2026 Mustang Dark Horse SC (S650) - Official Specs, Photos, Videos

[Schwerin]

How often have you tracked a 2020-2022 GT500 or GTD?

Never but irrelevant, point was the A10 can easily do the job.

That's a great question because I always look to issues with the Ford Focus when considering a Mustang purchase.

The DCT being put in other cars was the quote I responded to, but I guess context doesn't matter.... oh wait, it does.

You mean successor?

he obviously did. Why be petty?

No.

Yes. There was a 4.6L TT prototype that was originally designed for SVT as an EcoBoost test engine and there later was an early prototype of the 2013 that was a TTv8.

There is a quite a bit about it online, not hard to find. Guess it's just easier to be confidently wrong?

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[robvas]

^^^ no link, it’s the video post 284 by @Mjc1241

Maybe they misspoke, but that is distinctly what is stated in the video posted by Ford Performance.

Here they are putting 94mm pistons in (3.700")

Same as the 5.2, 1mm bigger than the standard Coyote

But not enough to 'bore it out' to a 5.4

That's where the 3.85" or whatever stroker crank comes in.

Can't really take what they say in a marketing-focused video too literally.

 

[robvas]

Never but irrelevant, point was the A10 can easily do the job.

Can it?

The Dark Horse has ~300hp less than the SC and the 10R80 wasn't up to the task.

The Dark Horse's biggest letdown is its 10-speed automatic. It doesn't take many laps before the gauge warns of rising fluid temperatures. And with the heat come gear indecisiveness and untimely downshifts

 

[Schwerin]

Can it?

The Dark Horse has ~300hp less than the SC and the 10R80 wasn't up to the task.

The Dark Horse's biggest letdown is its 10-speed automatic. It doesn't take many laps before the gauge warns of rising fluid temperatures. And with the heat come gear indecisiveness and untimely downshifts

Then that's Ford Engineering's issue. People do it in the Camaro ZL1/ZLE just fine, they seem to have more issues with the eLSD cooling than the A10. Not that they NEVER have issues, but they push 650+ on them better than Ford manages to pushes 400-500.

Wonder what the DH's running temps are, I know the GM guys have A10 issues unless the coolant/oil stay under like ~270 or something.

 

[Epiphany]

Never but irrelevant, point was the A10 can easily do the job.

The DCT being put in other cars was the quote I responded to, but I guess context doesn't matter.... oh wait, it does.

he obviously did. Why be petty?

Yes. There was a 4.6L TT prototype that was originally designed for SVT as an EcoBoost test engine and there later was an early prototype of the 2013 that was a TTv8.

There is a quite a bit about it online, not hard to find. Guess it's just easier to be confidently wrong?

The question wasn't with respect to being relevant but rather to your statement. You stated "I'm actually not sure why they made the DCT." We now now know you've never tracked a GT500. And we now know why you don't understand why they made the DCT. Totally relevant. You now interject with "point was the A10 can easily do the job." That comes out of left field as it wasn't part of the discussion. If you think the GT500 would have been fine with the A10 automatic transmission then you really don't get the GT500.

The DCT in a Focus has zero relevance to the GT500. If you need further explanation then honestly, all hope is lost.

The predecessor/successor question wasn't posed to you but since you want to qualify it as petty I'll respond to you. It was for clarification. So you can keep your emotions in check, thanks.

Yes. There was a 4.6L TT prototype that was originally designed for SVT as an EcoBoost test engine and there later was an early prototype of the 2013 that was a TTv8.

There is a quite a bit about it online, not hard to find. Guess it's just easier to be confidently wrong?

How far would you like to go back to be confidently right? 4.6 TT....lol. Suffice it to say, there was never any intention of a twin turbo V8 for the S550 program. Engine development and vehicle development are two different things. But go ahead, let's hear all about the fantasies that almost became a reality.

On edit, go to the 3:25 mark of this video...

 

[13GetThere]

This thread turned down a bad road.

 

[WItoTX]

This thread turned down a bad road.

HAHAHA nah, weeds out who we to take seriously. Free speech is a beautiful thing LOL

 

[Epiphany]

Yeah. Regarding the car, I love it. And I haven't been a DH fan at all. I don't care about nomenclature - just hardware. In that regard, I love what I see and can't wait for more detail.

I am a bit disappointed in Farley and how he's handling the public. I didn't like the way he treated the "influencers" that were asking him questions prior to the DH SC introduction. When he said that "we don't look back" I was like what? Couple that with learning how close they were to calling the car a Boss variant seemed about as disingenuous as you can be. For example, one of the cars that was there...when somebody filmed the dash screen and scrolled through the different modes and they recorded the animations, the cars clearly say "BOSS." I can't believe it'll be that way when in production but to not want to talk about any heritage but yet you were that close to using an iconic name...wtf. Anyway, I love the car.

 

[9secondko]

Some folks getting awful upset about a car. LOL

How about getting emotional over something that is important to us. In this world there are an unfortunate few things to be excited about. The Mustang is one of them. And when that doesn't go well, then please excuse us for crying man tears about it. Especially when the danged thing nearly costs a mortgage in some states.

 

[robvas]

I think if they would have just called it 'Boss' that would have been better than Dark Horse SC.

Dark Horse Boss is dumb. And they can't say Boss 302 when it's a 317.

 

[Epiphany]

And they can't say Boss 302 when it's a 317

Well, for years we had a "5.0" in the Fox when in actuality it was a 4.9...

Along these lines. I've been digging through EPA submissions on 2026 engines (the SC engine isn't up yet) and noticed something when comparing it to Ford's own product website. Note that for the Mustang GT Ford says 480 HP and 415 TQ (I had to highlight Ford's continuing inability to spell Tremec's name properly).

Their submission to the EPA shows the same 480/415 numbers. But to further clarify, they list it for "non-active exhaust."

I then found the submission for the same car/engine but with "active exhaust" the numbers are actually 486 HP and 418 TQ. I missed it in Ford's breakdown because the text is futzed but it's nice to see that there is an actual HP benefit with an additional 100 RPM.

 

[btown93]

I didn't have Ford Focus on my bingo card on the discussion of this new mustang.

The Focus DCT is a dry clutch transmission that was a joint venture with Getrag, and yes it has many issues and lawsuits attached to it.

DCT in GT500 is a wet clutch unit from TREMEC.

 

[Epiphany]

I counted half a dozen times on the Ford website where it said TREMAC and said alright I will enter the chat! I told the bot to get me a human pronto and spoke with "Luis." I said Luis, Ford should be embarrassed that their marketing department can't identify a Top Tier, major supplier and continues to spell their name wrong on their build and price webpage. Luis said he'd take care of it, lol. We shall see.

 

[Unas2k5]

How often have you tracked a 2020-2022 GT500 or GTD?


That's a great question because I always look to issues with the Ford Focus when considering a Mustang purchase.


You mean successor?


No.


At this point the DH SC's out there are prototypes built from any given DH chassis. So the car may look like a DH SC but the VIN will come up for a different car. I ran into this when researching early GTD's. VIN in hand, I tried (with help) to get a HVBOM for the GTD the VIN was on but the cars that came up were regular DH models that were used by Multimatic to build the first GTD vehicles that we laid our eyes on. You knew this, didn't you?

And to the questions earlier about the air pumps you see in the engine bay, I posted on it at 7G.

https://www.mustang7g.com/forums/th...ecs-photos-videos.173877/page-17#post-3470006

https://www.mustang7g.com/forums/th...ecs-photos-videos.173877/page-17#post-3470024

Not true. I ran one and it’s the vehicle itself with the window sticker and non-prototype information…

 

[Stage_3]

Just watched this video.

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