I realize that, in many ways, modernity is piping-hot garbage. But when it comes to being able to shove colossal amounts of horsepower into a car relatively easily, we live in a motherclutching golden age. I say this because Ford has just announced two new crate engines, a 5.0-liter Coyote V8 making 800+ horsepower and 615 pound-feet of torque, and the next iteration of the Megazilla 7.3-liter V8, this time making over 1,000 hp. Just imagine how much peppier your ’89 Ford Tempo will be when you drop one of these babies in there!
For installation in a Tempo, you may have to do some fabrication work to make it rear-wheel drive, though I say don’t rule out a transverse, front-wheel drive setup, because the torque steer when you first stomp on the gas is probably enough to set the car spinning so fast it opens a portal to another dimension, and there may be some cool shit in there.
These new iterations of Ford’s crate engines get their bonkers power numbers from a lot of tweaks, but most significant is the addition of Gen 6 3.0-liter Whipple Supercharger, seen here with its inventor, Mr.Whipple:
A 3-liter supercharger! That’s three times the displacement of my daily driver!
The Megazilla 2.0 engine also includes, according to Ford, “forged pistons, connecting rods, and a steel crank, ported and polished cylinder heads, and upgraded valve springs.”
The 1,000 hp Megazilla 2.0 engine is, sadly, only for racing or off-road use. It’s not legal for a street vehicle, though if you sneak one into a Pinto and try and make it look like a rusty old 2-liter inline-four, I’m sure as hell not going to tell anybody. The 5.0 Coyote V8 is completely street-legal, and not only that, it comes with a two-year or 24,000-mile limited warranty.
The engines are designed for easy installation into project, kit, and low-volume cars, complete with full wiring harnesses and ECUs and all that. Pricing has not been mentioned for either engine, though I wouldn’t expect these to be cheap; that supercharger alone can go for like $9 grand. Still, these are turnkey engines, with pretty much everything you need.
What an age we live in! Terrible decisions and sketchy project car plans have never had such boundless potential!
Use it as the basis for a full Singer-style restomod (Ringbrothers maybe, since domestic) of a Lincoln Mark V? Maybe the contemporary Thunderbird? So much torque, so effortless you might never actually have to touch the gas pedal.
Huh I guess I don’t get the Whipple joke. I bet it’s fantastic though.
I hadn’t thought of Mr. Whipple in ages. I wonder if he brags “when I retired they had to hire four bears to replace me”?
Someone’s gonna hook up a megazilla to riding lawnmower. Can’t wait to see that video on YouTube. Does Whistlin’ Diesel happen to read the comments here?
Perfect. I figure if we all pitch in, we can stuff this in a Mirai and have a supersleeper bad motherfucker of a Camry.