The new 2011 Shelby GT500’s aluminum-block 5.4-liter supercharged V-8 engine is just beautiful to look at. The first thing that hits you in looking at the new powerplant is the Ford blue valve covers and aluminum finish on the trim and supercharger. That it offers up a weight savings of 102 pounds off of the outgoing cast-iron block is a bonus. Because of this weight reduction, all aspects of the new 2011 Shelby GT-500’s performance gets better from fuel economy, acceleration, handling and to steering precision.
While the inner workings and overall design of the engine is virtually identical to the 2010 poweerplant, advanced engine manufacturing techniques and refined tuning help bring an increase of 10 horsepower to 550 and 510 ft.-lb. of torque. Additional intercooler surface area helps drop intake air temperatures; the resulting cooler, denser intake air helps bump horsepower and torque for better performance. And, through engine improvements and aerodynamic refinements, the 2011 GT500 will be the first GT500 to achieve fuel economy numbers that will allow it to avoid gas guzzler tax.
The lighter aluminum block is reinforced with structural webbing, unique bulkhead chillers and strong six-bolt billet main bearing caps for high-performance durability in extreme conditions. When asked at today’s presentation whether the new aluminum block will be able to take the same mods and punishments of the cast-iron block, SVT engineer Kerry Baldori made no bones about the fact that it will.
The 5.4-liter aluminum-block engine uses a Ford-patented Plasma Transferred Wire Arc (PTWA) cylinder liner coating, a process that applies a 150-micron composite coating containing nanoparticles on the internal surfaces of engine cylinder bores, replacing the cast-iron liners typically used in aluminum engine blocks.
The PTWA process uses air and electricity to create a plasma jet of 35,000 degrees Fahrenheit, which melts a steel wire that is fed into a rotating spray gun. Using atomized air, the melted steel wire is blown onto the engine cylinder bores, which have been specially machined to receive the coating. In the process of melting and applying the metal to the surface, the steel wire oxidizes, creating a composite consisting of both iron and iron oxide.
PTWA coating offers improved overall performance and durability versus iron liners, along with functional benefits of reduced friction between piston rings and cylinder bores, improved heat transfer due to increased surface contact area, and a weight savings of 8.5 pounds versus a typical sleeved aluminum block.
One thing is for sure, this new engine is now the closest thing to the Ford GT powerplant we will ever see in a Mustang. And with 550hp, it is right there in output too. Supercar performance for a lighter price.
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