{"id":11688,"date":"2009-09-08T14:28:12","date_gmt":"2009-09-08T19:28:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thedetroitbureau.com\/?p=11688"},"modified":"2009-09-08T14:28:12","modified_gmt":"2009-09-08T19:28:12","slug":"ford-readies-all-new-super-duty-diesel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/2009\/09\/ford-readies-all-new-super-duty-diesel\/","title":{"rendered":"Ford Readies All-New Super-Duty Diesel"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Ford<\/a>
Ford developed its 2011 Power Stroke diesel in-house and expects "substantial" improvements in horsepower, torque and mileage.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ford Motor Co. is ready to roll out the first diesel engine it has developed entirely in-house, a quiet, technically-sophisticated and high-mileage \u201coil-burner\u201d that will replace the old Power Stroke diesel had been outsourcing.<\/p>\n

The new 6.7-liter V8 will appear in Ford\u2019s biggest, Super-Duty trucks, models like the F350, where buyers are seeking a mix of stump-pulling torque and high mileage.\u00a0 But the new diesel could very well be transformed into the fuel-efficient powertrain that many analysts believes the automaker needs in its light-duty F-150, as well.<\/p>\n

So Ford officials confirm, but they quickly stress that there are no plans to launch an F-150 diesel, at least not until they can figure out a profitable business equation.<\/p>\n

\"Turbocharged!\"<\/a>
Turbocharged!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Known internally as Scorpion, the new V-8 is the result of a nearly 4-year development project that was handled much like some of the legendary Skunkworks programs at Lockheed \u2013 with developers moving away from the main Ford engineering campus in an effort to minimize the typical bureaucratic interference.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"This<\/a>
This Honeywell-patented sequential turbo is the key to delivering more power at lower RPMs, even while improving fuel economy.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What they\u2019ve come up with looks \u2013 at least on paper and in a static display \u2013 to be a far cry from the diesel Super-Duty users are used to.\u00a0 Though the new oil-burner shares the name, it has absolutely nothing in common with the old engine, which is no surprise, considering the increased demands for fuel economy, as well as tightened emissions regulations.<\/p>\n

To start with, Ford developers have turned to compacted graphite iron, rather than conventional cast iron, for the 6.7-liter engine\u2019s block.\u00a0 The material is significantly stronger, but also quite a bit lighter \u2013 even with all the added technology needed to meet consumer demands and various government mandates, the 2011 Power Stroke comes in at 160 pounds under the old V-8 diesel.<\/p>\n

With the official launch still a good year away, Ford\u2019s PR department is carefully stage-managing the new diesel\u2019s roll-out, holding back on critical information like power and mileage, but according to Lead Engineering Manager Adam Gryzlak, we\u2019ve learned that it will deliver \u201csubstantially more\u201d than the outgoing diesel\u2019s 350 horsepower and 650 pound-feet of torque, with torque hitting peak at just 1600 RPM, compared to 2000 RPM for the old Power Stroke.<\/p>\n

How does it get there?\u00a0 There are a variety of steps taken, beyond the use of compacted graphite iron, notably including a new Sequential Turbocharger that effectively functions as if it were a pair of turbos, as we\u2019re seeing on a variety of new offerings.\u00a0 The system begins to kick in at low RPMs to bring torque on fast, then goes into full operation at higher speeds to boost horsepower.\u00a0 When power demands are low, it essentially idles, improving fuel economy.<\/p>\n

The new diesel is a 32-valve Overhead-Valve, or OHV, design.\u00a0 That\u2019s in contrast with the Overhead Cam, or OHC, diesels commonly used in passenger cars, especially in Europe, where oil-burners now account for about half of all motor vehicle sales.\u00a0 But the basic design, according to Gryglak, could lend itself to smaller, less complex and costly packages, such as might be needed in something like the F-150.<\/p>\n

That\u2019d be good news because in its new incarnation, we can expect to see a hefty premium for SuperDuty buyers.\u00a0 The current Power Stroke adds a whopping $7,800 to the price tag.\u00a0 In something more mainstream, says Ford\u2019s truck marketing boss, Doug Scott, even a $4,000 to $5,000 premium would be hard to \u201cpencil in\u201d for most users.<\/p>\n

The challenge is to come up with a premium that makes for a positive economic equation.\u00a0 With a vehicle like the F350, where fuel economy might drop as low as 5 to 8 mpg, when towing heavy loads, a diesel makes economic sense for those who plan to keep their vehicles as long as a decade.\u00a0 There\u2019s not only the reduced fuel costs but the fact that diesels generally deliver better trade-in values.<\/p>\n

But on smaller pickups, like the F-150, said Scott, it would likely require gas prices of around $4.00 a gallon \u2013 and diesel closer to $3.00 \u2013 to justify diesel\u2019s premium.<\/p>\n

On SuperDuty models, a positive cost\/value equation is just one of the reasons why diesels have traditionally garnered about two-thirds of Ford truck sales.\u00a0 With the addition of the 2011 Power Stroke, the automaker hopes to further enhance the diesel\u2019s appeal. Though we won\u2019t expect a hands-on drive of the new engine until sometime in 2010, Ford gave a brief hint of some of its advantages in a test \u201cmule.\u201d<\/p>\n

Standing anywhere nearby one of Ford\u2019s old trucks can be a deafening experience, but the new model is surprisingly devoid of the traditional diesel clatter, thanks to a trio of tuned resonators designed to cancel out unpleasant sounds.<\/p>\n

Another notable step will permit the new diesel to run on B20 bio-diesel, something many customers have been demanding.\u00a0 The old Power Stroke has suffered a variety of service problems when customers have used the fuel without official approval.<\/p>\n

If Ford delivers as promised, it could increase demand for an expanded range of diesels.\u00a0 That is, of course, if lawmakers don\u2019t wind up legislating the technology out of existence.\u00a0 A further crackdown on particulates, for example, \u201cwill make it a tougher row to hoe for diesels,\u201d warns marketing manager Scott.<\/p>\n

But there are those who believe that in the push to improve mileage and reduce CO2 emissions, diesels may still prove to be an effective technology that, like regulators in Europe have already discovered, American lawmakers may yet embrace.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ford expects to deliver significant improvements in horsepower, torque and mileage to its Super Duty trucks with Scorpion, its first in-house diesel, to be launched as the 2011 Power Stroke. Could a smaller diesel follow for the F-150?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11690,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"make":[],"post-state":[],"category_old":[151],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11688"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11688"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11688\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11690"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11688"},{"taxonomy":"make","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/make?post=11688"},{"taxonomy":"post-state","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post-state?post=11688"},{"taxonomy":"category_old","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedetroitbureau.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/category_old?post=11688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}