Yep!....
The amount of HP in relation to the displacement is amazing! When I use to built race motors and very fast street motors (small block V8's back in the 80's) , the bar was always 1hp per 1 cubic inch. ie.....302 V8= 302hp..... we called it volumetric efficiency, which is more or less a lost art for engine building of air flow and HP.
In short.....you all are spoiled. I bought the first FI 302 in 86 in a Mustang. Everyone deemed it the end of the performance. Same thing happened in 96 with the 4.6L.
I went to the SEMA show back in 96 and went a Ford class on how to hotrod the new 4.6L and we were amazed at the engineering that went into that motor. 5.0 guys will never like it, if they don't already.
Cubic Inches is nice, efficiency is better. You only have to look at todays motorcycle engines to realize why. Car motors are not there yet, but they are on their way. Ford is leaps ahead of GM in this department, and it will come back to bite GM for not going this route in the near future.
In fact the engines are getting so efficient that only Forced Induction is going to keep it going in the HP wars of today. I just wish Ford would go Turbo instead of Supercharging. Oh well.......My .02
Mana4Real said:
People bash the 4.6L because it's a small V8. I don't know any other reason why. It makes a crap load of power. The first runs of the 4.6L SOHC were a dog. They didn't make the power that they were capable of. Now you see these stock motors coming with 300 hp straight from the factory. Just think about it. The first run of in 96 came with 215 hp and 285 lb ft of torque. Now they come with 300 hp and 320 lb ft of torque. That's 85 more hp in a 9 year run. I don't think that's too bad. And that is just in the GT. The 4.6L in the 96 cobra came with what 305 hp? in 03/04 it was an underated 390. Another 85 hp increase. Look at the new shelby GT500 coming out. Isn't that thing suppose to have 450+ HP? But I am really not sure what engine that thing comes with. I haven't been keeping up with my mustang facts too much. I have been really busy with school. I would say that the modular motor is an awesome motor. It's way better then the 5.0L pushrod motor. The modular motor is their best platform right now until Ford decides to develope something better. Then that will be the next baby.
Just a little insight... Computers are making these cars more advanced everyday. Computer advancement is what's is helping make these cars be all they can be.