FPV announces new supercharged V8

Ford Performance Vehicles (FPV) has today revealed the new heart of its Australian-made muscle car range, an all-aluminium 5.0-litre supercharged V8 engine

To feature in GS and GT sedan and ute models, the new lightweight engine is available in two formats (dubbed V2X and V2G), delivering output figures of 315kW and 335kW respectively.

More powerful and more fuel efficient than the out-going 5.4-litre Boss V8, the new US-sourced engines are based on the Coyote Ford V8 first introduced in the American Ford Mustang range at the beginning of this year, but have undergone supercharging development work with the help of local outfit Prodrive as part of a $40 million program to bring the bent-eight powerplant inline with strict new Euro IV emissions regulations.

"The new supercharged V8 engine program represents FPV's biggest-ever investment in the Australian market, and has been the most extensive and exhaustive development program we've ever undertaken," explained Prodrive Asia-Pacific Managing Director, Bryan Mears.

"The outcome is phenomenal … these engines are brilliantly responsive, their performance is sensational, and they will take our next generation of FPV models to a level that's simply unmatched by anyone else."

Although we'll have to wait until October to drive (or even hear) FPV's first-ever supercharged engine, we're told the outcome will be worth the wait, the double overhead cam, 32-valve configuration and all-aluminium block shaving more than 47kg from the old mill, further enhancing FPV's already impressive handling and steering characteristics.

At the heart of the new engine's specifications, a Harrop Engineering-developed HTV 1900 front-drive, rear-entry supercharger utilising the latest Eaton TVS rotor set technology sees the compact unit mounted upside down within the cylinder banks for improved weight distribution. All the engine's ancillaries are now contained within the V8's external dimensions.

Using a 75mm electronically-controlled throttle body, the supercharger is designed to carefully mimic the throttle response of a normally-aspirated V8 engine, while at the same time delivering the benefits only supercharging can provide. The developers had previously considered a twin-turbocharged V8 in developing a new powerplant for its FPV range, but decided the power delivery a supercharger offered was more in-keeping with the progressive response and overall driveability – not to mention aural characteristics -- its V8 customers prefer.

"One aspect of the program that was very important to us was the aural output of the engine … it is at the heart of the FPV brand that the engine sounds right as well as means business, so we put enormous effort into that," said Mears. "You're going to love the outcome!"

Adding to the car's rich aural content, a conical open air filter with cold air intake system and tuned active exhaust system (available on sedan models only) further enhances V8 sound quality while improving performance and meeting (if only just) strict ADR noise regulations. The dual-outlet exhaust system uses a ECU-controlled, vacuum-operated solenoid to minimise freeway ‘drone' at freeway speeds and sports a Porsche-esque metal-matrix catalyst.

Although the engine block is sourced from the United States, the team at FPV are keen to remind us that the new mill features almost 40 per cent local content. The exhaust system, intake manifold, supercharger unit, lubrication system, crank shaft damper and many of the final drive accessories sourced locally, through firms such as Bosch in Dandenong, Victoria and Harrop Engineering in Adelaide, South Australia.

"It's important to emphasise just how Australian these engines are," said Mears. "Although the basis of the engine is imported, all the components utilised in the supercharged configuration are locally sourced, and the engines are completely hand-made by the team at FPV in Melbourne."

Final verification prototypes completed an exhaustive 170,000 kilometre durability program around Australia before the engineering program was signed off in July 2010. The new FPV GS- and GT-specification models will be badged as per the current ‘Boss' nomenclature and go on sale from October. Externally, the vehicles will appear identical to those in the current line-up.

Pricing for the new FPV GS and GT models will be announced within the next few weeks, though expect a range similar to that of current series.

*Figures quoted are the combined cycle average for manual sedan and are common to both outputs (tested to ADR81/02).