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Please clarify — Is the Mach 1 a product from Ford Performance? Or designated as a regular Ford product? -Anyway, I ordered one.

jake_zx2

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You make good points, but I do wonder if you know and appreciate the merits of a flat plane crank engine. Calling it “useless” is probably not the best analysis.

There’s a reason why Ferrari and McLaren use it. It’s a much more advanced engine design.
A flat plane crank actually has surprisingly minimal benefits, and they are GREATLY outweighed by the downfall of using it on an engine with such large displacement. Flat plane cranks work in cars like Ferraris and McLarens because they use small displacement engines that have relatively low piston speed and less rotating mass, thus not suffering from the harmonics impact of a FPC as much as a 5.2L behemoth. It simply doesn’t work in the GT350, which is why a Voodoo only makes as much power as an Aluminator while being less reliable

Flat plane crank was a buzzword for Ford to amp up hype about the car, plain and simple. If it didn’t have it, nobody would be complaining that it “just has a cross plane crank”, and most people wouldn’t even know the phrase “flat plane crank”
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jake_zx2

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Maybe, but selling the Mach1 at MSRP will either push price sensitive people to either the GT or the competition once the initial wave of pent up demand is over. The loaded Camaro 2SS Camaro with track recorder and sunroof I was looking at was just north of $53K. They were taking north of $4K off at their recent promotion from the factory - still room to work the dealer side. Let's say $1.5K more. Your at $47.5K - a whopping $10-12K less for more than a competitive vehicle. I'd call that a hole....
The 1LE is undoubtedly a better performance bargain. Hell, it was even a better performance bargain than the GT350. Ford has been losing that contest since the 6G Camaro came out in 2016... the Mach 1 doesn’t change anything. Hell, even the GT500 took 5 more years of development than the ZL1 1LE, and turned out slower and significantly more expensive. If you want a Camaro, get a Camaro
 

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RPDBlueMoon

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I wish Ford had updated the GT350 again and offered it (limited numbers) for years 2021 and 2022 with:
(1) Option for automatic transmission
(2) New rev-matching for manual transmission
(3) Digital instrument cluster
(4) Improved steering knuckles from GT500/350R
(5) No-cost option to downgrade to Pilot Sport 4S tires
(6) Some different wheel style and wheel color choices

I think Ford missed a great opportunity there and also deprived us of truly the best version of the GT350.
I'm actually glad that they kept it automatic. Not many cars today have gone for a manual only run. Also if they went for the automatic they would have to go with the DCT in the GT500. Which would drive up costs. Just using the A10 from the GTs would have not been well received.

The rev-matching feature would have been nice.

Not really a fan of the digital cluster imo. I kinda ruins the aesthetic and flow of the interior. With the analog gauges, the font matches will with the Oil Pressure and Temp Gauges.

Yeah the improved steering would have been nice but really it doesn't offer any benefit unless you are a hardcore tracking the vehicle. Still it would be a welcomed change

The Pilot Sport 4S would have been nice too but I think they stayed with the Sport Cup 2 for contract or manufacturing purposes.

The different wheels would be a welcomed change too but I think the stock ones look great. The Studs on the GT350R (idk about the GT350s) are ridiculously long so different wheels are limited. Maybe its a trend in sports cars but I noticed for alot of the cars, you don't really get that many options when it comes to the wheel style and colors.
 

Fordified

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I don't recall the 2012 & 2013 Boss 302's being Ford Performance vehicles, but I believe they came with a track day courtesy of Ford; and the Boss had their version of a HP car with the LS, just like the Mach 1.
 

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jake_zx2

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I don't recall the 2012 & 2013 Boss 302's being Ford Performance vehicles, but I believe they came with a track day courtesy of Ford; and the Boss had their version of a HP car with the LS, just like the Mach 1.
That was before the existence of Ford Performance
 

MountainStang

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Pretty sure there were no track days offered with the Boss 302. That experience is a new phenomenon.
 

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Your right, back then it was SVT. But the Boss wasn’t one of those either.
SVT was also a much more exclusive moniker. Now, we have an Edge Sport badged as a Ford Performance vehicle
 

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It would have been pretty rad if they did include a track day instruction with the Mach (at least the handeling pack). The bronco’s come with some kind of new off road coarse, correct? Maybe we’ll get lucky. Although doesn’t seem like it
 

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If 5.2 liters was too big for a flat plane crank engine , why did the Corvette engineers go to an even larger 5.5 liter flat plane crank engine for the new Corvette ? Makes me wonder ?
 

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If 5.2 liters was too big for a flat plane crank engine , why did the Corvette engineers go to an even larger 5.5 liter flat plane crank engine for the new Corvette ? Makes me wonder ?
Luckily, they’re doing it right (unlike Ford) and are using the optimum firing order for a FPC V8 to keep secondary motion more balanced, and also suspected to be running an oversquare engine architecture to reduce piston speed, unlike Ford who ran a nearly square architecture. Still not exactly ideal, but again, those buzzwords sell cars

Think about how many GT350 owners brag about their flat plane crank... I’d bet the majority of them don’t even know what the real benefit is to it, but it still got them to buy the car
 
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348SStb

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A flat plane crank actually has surprisingly minimal benefits, and they are GREATLY outweighed by the downfall of using it on an engine with such large displacement. Flat plane cranks work in cars like Ferraris and McLarens because they use small displacement engines that have relatively low piston speed and less rotating mass, thus not suffering from the harmonics impact of a FPC as much as a 5.2L behemoth. It simply doesn’t work in the GT350, which is why a Voodoo only makes as much power as an Aluminator while being less reliable

Flat plane crank was a buzzword for Ford to amp up hype about the car, plain and simple. If it didn’t have it, nobody would be complaining that it “just has a cross plane crank”, and most people wouldn’t even know the phrase “flat plane crank”
Just out of curiosity - have you ever owned a car with a flat-plane crank V8?

Not bragging, but since I’ve owned 11 cars with flat plane crank V-8s (7 Ferraris, 2 McLarens, and 2 Shelbys GT350), I definitely don’t need to examine further reading on the topic. Been there, done that.

The cross plane crank is easier to build because it does not require the advanced engineering and the more robust components required by the flat-plane variant in order to overcome the inherent vibrational deficiencies of a flat-plane crank V8.

Once those feats are achieved, it could reasonably be said that the flat-plane crank engine offers many benefits over a cross-plane crank V8:
1) Much lower center of gravity
2) More with less: higher engine rpm means more power; more power can be developed from a smaller engine displacement
3) Since high-revving concept (if you believe in it) means more power with smaller displacement, then smaller displacement means less torque and therefore less stress on gears and rotational components
4) Fuel economy - smaller engine displacement means smaller fuel consumption, all other factors being equal
5) Smaller displacement = less weight; less weight = better in very many ways
6) This isn’t functional- but the sound is exotic and the flat-plane crank engine sounds amazing

There is a reason why Ferrari and McLaren use this engine configuration exclusively. I hope we do not need to examine the credentials of Ferrari and McLaren.

Ford wanted to do what nobody else did - build a flat-plane crank engine of “behemoth size.” Until the Z06 shall have arrived, Ford is the only company to have successfully done this with an engine of over 5 litres in displacement.

And it works. Don’t understand why you say it doesn’t work. The GT350 has arguably the most wonderful engine in the world - and that’s coming from me having owned the cars indicated! Driving it is pure joy. Ford just isn’t as good as Ferrari - let’s not be shy about the fact that Ford has neither the expertise nor the experience that Ferrari has in building outstanding feats of engineering (that is not to say Ford is not capable of achieving these things); otherwise the engine might have had about 585 horsepower. Then again, it’s possible Ford didn’t want the engine to have that much power.
 
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Nope, it's a similar product to the Bullitt.
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