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Ford Fanatic · 04-08-2002, 07:53

The latest information I have heard was from a relative doing contract work for Ford Oz. He was part of an engineering team that was evaluating some major changes with the engine configurations, both with the new 6�s and 8's. He wouldn't go into details but he said that the engines would in fact be mounted upside down.
The biggest problem they had was mounting the gearbox to the engine, most of the gearbox had to be rebuilt, much like converting a car from LHD to RHD. They ended up having to cast a new housing for the gearbox and replace most of the mechanism so that the gear lever would point upwards into the cabin instead of down at the road.
Of course, any idiot knows hot air won't fall, so there were extensive modifications to the air intake and piping. This resulted in the engine having to be moved around 32mm rearwards to fit in the new induction unit.
This, in turn, created a shorter drive shaft, however he didn't say how this problem was overcome.
An unexpected benefit from mounting the engine upside down was the shorter dipstick required because of the oil sump being located on top of the engine. This of course means lower production costs.
There were a few problems though, one was the difficulty of draining all the oil from the engine. This was overcome by fitting a removable cap to the top of the head, which is of course on the bottom of the engine. The most serious problem however was that when driving in wet weather, the engine would suck the water into the distributor and also the leads. The problem was alleviated by fitting a plastic cover over the distributor, and also shielding the leads in small plastic pipe.
One of the more interesting problems they encountered was the mounting of the name plate bearing the engine builders signature. On the normal engine this wouldn�t be fitted, but after this configuration was agreed upon it was decided that it would be appropriate to place it on the sump (which is on top of the engine), acknowledging the work that had gone into building this unique driveline.
Does anyone have any other information to back this up?

eb_5litre · 04-08-2002, 07:58

I also heard rumours of this major engine development... but I was told that the Hillier brothers had done much of the testing.
There have been reports from locals that have seen it driving around the Tenterfield area.

Mr Jucy · 04-08-2002, 07:59

I heard this was originally planned to show the Australian engineering of the down under engine the incredible performance gains happened by chance
PS Mate revealing key information like this could ruin our good relationship with Ford Australia could you imagine if someone at Holden read this & quickly reengineered the VY to this configeration to steal the limelight of Fords new revelutionary reverse cycle engine
In future I feel you should clear such things with the mods 1st

Donut King · 04-08-2002, 08:00

I heard of this too, and heard of another problem with the engine mounts, as they normally bolt up to the bottom of the block near the sump, the block had to be redesigned so the mounts would bolt up near the head which was now at the bottom of the engine, once this hurdle was overcome by reinforcing the block near the head so the engine mounts could bolt up ok the development of the engine was able to progress very quickly indeed

LC GTR · 04-08-2002, 08:06

Not smart guys! You never know who's lurking in the shadows! I regret to inform you that I'm about to email Holden right now and inform them of this sheer feat of engineering excellence so it can be adapted to future production models. Your little stuff up just cost Ford alot of Money! You can delete the thread, but it's to late, I've copied and pasted it into notepad and it's safely stored on my hard drive. You've done it now!

Andy

Cobra · 04-08-2002, 08:06

Quote:

Originally posted by DONUT KING
I heard of this too, and heard of another problem with the engine mounts, as they normally bolt up to the bottom of the block near the sump, the block had to be redesigned so the mounts would bolt up near the head which was now at the bottom of the engine, once this hurdle was overcome by reinforcing the block near the head so the engine mounts could bolt up ok the development of the engine was able to progress very quickly indeed

I heard something similar to that that the engine had to sit lower and will result in a lower centre of gravity.

Futura97 · 04-08-2002, 08:08

gee whiz... you wouldn't want to have to replace a rocker cover gasket or heads.. You would have to remove the whole engine :|

Donut King · 04-08-2002, 08:16

Quote:

Originally posted by xf_xr6
gee whiz... you wouldn't want to have to replace a rocker cover gasket or heads.. You would have to remove the whole engine :|

the engine is designed as a throwaway item, and most of the parts are cast in one, including the block and transmission in the style of ferrari's f2002 f1 car. This means that if you need to replace anything you just pull the engine and replace it with a new one, LS1 style... ford figure if holden can get away with it, why can't they.

The new castings for the gearbox that Ford Fanatic mentions is probably the new castings that makie it integrated with the engine block

Ford Fanatic · 04-08-2002, 08:43

Sorry, I should have been a bit clearer. What I meant was that the shape of the gearbox casting had to be changed because of the problems I listed above. The engine and gearbox are cast as one piece, although they are not in the same positions as you would find a normal engine. From what I understand, the gearbox is removed from its original casing, the shift lever is switched around and it is placed in the new combined engine and gearbox casting. A coupling between the crank and the input shaft of the gearbox needs to be fabricated to transfer the power as the gearbox is in a much lower position in relation to the block than usual.

ayman · 04-08-2002, 08:45

Ok fellas, that's all sweet.Didn't understand a word!But in summary, did you ask him what's the power output for each engine?roughly?I hope you did.
Should we worry about holden reading this? I don't think they have brains to do all that ,seems complicated for them.Just keep on topping up the oil boys!!!