Super Ford F-150 EcoBoost To Get Public Teardown at Detroit
This 3.5-liter, V-6 EcoBoost engine has seem some harsh duty since it was first put into action on a dyno back in July. This EcoBoost truck engine produces a best-in-class 420 lb.-ft. of torque at 2,500 rpm and 365 horsepower at 5,000 rpm on regular unleaded fuel, enabling best-in-class conventional towing of 11,300 pounds.
Since being dropped into a regular production 2011 F-150 at Kansas City Assembly Plant, according to Ford, it hit the road and saw some of the most severe use Ford engineers have ever dreamed up:
- It hauled 55 tons of lumber
- It ran at full throttle for 24 straight hours towing 11,300 pounds
- Beat competitors’ larger engines in an uphill towing competition
- Completed the world’s toughest desert endurance race, the SCORE Tecate Baja 1000 in Mexico
The last one was probably the most impressive. As first reported on TorqueNews back in November:
- The truck endured hard accelerations – often at full throttle – and stiff decelerations across the mountains at temperatures that swung between freezing and 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Earlier this fall, the engine was randomly selected to be put through a series of rugged exercises to test its long-term durability. It was installed in a 2011 F-150 and traveled to Oregon where it worked as a log skidder. Next, the truck towed 11,300 pounds at high speeds around a NASCAR track in Florida before towing up steep grades in Arizona against competitive trucks.
- In last year’s race, less than half of the competitors – many with modified engines – finished this race.
- This engine has the equivalent of 10 years of rugged use.
The teardown is the final phase of the new 3.5-liter EcoBoost truck engine’s “Torture Test,” a multipart series of web-based documentaries that began when this randomly selected EcoBoost engine endured the equivalent of 150,000 miles or 10 years’ use on the dynamometer, replicating the duty cycle of the harshest-use customer. It takes place Jan. 15 at 11 a.m. at Cobo Hall at Ford’s powertrain display.
