According to the Sept. Motortrend, Ford hasn't yet decided on whether the upcomming 6.2L V8 will be a pushrod or OHC engine. I guess the engine isn't far enough in development yet. Aside from being smaller, lighter, and cheaper to build, going with pushrod design will make it easier and cheaper to give the engine cyl. deactivation according to MT.
Why the pushrod fascination? I'm not picking on you specifically, but the general consensus seems to be that pushrod engines are superior to OHC engines. Ford has already invested a lot of resources into their OHC program, and I seriously doubt they would start producing pushrod engines again. What Ford needs is more displacement. I believe they moved to the SOHC 3V for cost measures(relative to their DOHC counterparts), but I also think they wanted to reduce the exterior dimensions of the 5.4(DOHC) by using the 3V SOHC so they could eventually put it in the Mustang. I hope anyways...
That is pretty interesting that they would even consider going pushrod. I don't think it will happen since they have poured so much money into OHC head development. If they ever figure out that adding less than two inches to the length of the 4.6 would pretty much give them the 6.0 liters, watch out. The Mods could use a bit of bore space. IMHO.
If I was to put money on it I'd say they are going OHC. But I thought the 6.2L was just a bigger version of the 5.4L V8, it seems that this is an all new engine. GM has had a lot of success with their newest generation of pushrod V8s and Chrysler switched to OHC V8s (4.7L) and then switched back to pushrod (Hemi) and has had great success. Rumor has it that the '06-07 Toyota full size pickup might have a pushrod V8. After all they developed one from the ground up for their NASCAR craftsman seires truck, they might not let all that R&D go to waste. Since the top (hp wise) engines in 2005 are all pushrod I wouldn't doubt it if Ford is taking a hard look at a new pushrod V8. Dodge= 345HP 5.7L pushrod Chevy= 310HP 5.3L pushrod Nissan= 305HP 5.6L DOHC Ford = 300HP 5.4L SOHC 3v I don't think Ford will dump its OHC engines, but if the 6.2 is all new, then who knows. On a side note, doesn't the 6.2L seem like it is going to overlap performance wise with the 6.8L V10?
Anything is possible, especially if the 6.2 is destined for trucks. One thing in favor of this is the fact that this engine will most likely(hopefully) have a larger bore spacing, and if they were pondering the use of pushrods this would be a good time. Don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of the LS-series chevrolet small blocks, I just think Ford has finally turned the corner with their OHC efforts. I like how compact the 3V is(much like the LS1), and I would love to see what a 6.2 3V could do. I have heard Chevy is experimenting with pushod versions that have multiple intake valves too.
There are plenty of good reasons for going push rod. Being light and compact are the first ones that come to mind. It will be interesting to see what happens. Off topic/side topic: I saw some pretty interesting Ford SOHC heads in a Summit sales catalog. They were ported PI heads by Patriot Performance. The flow numbers were around 210 CFM at .500 lift if I remember correctly. That is pretty close to a set of Edelbock Performer RPMs for a 5.0. I was impressed that the OEM heads could be massaged that much. IMHO, Ford is doing some things right, but just still needs to put the whole package together.
I really don't think that it will be a pushrod engine because over the years Ford has focused more on OHC technology. However, considering the #'s and specs of the other V8's out there that are pushrod, Ford could possibly make an all new pushrod V8. Guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens.
