Images and Info on the 5.0 and 6.2 mods

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I hope we see the new Boss in passenger cars before this modern golden age of muscle comes to an end. Too bad it didn't come out several years ago as I think it was originally planned, back when it was still called the Hurricane.

Even better would've been if Ford had started development of the Modular in the 70's instead of the 80's or had tried to squeeze the old Windsor for a little longer and waited till the 90's. We might have seen this motor much sooner. Ford started developing the Mod at the absolute low point of optimism for large displacement, performance engines in the future - it looked like emission and mileage requirements would force displacements smaller and smaller.

They really hemmed themselves in for future expansion with the tiny bore spacing, the only way to get significantly bigger was to add more cylinders. As I recall, the reasoning for the tiny bores & long stroke was for intake charge, combustion and emissions reasons and better torque at low to mid RPMs. What they accomplished is actually pretty impressive as I think in some applications the 4.6l qualified for some of the low emission vehicle ratings. I don't think they thought we'd ever see 6L+ engines in passenger cars again, or even 350 cubes so the didn't leave any room to grow as that would've been unnecessary size and weight. Then Chevy comes along with the LS series later in the decade once it looks like the sky isn't falling anymore and proves that larger displacement engines can still meet emissions and mileage requirements while making serious HP.

What happened to the rest of the Modular lineup they envisioned when it was introduced? I remember the tech articles talking about I4 and 90 degree V6 Modulars in addition to the V10 we did get. Anybody else remember that?

Anyway, looks like Ford's taken what they've learned from 2 decades of Modulars, corrected the biggest flaw in the Modular - it's lack of displacement - and have built a completely kick-ass engine. I like that Ford is sticking with OHC, Chevy with the traditional small-block arrangement and Chrysler the Hemi - keeps things interesting.