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Mustang Shelby GT350 - Legendary Name Brings Legendary Power

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It's old news by now but I can't see my blog not having a post about this.. I'm a big Mustang fun. It's the highest revving, most powerful and most power dense production engine in Ford's history. Need more superlatives? It's also Ford's first flat-plane crankshaft and the world's largest flat-plane crankshaft V8. It also has another achievement to add to its portfolio. At 526 hp, it makes over 100 hp/litre.




It will make its peak power, 526 hp, at 7,500 rpm and a peak torque value of 429 lb-ft at 4,750 rpm which gives it a healthy hp and torque peaks spread of 2,750 rpms. Moreover, 90% of peak torque is available from approximately 3,450 rpm and 7,000 rpm. Optimizations have been made everywhere to ensure the engine is always happy to go around a track.

As everyone now knows, the engine will feature a plat-plane crankshaft to improve engine breathing. It does so by separating cylinder banks exhaust pulses (i.e. you can't have two cylinders on opposite banks in the exhaust stroke and pushing exhaust through the exhaust pipes). The engine will be mated only to a Tremec TR-3160 six speed manual (as it should be). The transmission is specifically engineered for low mass and the high rpm application of the GT350 and GT350R Mustangs. It features a lightweight aluminum case and clutch housing and optimized gear cross-sections, dual mass flywheel and dual-disc clutches, all in the name of reducing weight and inertia.

Other unique features of the new 5.2 litre V8 include a slightly oversquare bore and stroke of 94 x 93 mm and a high 12.0:1 compression ratio. The cylinder heads are CNC machined, the intake valves are hollow stemmed and the exhaust valves are sodium filled. Both valves can be lifted a significant 14 mm. Feeding air to the engine is an 87-mm throttle body, the largest Ford has ever fitted to a production engine.

A unique new aluminum engine block featuring Ford’s "patented plasma transferred wire arc cylinder-liner technology" is lighter. This process allows Ford to eliminate heavy iron cylinder liners with a deposition process. The flat-plane crankshaft is forged and is “gun drilled” to reduce total engine weight. A lightweight, high-capacity baffled oil pan is designed to sustain high g-forces in high-speed cornering and hard braking. Ford says even the intake is simpler and lighter. Everything has been optimized. Can't wait to see it in person? Me neither. Here's something that should help; some sibling rivalry between a GT350 and a GT350R out on the track.






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