I,ve herd rumors that Ford is going to mass produce a 270-horsepower Duretec 4.0 V6 anybody else herd of this?

 

Out of curiosity, where did you hear these rumors. That would be awesome, as long as they don't lose any more low end.

 

I heard about it in a fourwheeler mag.

 

I believe it's a 3.5L Duratec. This is the engine supposedly that will be in the new Rangers when they come out in 2008.

 

I've heard of the Duratec 35, and would bet it will put out good HP, but it seems a bit small to put out the kind of low end torque that I like about my Ranger. I would rather see a V-6 of the same design as the 5.4, just minus 2 cylinders, kinda like how they added two to make the V-10. The same way that the Chevy 4.3 is a 350 minus two cylinders, even though they don't use either of them any more in trucks. With the same specific output as the 5.4, it would be a 4.05 liter making 225 HP and 275 Ft-lbs. Those kind of numbers are already close to what the 4.6 V-8 is putting out, and would get much better mileage. I don't need 270 HP in a Ranger if it's gonna be made over 5000 RPM's. I'd gladly sacrifice some HP to keep the low end torque good.
Why? For one, in a recent road trip to pick up a motorcylce, we took my buddy's 94 cherokee 4.0 HO, which has the same torque as my Ranger but 30 more HP. It gets it's torque about 1200 RPM's higher than mine, which makes it a fun daily driver, unloaded. However, when we got the Goldwing on the trailer and pulled it back, 850 miles, it had nothing. It was constantly trying to downshift, to keep in it's peak torque range, causing it to run quite warm. My Ranger, a heavier vehicle by at least 300 lbs, and with 32" tires, even before all my mods, handles Dad's boat (18.5' tri-hull, 305 inboard V-8, not sure on weight), which is heavier and less aero dynamic than the Goldwing and trailer (2000lbs combined), much better. Even in overdrive, it is able to torque up the hills without me having to down shift. I think having the manual helps me compared to the jeeps auto. But it was downright disapointing at how that jeep pulled.
I like the idea of Fords modular approach, but it seems like they could do a lot more with it to help reduce costs of production if all their motors shared the same parts.
Ford, are you listening?

 

What's the Duratec 3.5L based on? Is it based on the 2.9L / 4.0L design, or the 4.2L / 3.8L? Or is it something entirely new?

 

Could it be a 4.0L block with 2.9L sized bores, perhapse? Or maybe a 4.0L block with a 2.9L crank?