Ford out GM in with FPC

[nastang87xx]

And I love how people continue to spit hairs of a SINGLE mm over square bore and stroke. Instead of learning something you have to completely alter the subject at hand because of your inflated quarantine egos. Love it. Keep em coming!

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[martinjlm]

I can assure you that GM was working on the FPC in the 2015 - 2016 timeframe. I was there at the time. I retired in 2017. I was working with the Corvette Team (and other vehicle teams) providing them competitor intel to help them set and confirm program targets. The Corvette Team showed the most interest in Porsche 911, (especially GT2 & 3), Ferrari 458 / 488, and McLaren 520s / 720s. Most of these cars were in the competitor fleet. There were (2) 458s, one for driving, one completely disassembled, including the engine. That’s because the decision had already been made to go FPC, and the 458 (and later the 488) were benchmarked as the best of the breed.

 

[460Fred]

The timing is almost comical though.
Do you think Ford will continue (possibly in the future) with a FPC?
You wonder if GM has bought blown GT350 engines to diagnose some of the problems and confident they can fix them. Believe me, they could have access to them.
I also can’t help but think Ford hasn’t diagnosed and fixed the problems, as few as they were.

 

[martinjlm]

The timing is almost comical though.
Do you think Ford will continue (possibly in the future) with a FPC?
You wonder if GM has bought blown GT350 engines to diagnose some of the problems and confident they can fix them. Believe me, they could have access to them.
I also can’t help but think Ford hasn’t diagnosed and fixed the problems, as few as they were.

That’s the kinda thing I would do if I was still there. Ford probably has enough control on dealer returns to make sure that didn’t happen. Core charge exceeding the value of the engine (I did that on C4 ZR1 when I led Powertrain Service) plus a not so veiled threat to adjust allocations of high margin vehicles usually gets the failed engine returned home. My biggest source of “failed” performance / unique engines was wrecked vehicles. No core charge or dealer to deal with.

 

[nastang87xx]

I can assure you that GM was working on the FPC in the 2015 - 2016 timeframe. I was there at the time. I retired in 2017. I was working with the Corvette Team (and other vehicle teams) providing them competitor intel to help them set and confirm program targets. The Corvette Team showed the most interest in Porsche 911, (especially GT2 & 3), Ferrari 458 / 488, and McLaren 520s / 720s. Most of these cars were in the competitor fleet. There were (2) 458s, one for driving, one completely disassembled, including the engine. That’s because the decision had already been made to go FPC, and the 458 (and later the 488) were benchmarked as the best of the breed.

I have heard this before too actually. Even before the GT350. In fact more like around C7 buzz. Thoughts? If you have any others besides what you eluded to.

 

[martinjlm]

I have heard this before too actually. Even before the GT350. In fact more like around C7 buzz. Thoughts? If you have any others besides what you eluded to.

I know it was being looked at before GT350 arrived, but I’m not sure when the decision was made to actually do it. During early development stages, a lot of options are tossed around and investigated. It makes sense that it was being looked at early since the C7 was already being considered for mid-engine.

 

[PP0001]

I can assure you that GM was working on the FPC in the 2015 - 2016 timeframe. I was there at the time. I retired in 2017. I was working with the Corvette Team (and other vehicle teams) providing them competitor intel to help them set and confirm program targets. The Corvette Team showed the most interest in Porsche 911, (especially GT2 & 3), Ferrari 458 / 488, and McLaren 520s / 720s. Most of these cars were in the competitor fleet. There were (2) 458s, one for driving, one completely disassembled, including the engine. That’s because the decision had already been made to go FPC, and the 458 (and later the 488) were benchmarked as the best of the breed.

Pretty cool story and thanks for sharing!

That reminds me of back in the day when Chevrolet first came out with the 427/435 HP L71 Tri-Power engine for the 1967 Corvette with the boys at Chrysler/Dodge/Plymouth at the time not too happy about that cool Chevrolet engine and decided a while later that they would also come up with their own Tri-Power/6 BBL set up and also wanted to put that same carburation set up on one of their big block engines.

The Mopar boys then reached out to Edelbrock shortly after that and had them develop an aluminum intake manifold for one of their big block engines namely the 440 with Plymouth and Dodge ultimately launching the A12 440/6 Pack cars in March of 1969.

Of course that was only part of the development for the '69 1/2 M code A12 440 engines for the Road Runner and Super Bee but was certainly a big part of it!

 

[JohnVallo]

This is why when I finally pull the trigger I will be going with an American Racing system as their equal length headers bring the 350 up an octave level and give it such a unique sound.

Speaking of unique exhaust sound, anyone heard of 180 degree headers.
The very reason I had to have a fpc GT350 when they came out. (I needed to get the entire Real Thing)
I had been utilizing just a portion on the 180 degree setup for some 30 years on my stock cars... (180 degree headers)
These headers we used on our Big Block Cross Plane 454 Chevrolet engines for years, they did add a small amount of horsepower.
Many people described the sound our headers made on the race track as a: "A nest of Mad Hornets"

A description article for the 180 degree header concept: https://www.hotrod.com/articles/180-degree-headers-help-v8s-low-midrange-torque/

My all-time favorite:
1966 LeMans-Winning Ford GT40
These 180 degree headers for the Big Block Ford 427 were a work of art !

 

[jpindustrie]

No matter the reason ...

I just smile and laugh whenever I see the big bold letters, emboldened on the plastic LOL

"F L A T P L A N E C R A N K"

or another favorite distinctly American style marketing:

"C A R B O N F I B E R C O M P O S I T E"

LOL

usually when manufacturers used FPC engines or CF they simply just used it; leave it to the Americans to make it front and center , as if its the latest thing lol

 

[Montoya]

No matter the reason ...

I just smile and laugh whenever I see the big bold letters, emboldened on the plastic LOL

"F L A T P L A N E C R A N K"

or another favorite distinctly American style marketing:

"C A R B O N F I B E R C O M P O S I T E"

LOL

usually when manufacturers used FPC engines or CF they simply just used it; leave it to the Americans to make it front and center , as if its the latest thing lol

One thing I learned marketing and adapting European products to American customers: Europeans buy products from the inside out, Americans buy from the outside in.

 

[lenFeb]

And I love how people continue to spit hairs of a SINGLE mm over square bore and stroke. Instead of learning something you have to completely alter the subject at hand because of your inflated quarantine egos. Love it. Keep em coming!

I somehow suspect that you look exactly the same in real life as your avatar picture

 

[Lorne34]

I'll take the American Muscle FPC in the GT350 over something that sounds like a Ferrari. Not that a Ferrari is something to turn your nose up at .. but not for me.
I was not thrilled with the whole design of the new C8 when it came out, I just can't see myself in the low squatting super car look body with reduced visibility.
I was not happy with what they did to the Camaro. It's a shame they didn't make it more like the late 60's body design instead of turning it into a poster child for the "Transformers" movie franchise...

 

[nastang87xx]

Speaking of unique exhaust sound, anyone heard of 180 degree headers.
The very reason I had to have a fpc GT350 when they came out. (I needed to get the entire Real Thing)
I had been utilizing just a portion on the 180 degree setup for some 30 years on my stock cars... (180 degree headers)
These headers we used on our Big Block Cross Plane 454 Chevrolet engines for years, they did add a small amount of horsepower.
Many people described the sound our headers made on the race track as a: "A nest of Mad Hornets"

A description article for the 180 degree header concept: https://www.hotrod.com/articles/180-degree-headers-help-v8s-low-midrange-torque/

My all-time favorite:
1966 LeMans-Winning Ford GT40
These 180 degree headers for the Big Block Ford 427 were a work of art !

These things are pretty rad. I've seen a car like this before on the road course and it's unlike anything out there.

 

[nastang87xx]

No matter the reason ...

I just smile and laugh whenever I see the big bold letters, emboldened on the plastic LOL

"F L A T P L A N E C R A N K"

or another favorite distinctly American style marketing:

"C A R B O N F I B E R C O M P O S I T E"

LOL

usually when manufacturers used FPC engines or CF they simply just used it; leave it to the Americans to make it front and center , as if its the latest thing lol

I hate the door sill on the 2016 cars. I prefer the "Ford Performance" one for sure.

 

[gkoutsok]

I hate the door sill on the 2016 cars. I prefer the "Ford Performance" one for sure.

Always wondered why Ford got rid of those sills, they were much nicer and said something about the GT 350.

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