Besides meeting the performance goals
the Coyote had to pass all of Ford’s standard
durability tests. These dyno sessions
are incredibly brutal, always far exceeding
what any rational customer would do to
his engine, and occasionally surpassing
what is physically possible in a car.
We observed some of this internal
combustion water-boarding, and for
anyone with a foot-pound of mechanical
sympathy it isn’t pretty. Engines run fatigue
cycles equivalent to 62 Daytona 500 races.
Others replicate customer drive cycles
for 1,000 running hours to include 1,000
cold starts, plus hitting its peak torque
and power for sustained periods. That test
alone runs 100 hours a week for two and
a half months.
We witnessed another torture session
where the engine was run at WOT for
several minutes, the headers glowing just
a hint of red, then the engine shut off and
after several seconds of sitting, -20 degree
ice water was forced through the cooling
system. Frost formed on the test rig as the
engine was about frozen to death, then the
ice water stopped, the engine started and
after a handful of seconds idling was taken
back to max rpm, max load for another
heat cycle up to 225 degrees. Each complete
cycle takes about 10 minutes, and
the engine must survive days of these nonstop
thermal shocks.
Most incredibly, “It can’t be on its last
legs at the end of the test,” says Mike. “It
can’t be that it hasn’t seized yet, we need
to see crosshatching on the cylinders, no
full-face ring wear, leak down needs to be
below, oh, eight percent; it has to be very,
very functional and could go do it again,
quite frankly.”