regarding bore/stroke for the 4.6 mod motor (96-04), can anyone confirm this?

i read that the maximum physical limitation of the block even bored/stroked is something like 350 cubic inches? that physically it cannot be made bigger, even with a stroker crank

curious, thanks

for street use, square is better.

Pretty sure 331 is the max. Its limited by the relatively short cylinders.

I gotta give kudos to the 4.6 designers. The 4.6 in my Vert has plenty of power and runs right up to the limiter whenever I want it to and then I feel that it could go for more. The best engine in a car I had was a 327ci + .030, Comp Cams 292, 10:1 comp. ratio, stock heads w/ roller rockers, Holley 4010/4011? 650 cfm mech sec, internels balanced, etc. etc. A guess on the hp was around 350-375. I beat the living daylights out of it every day I drove it until I sold it. Generally running it up to or past 7,500 rpms. The worst thing that happened to it was destroying 2 pushrods on 2 different occasions. My vote goes to the shorter stroke larger bore configuration.

...Ron

--

68' Camaro RS 88' Firebird Formula 00' Mustang GT Vert

The 4010 is a four-holer, and the 4011 is a spreadbore.

Can you guess why the Chevy firing order is different than the non-351 Fords?

Just like the 5.4 and the V10 :)

Al

It's possible that this is a trick question but I'll bite anyway.

Lets see... The first difference I ever noticed was that Chevy orders it's cylinders starting at the front right bank w/ odd # cylinders to the rear 1,3,5,7, and left w/ even # cylinders to the rear 2,4,6,8, where Ford uses left bank ascending 1,2,3,4 and right bank 5,6,7,8. Second thing is distributor placement. The third thing I noticed was that the Ford engine distributor runs counter clockwise where Chevy runs clockwise. The largest reason for a different firing order I can think of at the moment is the crank design.

How did I do? Please remember that I'm not an engineer or anything, just a backyard mechanic.

...Ron

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68' Camaro RS 88' Firebird Formula 00' Mustang GT Vert

I had both a 650cfm vac sec square bore and a 650cfm mech sec spreadbore on the engine at different times. I still have both carbs on a shelf in need of freshening (not likely to happen though), the mechanical secondary spreadbore worked much better on the 327 than the vacuum square bore unit. I should have made that clear as well as I couldn't remember which # fit which carb.

...Ron

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68' Camaro RS 88' Firebird Formula 00' Mustang GT Vert

You were real close. The two firing orders are actually the same, but appear different because of the cylinder numbering. Yes, it was a trick question. Like 55's? I have a line on a two door. I may buy it just to piss off Billy and Patty.

There is still no substitute for cubic inches. Much as I like my 4.6 in my GT..... it seems it's still no real match for the old tried and true 5.7 liter Chevy engine. My personal direct comparison is my 95 Caprice 9C1 with what was a slightly detuned corvette 5.7 liter in it compared to my 05 Crown Vic PI with the SOHC 4.6. They are fairly close in acceleration but the 5.7 is a bit faster. Not a surprise there given the larger engine. BUT, the Caprice consistently gets 22+ mpg on the highway with that bigger engine and the CV only gets 20 mpg out of that sophisticated mod motor. And my GT does about the same 20 mpg on the highway (automatic in all of them).

-- Jim '88 LX 5.0 (now in car heaven) '89 LX 5.0 vert '99 GT 35th Anniversery Edition - Silver Mods to date - Relocated trunk release to drivers side, shortened throttle cable, PIAA Driving lights.

gotta agree there - no substitute for cubic inches

look at the 2005 z06. has a 7.0 litre engine - that is 427 ci.

my 04 cobra has a 4.6 litre/281 ci engine (plus the displacement of the supercharger, but that is a different story)

i just read somewhere else in this post that the maximum i would ever be able to put in my car without going to a longer stroked block is 331 cubes/5.4 litres.

so it seems that the sbc is always out in front of the mod ford motor.

how can chevy get such a large displacement from the small block engine, while ford cannot?

The 351W SB engine can be stroked to 427. The mod motors weren't designed for that kind of stroking. They are a lot closer to bulletproof than the stock 302/351W blocks were though, and artificial aspiration, provided there is a good bottom end, can push the stock 4.6L block way past what you could take a 5.0L block.

JS