Who will swap for the new 7.3 V8!

[Fatguy]

We are here to make money. It has nothing to do with what I personally want, it's what the market wants. We spend a lot of money to understand this.

Wait a minute - after all this talk and argument you are saying being an engineer is just a job to make money?



And the market does not know what it wants at its most base level. Visionary’s with influence do that and the public decides on the details.



If it’s just about money the government will regulate you. Are you cool with that?

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[engineermike]

...If it’s just about money the government will regulate you. Are you cool with that?

Free market capitalism? Absurd!

 

[BmacIL]

There is one thing I’d like to come back to, seeing so many engineers in the thread, before this thing dies out.



On thing is this idea of stepping back as an engineer and asking yourself if you or your team should be going down this path. Without oversight one would expect engineers to produce faster and faster cars. But humans have physical reaction times that are constant. There is a limit to performance.



But here is the rub...



Is it better to have the engineers restrict themselves and possibly restrict their skill and creativity for social responsibility -or - let those creative horses run free but have their overlords (bosses or governments) keep their creativity in check? Like restrictor plates in F1 engines or imposed speed restrictions on car makers in Europe. Someone has to protect people from themselves and this not only includes the public but also the engineers. The social designers usually end up with this task as I think having the engineers close off development and creativity - on their own - does not advance culture and technology even under the guise of public safety. Plus the engineers would probably be unhappy that way.



But there are other ways...



Like tricking Fatguy who wants the torque down low, you can give people what they want by thinking outside the box. You can give customers the thrill of speed and keep it safe all at the same time. When I was a teenager my dad had an original Austin Mini. Rubber ball suspension, sliding side windows and a cable to open the door inside. When you drove that car all out at 55mph or so you felt like you were going really fast! But you were actually at a safe speed all within the human envelope of reaction time. So instead of developing 200mph cars that quickly get people into trouble. How about straying away from numbers and improving them, and focus on the experience and sensations of driving that particular car. Giving luxury cars a totally isolated experience and giving performance cars the opposite with no sound insulation and physical connections to the road with manual steering, cable throttles and brakes that you can feel responses through the pedal! You can do this all at normal speeds and on regular roads that humans will drive on...



How about giving that idea a shot?

Nobody wants what you want.

 

[Fatguy]

Free market capitalism? Absurd!

You mean like Geely (a Chinese company) that owns Volvo and will soon have a top speed of only 180km an hour hard limit on all its cars? If that’s the case “driving excitement” will have to happen at slower speeds...


I guess their business philosophy is more restrictive than others. So much for what the public wants. Could start a trend. Then you have those other EU rules coming in that sooner or later will have hard speed limits. Car makers and engineers will have to bend or curb their limits on cars. So why not focus on the driver experience at those lower limits?

 

[Fatguy]

A better question is why you want to go insanely fast? What do you get out of it? Only a tiny percentage of people track their cars. They are going to do it at public peril on public streets.


If you make the performance cars stripped and low to the ground and very cheap you could have performance cars of modest limits that still give you that rush! Enforced limits mean all those cars will be just as fast - no stop light Grand Prix as there is no point - And - What was the point, my guess is a feeling. Remember the speed limits with some exceptions are really low. So why not give the driver the fright of his life at 180 instead of 260kmh?

 

[engineermike]

I guess their business philosophy is more restrictive than others. So much for what the public wants...

If the public doesn’t want their product and other, more desirable products are available, they won’t be in business for long. Free market capitalism.

.... So why not focus on the driver experience at those lower limits?

Mazda miatas have been available for many years. If that’s what you want, go buy one.

 

[Fatguy]

Mazda miatas have been available for many years. If that’s what you want, go buy one.

My stripper Fox Body Mustang was a muscle car and also did it. It can be done on all sorts of cars.

 

[engineermike]

Fat guy, are you seriously trying to convince a bunch of mustang guys on a mustang forum to not want fast cars? Good luck with that.

 

[engineermike]

My stripper Fox Body Mustang was a muscle car and also did it. It can be done on all sorts of cars.

Go get a fox body then. Don’t try to turn the light-years ahead s550 into a Fox body. I think you’re on the wrong forum.

 

[Fatguy]

Fat guy, are you seriously trying to convince a bunch of mustang guys on a mustang forum to not want fast cars? Good luck with that.

No. This is for the engineers. If cars speeds get regulated down by computer and if roads get calmed by self-driving cars. How are you going to build driving excitement?

 

[Fatguy]

Go get a fox body then. Don’t try to turn the light-years ahead s550 into a Fox body. I think you’re on the wrong forum.

The Austin Mini at 55 felt faster...


True...,.

 

[Big Boss]

Oh please...


If that prototype hadn’t appeared I d say 100 was it and let it die. But We have no idea what is under that hood. There are only so many options. But a variant of the 7.3 could be in there. Not the truck engine but maybe a variant. Even if they kept the block the weight penalty wouldn’t be insurmountable. New skin so it could be under there.


So the thread may continue a while yet...

But it's not a 7.3 in there. The 7.3 in order to make enough power to be even thought of as an option will probably never pass emissions. It also would kill Ford's CAFE rating. Look at the naturally aspirated LT motors, and the Hemi motors. They all have some sort of cylinder deactivation. in order to have decent gas mileage and not kill the companies CAFE rating. Ford would have to add that kind of tech into the 7.3 to make it meet emissions and EPA ratings.

Don't get me wrong, I think it would be awesome to see a big HP big NA motor offered from the factory. Those factors above are going to make it not happen though.

 

[BmacIL]

A better question is why you want to go insanely fast? What do you get out of it? Only a tiny percentage of people track their cars. They are going to do it at public peril on public streets.

Fun. Try it sometime.

If you make the performance cars stripped and low to the ground and very cheap you could have performance cars of modest limits that still give you that rush! Enforced limits mean all those cars will be just as fast - no stop light Grand Prix as there is no point - And - What was the point, my guess is a feeling. Remember the speed limits with some exceptions are really low. So why not give the driver the fright of his life at 180 instead of 260kmh?

Do you have a serious question now or are you just trolling? This is ridiculous.

 

[Fatguy]

But it's not a 7.3 in there. The 7.3 in order to make enough power to be even thought of as an option will probably never pass emissions. It also would kill Ford's CAFE rating. Look at the naturally aspirated LT motors, and the Hemi motors. They all have some sort of cylinder deactivation. in order to have decent gas mileage and not kill the companies CAFE rating. Ford would have to add that kind of tech into the 7.3 to make it meet emissions and EPA ratings.

Don't get me wrong, I think it would be awesome to see a big HP big NA motor offered from the factory. Those factors above are going to make it not happen though.

And here I was going to tell engineermike that the 7.3 offers driving excitement in a world with low speed limits. An alternative to the Miata.


Emissions - except for California - are disappearing. They disappeared here in Toronto on April 1. Now it is just CAFE. But for a swap I’m a free man.


But what do we do with a world that has autonomous cars and speed restrictions, but still allows gasoline cars. The old truck engine in the Mustang will at least give you that old-time experience. As Ford pushes out EVs the restrictions on a specialty cars like the 7.3 may become less of a problem making it a reality and alternative to the Miata.

 

[BmacIL]

And here I was going to tell engineermike that the 7.3 offers driving excitement in a world with low speed limits. An alternative to the Miata.

You don't understand physics, nor how transmissions work. That in bold is the most ridiculous thing you've said yet.

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