One of the longest-lived and possibly best-loved <\/em>Ford engines<\/em><\/strong> of the 20th century was a lightweight small-block <\/em>V8<\/em><\/strong> unofficially known as the <\/em>Windsor<\/em><\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n Introduction<\/strong><\/p>\n Chapman and his colleagues used proprietary engines and components to great effect.<\/p>\n Amongst these were:-<\/p>\n These engine were used in international motor racing and to power the Lotus road cars.<\/p>\n Through their adoption Chapman & Lotus:-<\/p>\n In this piece we take a serious and critical look at Lotus and the use of the Ford V8 engine.<\/p>\n In particular we question with all its commercial potential, practically and Chapman\u2019s links with Ford why the opportunity to commercially exploit the Ford V8 was not taken.<\/p>\n This is a structured part of a three piece series that examines the competition and commercial links between the Ford V8 engine, the proposed GT Coupe and a family of cars Chapman hoped to develop.<\/p>\n Of particular reference to these serious of articles is Ludvigsen on Colin Chapman.<\/em><\/p>\n Subscribers might like to see the directly relevant and integrated A&R pieces that complement and help structure this article:-<\/p>\n Ford: Total Performance<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cTotal Performance was a global promotional advertising campaign conducted by the Ford Motor Company during the 1960s. It aimed to succeed in a variety of motorsport venues, and then emphasize performance in their mainstream vehicles with the interest generated.<\/p>\n Motorsport<\/strong><\/p>\n The cream of Ford’s efforts came on the race track and drag strip, which lent credence to the premise of their campaign.<\/p>\n The Ford GT40 won overall in 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1966, 1967, 1968, and 1969, and chalked up numerous victories in other endurance races such as the 12 Hours of Sebring and 24 Hours of Daytona.<\/p>\n Legendary engines, like the big-block Ford 427 engine, and the Ford-sponsored Cosworth DFV were products of this era. Ford engines powered hundreds of victories in Formula One, NASCAR, CART, and other racing series.<\/p>\n Ford-powered Lolas raced in the Can-Am series, and other Ford vehicles (most especially the Ford Escort) were successful in rallying.\u201d<\/p>\n The Ford GT 40 and Lotus <\/strong><\/p>\n Of considerable significance to Chapman\u2019s potential exploitation of the Ford V8 engine in the 1960\u2019s was Ford\u2019s link up with Eric Broadley of Lola as opposed to Chapman \/Lotus.<\/p>\n In our related articles we explore this in more detail.<\/p>\n Ford achieved perhaps their ultimate objective relating to Total Performance <\/em>with the GT 40, their own car and engine winning at Le Mans.They also produced the road going version.<\/p>\n Eric Broadley did not fully exploit his link up with Ford other than the Type 70.<\/p>\n In our related articles we contemplate what might have evolved if Ford had gone with Chapman.<\/p>\n Figure 1.Editors sketch working drawing of the Ford GT 40<\/p>\n The Ford V8 engine \u2013brief history and evolution<\/strong><\/p>\n From the nets:-<\/p>\n \u201cAlthough the V8 configuration was not new<\/a> when the Ford V8 was introduced in 1932, the latter was a market first in the respect that it made an 8-cylinder<\/a> affordable and a V engine<\/a> affordable to the emerging mass market<\/a> consumer for the first time. It was the first independently designed and built V8 engine produced by Ford for mass production<\/a>, and it ranks as one of the company’s most important developments.[1]<\/sup><\/a> A fascination with ever-more-powerful engines was perhaps the most salient aspect of the American car and truck market for a half century, from 1923 until 1973<\/a>. The engine was intended to be used for big passenger cars and trucks;[2]<\/sup><\/a> it was installed in such (with minor, incremental changes)[3]<\/sup><\/a> until 1953, making the engine’s 21-year production run for the U.S. consumer market longer than the 19-year run of the Ford Model T engine<\/a>[3]<\/sup><\/a> for that market. The engine was on Ward’s list of the 10 best engines of the 20th century<\/a>. It was a staple of hot rodders in the 1950s, and it remains famous in the classic car<\/a> hobbies even today, despite the huge variety of other popular V8s that followed. Before this engine’s introduction, almost all mass-produced cars affordable to the “average mass-market consumer” (which was a concept that Ford helped invent) used inline-four<\/a> and inline-six<\/a> cylinder engines. Since French engineer L\u00e9on Levavasseur<\/a>‘s invention of the V8 engine<\/a> in 1902, multi-cylinder V-engines (V8s, V12s, and even V16s) were produced, but were used in luxury models and their production runs were thus limited (relative to down-market production volumes).[4]<\/sup><\/a> For example, the first Cadillac V8 engine<\/a> was in that category.<\/p>\n Even though Ford had an engineering team assigned to develop the engine, many of the ideas and innovations were Henry Ford<\/a>‘s. The Model A<\/a>, its variants (B and 18), and this V8 engine were developed between 1926 and 1932, and this period was the elder Ford’s last central contribution to the company’s engineering.[4]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n Mercury’s 239\u00a0cu\u00a0in (3.9\u00a0L) version was introduced in 1939.[5]<\/sup><\/a> Aftermarket heads were available from Barney Navarro<\/a>,[6]<\/sup><\/a> Vic Edelbrock<\/a>, and Offenhauser<\/a>.<\/p>\n An economizing design feature of this engine was the use of three main bearings<\/a> to support the crankshaft, rather than the customary five bearings used with most V-8s. The flathead mounted the camshaft<\/a> above the crankshaft<\/a>, like later pushrod-operated overhead-valve engines. Valves for each bank were mounted inside the triangular area formed by the “vee” of cylinders. The intake manifold fed both banks from inside the vee, but the exhaust ports had to pass between the cylinders to reach the outboard exhaust manifolds. Such an arrangement transferred exhaust heat to the block, imposing a large cooling load; it required far more coolant and radiator capacity than equivalent overhead-valve V8 engines. Ford flathead V8s were notorious for cracking blocks if their barely adequate cooling systems were overtaxed (such as in trucking or racing). The simple design left much room for improvement, and the power available after even low cost modifications was usually substantially more than could be obtained from an overhead-valve inline six-cylinder engine of similar displacement<\/a>[<\/sup>citation needed<\/sup><\/em><\/a>]<\/sup>.<\/p>\n The Ford flathead V8 was licensed to other producers. It was used by Simca<\/a> in France<\/a> until 1961 and in Brazil<\/a> until 1964 for cars and until 1990 in the Simca Unic Marmon Bocquet military truck.[7]<\/sup><\/a> In the United States, the flathead V8 was replaced by the more modern overhead-valve Ford Y-block engine<\/a> in 1954. The Ford Small Block<\/strong> (aka Windsor, Windsor V8, OHV V8, pushrod V8) is a series of automobile V8 engines<\/a> built by the Ford Motor Company<\/a> beginning in July 1961. The engine was discontinued in new trucks (F-Series) after 1996, and new SUVs (Explorer) after 2001, but remains available for purchase from Ford Racing and Performance Parts as a crate engine<\/a>. Although sometimes called the “Windsor” family by enthusiasts, Ford itself never named the engine family; the designation was only adopted to distinguish the 351\u00a0cu\u00a0in (5.8\u00a0L) version from the Cleveland 335-family engine<\/a> that had the same displacement, but a significantly different configuration. The designations of ‘Windsor’ and ‘Cleveland’ were derived from the locations of manufacture: Windsor, Ontario and Cleveland, Ohio.<\/p>\n The engine was designed as a successor to the Ford Y-block engine<\/a>. Production began in 1961 for installation in the 1962 model year Ford Fairlane<\/a> and Mercury Meteor<\/a>. Originally produced with a displacement of 221\u00a0cu\u00a0in (3.6\u00a0L), it eventually increased to a maximum displacement of 351\u00a0cu\u00a0in (5.8\u00a0L), but was most commonly sold with a displacement of 302 cu in\/ 5.0 L, with engines of that displacement offered from 1968 until 2000. From the mid-1970s through the 1990s, the Ford Small Block engine was also marinized for use in smaller recreational boats.<\/p>\n For the 1991 model year, Ford began phasing in their new 4.6\/5.4 L Modular V8 engine<\/a>, which was to replace the small-block. In 1996, Ford replaced the 5.0 L (302 cu in) pushrod V8 with the Modular 4.6 L in the Mustang, and in 1997 for F-150, then until 2001 in the Explorer SUV, and until 2002 by Ford Australia in their Falcon and Fairlane cars.<\/p>\n Production Numbers[<\/strong>edit<\/strong><\/a>]<\/strong><\/p>\n Around 3,500,000 289-2V and 289-4V engines were made at CEP1 in 1963-1967 and 800,000 289-2V at WEP1. Boss 302[<\/strong>edit<\/strong><\/a>]<\/strong><\/p>\n Boss 302 engine<\/strong><\/p>\n Main article: <\/em>Ford Boss 302 engine<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n The Boss 302 was a chief engineer Bill Gay-inspired and Bill Barr-enacted performance variant of the small block, putting what would become Cleveland heads<\/a> (this engine was still under development at this stage) on Ford’s 1967 GT-40 racing block to improve rated power to 290\u00a0hp (216\u00a0kW). According to some reports, the canted-valve, deep-breathing, high-revving engine could produce more than 310\u00a0hp (231\u00a0kW), although as delivered, it was equipped with an electrical revolution limiter that restricted maximum engine speed to 6,150\u00a0rpm. A strong bottom end, thicker cylinder walls, steel screw-in freeze plugs<\/a>, race-prepared crank, special HD connecting rods, and Cleveland-style forged pistons kept the engine together at high speeds. The key to this engine’s power was the large-port, large-valve, quench-chambered, free-flowing heads. The Boss 302 Mustang<\/a> was offered only for the 1969 and 1970 model years. In a January 2010 issue of Hot Rod<\/em> magazine, a Boss 302 engine built to the exact specifications, settings, and conditions to the original engine was tested. It produced 372\u00a0hp at 6,800\u00a0rpm and 325\u00a0lb-ft of torque at 4,200\u00a0rpm.\u201d<\/p>\n Boss engines are associated with the Lotus Type 70 [Formula 5000]<\/p>\n Figure 2. Cutaway drawing from the net<\/p>\n Figure 3.Exploded parts diagram, image from the net<\/p>\n Figure 4<\/p>\n Figure 5.Editors extrapolation of cutaways etc. to 3D sketch<\/p>\n Figure 6.Shelby associated with the A.C. Cobra produced some highly tuned Ford V8 engines<\/p>\n Chapman\u2019s specification for a Ford engine<\/strong><\/p>\n Chapman has been erroneously identified with chassis and suspension design and development. He was obliged from the earliest days to adopt proprietary engines and did so with considerable success.<\/p>\n Chapman made a very holistic and strategic recommendation to Ford for the engine that would be complementary to their joint attack on Indianapolis.<\/p>\n Ludvigsen covers this in detail and subscribers are strongly recommended to examine this.<\/p>\n It impacts on the Ford\/Lola v Lotus development of a GT car for Le Mans and perhaps the potential for a subsequent family of Ford engine cars.<\/p>\n See also website for details:-<\/p>\n http:\/\/www.wrljet.com\/fordv8\/indy.html<\/a><\/p>\n Figure 10 Editors sketch of the quad cam engine for Indianapolis<\/p>\n The Lotus use of V8 engines <\/strong><\/p>\n Chapman and Lotus were no strangers to V8 engines as our tabulation confirms.<\/p>\n What is interesting is that this format was not adopted commercial until Lotus designed and produced their own range of engines.<\/p>\n\n
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