Monsters Among Us - More Details Emerge on Ford's New Godzilla (7X) V8 Engine
Fresh on the heels of the last article blowing the lid on Ford's upcoming 7.3L OHV V8, we have even more details. Some of the specs I'm about to go into have been confirmed by multiple sources, and a few are single source. More interestingly, I have gotten a look at the actual cylinder heads. Let me start out by saying, based on the heads alone this engine has the potential to be special.
First off, the valves and ports all look enormous. I have been told, but cannot confirm, that that the intake valves measure out at 2.20-Inches in diameter. If that is the case that would mean Ford's Godzilla would have larger valves than the last Big Block engine produced in the US, the GM Vortec 8.1L V8. In fact, the Mopar 6.4L Hemi Apache Heads feature 2.14-Inch Intake (1.650-Inch Exhaust Valves) and can flow over 340CFM on the intake side. I would suspect that the 7.3L Ford heads will put up similar numbers, but with far better swirl (more on that later).
Study this combustion chamber From the Dart Pro 1 LS heads. The Ford 7X design is visually very similar.
Something else that same source told me, which I have conformed, is that Godzilla will indeed feature Direct Injection. The location for a DI injector was machined into the heads that I have seen. I do not yet have a confirmation wheter the 7X will be equipped with dual-fuel-systems (both Port Injection and DI). However, given the direction that Ford has been going recently I'm about 99% sure it will be a PI/DI system like the 2018+ Coyote V8. It's getting pretty tough to meet particulate emissions standards with DI alone, and adding on a PI system takes care of that.
This is the GM LT-Series head, currently the only DI Pushrod V8s on the market.
The major design points are certainly influenced by GM's LS/LT series engines, but not necessarily the factory GM parts. Instead, it appears that Ford engineers modeled cues from certain aftermarket LS heads. In one particularly striking case, the 7X's combustion chamber looks eerily similar to Dart Pro 1 LS heads. I asked an DKH Engineering, an independent engineering consultant, their opinion of the design to which they replied:
"The kidney shape of the combustion chamber will create swirl in the cylinder as the high velocity intake comes past the valve. This swirl allows the air and fuel molecules find stoichiometric balance for combustion at a faster rate. The faster this rate, the better, allowing a more complete and efficient burn of the intake charge. This results in high torque levels starting at very low rpm.
The advantage of the one intake valve over dual is that the kinetic energy needed for swirl is wasted in the area between the two intake valves. As the intake charge comes over each valve, the charges impact each other, canceling out their momentum.
Normally, the volume limitation of one valve is what makes dual valves more favorable in smaller engines. The massive size of the valve and the low rpm range of this engine eliminates this volume limitation.
With direct injection solving a lot of the old school detonation issues, I suspect a compression ratio of 10:1 to 11.5:1, even in industrial applications. A race engine configuration could easily run even higher ratios."
The advantage of the one intake valve over dual is that the kinetic energy needed for swirl is wasted in the area between the two intake valves. As the intake charge comes over each valve, the charges impact each other, canceling out their momentum.
Normally, the volume limitation of one valve is what makes dual valves more favorable in smaller engines. The massive size of the valve and the low rpm range of this engine eliminates this volume limitation.
With direct injection solving a lot of the old school detonation issues, I suspect a compression ratio of 10:1 to 11.5:1, even in industrial applications. A race engine configuration could easily run even higher ratios."
It's going to take some time to get used to a new Ford V8 head looking like this, but that's the future.
All that sounds great to me, considering the intended purpose of this engine. I have a feeling that we'll be seeing a fairly efficient (as far as a 7.3L V8 can be) engine that produces excellent low end torque. With the 6.7L Powerstroke engine now being a $9,120 there is certainly a place in the lineup for a less expensive base engine that makes impressive power. When I mentioned to one of my Ford sources that I had a feeling that the Godzilla engine would make around 525 lb-ft of he said "knowing the engineer leading up the program, he would probably be disappointed if that's all it made." It's possible that we could be looking at a base gas engine putting out more power than a 6.0L Powerstroke diesel for the 2020 model year. Until then; I have a few more specs that I'm working to confirm, so expect another article soon.
-SID297
