quote:
Originally posted by billmac:
I don't know what type of heads are in the engine. I bought the vehicle for my mother a couple of years ago and she rarely drove it so I started driving it. I think that it has about 11k on it now. I changed the oil over to a full synthetic 5w-30 at about 4k miles and so far so good. After reading your post though, I'm beginning to wonder if I shouldn't change to a 5w-20 synthetic oil or better yet, get rid of the car. It doesn't sound to me like the 4.6 Ford motor has a very long expected life.
That 4.6 will live longer than the rest of the car if taken care of IMHO. I think its one of Fords best designs ever, and I have both a 460 and a 351W stroker in the garage on stands getting built for friends. I know I pick on its little flaws, but overall I just love it, its my favorite design now to work with.
Square bore and stroke
Overhead cam, and new timing chains are dirt cheap
Good flowing aluminum heads
Super trick and light plastic intake
Can take near 10:1 compression on 87 octane (almost).
6" long rods
Cast crank that won't break
Pistons stock with coated skirts
Bore and hone quality that is simply outstanding
Super strong block
You can get an aluminum block engine core in good shape from a junkyard for under $1000, even near $500
You can buy a brand new machined iron block for $299 plus freight.
Do the above combo with a 350 Chevy and you will see that the 4.6 Ford is right there for the street and race guys power and dollar wise, especially with the aluminum block option. There are people getting well over 1000HP on the aluminum blocks coming out of the junkyard that were in the Mark VIII in the 90's.
With the aluminum block you have an engine that probably weighs around 300lbs fully dressed and dripping wet. To compare the 5.0 it replaced weighed 460lbs, the Ford 460 that they used up until very recently in the trucks weighed 640lbs! They get really good gas mileage too I find, even when abusing them.