Better than any explanation...
Better than any explanation of how compressed the Coyote program was is this chart illustrating the textbook development process at top and the actual Coyote timeline below. It takes a good team, working in constant communication, to superimpose design and testing like this. This accelerated process worked well with Coyote, but cannot be duplicated with other programs if there aren't suitable surrogate engines to work with.
Our delight with the Coyote starts with its existence. That Ford would develop a new performance V-8 in the midst of a perilous economy, nagged by debt, and busy delivering the advanced EcoBoost technology, was a surprise to us. Congratulations go to Ford management for its focus on product and ability to make the difficult financial decisions to keep the company independent. Without that foundation, this Coyote may have never been born.
So why did Ford commit to the Coyote? The short answer is because we enthusiasts demand a winning V-8 and Ford could logically build one. Most fundamentally, the Coyote could be built inexpensively. Gary Liimatta, base engine systems supervisor for Coyote, summed it up. "This program was done inexpensively compared to other comparable programs of a similar content. I've always liked to call it sort of a dividend program; we had facilities in place, we could make an all-new design, but basically run it down the same lines and same machine processes without making a major investment. And so when people say, 'How could Ford do this right now in this economy with the fuel CAFE and everything else?' It's because we had all these things in place. We could do that inexpensively and have it be good business, so we weren't being irresponsible, even though it was a lot of fun."
Due to Ford's tremendous investment in V-8 manufacturing capacity, the new engine would take that form. To an enthusiast it may seem self-evident any new Mustang GT engine would be a V-8, but not necessarily so in this age of turbo V-6s. However, as Ford's plans clearly forecast more V-6s and fewer V-8s, making good use of Ford's existing excellent V-8 production capacity made financial sense.
Mike Harrison, V-8 engine...
Mike Harrison, V-8 engine programs manager, is the hands-on bosses' boss of the Coyote program. A native Englishman, Mike has a road-racing background and joined Ford in 1983. If it makes noise and has eight cylinders, he's in charge of it, including the just released 6.2 in the F-150. He represents a Coyote team with about 15 central members, working alongside another 40 dedicated core members and supported by hundreds more contributing employees.
At Coyote, you'll find the...
At Coyote, you'll find the likeable Gary Liimatta, base engine systems supervisor, in the middle of everything. Gary works solely on Coyote; his duties cover every aspect of the Coyote program. Think of him as leader of the Coyote pack. He also had the tedious duty of shepherding us through his fascinating engine program.
Mad keen for power is Adam...
Mad keen for power is Adam Christian, ICE analyst. A race-you-for-pinks enthusiast, Adam is the guy at the keyboard (and welding bench) who was central in developing the Coyote's power-making fundamentals. His Coyote hot spot is the headers, which he designed.
Like everyone on the Coyote...
Like everyone on the Coyote team, Todd Brewer, cylinder-head-design technical expert, did not work alone, but he represents a small group of engineers that set the Coyote's all-important cylinder-head architecture.
Also getting magazine glory...
Also getting magazine glory for a whole crew is Dale Kollien, shown at his usual perch in a dyno cell. More so than most, Ford's dynos are awash with specialized test equipment, computers, hoses and wires. A small fraction of the test cell's busy-ness is visible here.
Master teardown tech Bill...
Master teardown tech Bill Sullivan demonstrates how test engines are always disassembled and inspected at "teardown," a mile or so from the main dyno facility. Amazingly, to save money, engines are often rebuilt and reused in new tests-assuming they passed their previous torture. Even the engine used to set the Coyote's official power figures was a veteran test engine.
As Mike Harrison, Ford's program manager, V-8 engine systems, and likely the highest ranking manager with daily oversight of the Coyote put it, "The overall goal early on was a brand-new platform-we call it a modular family but we needed a brand-new platform as we had tapped out the current architecture. If we were going to get more power we were going to have to increase the bottom end, and we were going to have to do things to enable [engine] speed."
"The early thing was to set out a brand-new platform for further expansion. Bringing in new technology, bringing in new upgrades, but we really needed a new, stronger, better base. And that was our initial goal," Mike added.
Roy Vedolich, the lead prototype...
Roy Vedolich, the lead prototype technician at "teardown," the shop where dyno test mules are torn apart and reassembled, goes through the Coyote's extensive main bearing cap torquing regime. Roy is one of the guys who catches those real-world, tough-to-service items mechanics always complain about. Engine and transmission swap fans will be happy to know the engine mounts and bellhousing bolt pattern are carryovers from the 4.6 block. New is the rear crank-seal plate incorporating the crank trigger pickup.
Part of a new base engine is its longevity. With engine production life-spans often measured in decades it was important the Coyote had long-term breeding. Mike explained it: "We knew that someday there would be a DI version of this engine. We knew someday there would be a supercharged version of the engine. We knew that someday someone would want to do something on it," he explained. "So we wanted to make sure when we did the initial design work that it would be robust enough to not have to re-engineer the whole thing down the road and any subsequent programs would be very investment efficient and time efficient and so we did package DI injectors, we did really improve the bulkhead strength to take supercharging, we upgraded the cylinder head bolts and the main bearing bolts, all of that stuff ... We just wanted to make sure it was a good base going forward, that the architecture would last us the next 10 or 15 years."
And while you, the Mustang buyer, may not directly have had a seat at Ford's conference table, you still played a major role in deciding on a naturally aspirated V-8. Enthusiasts themselves, the Coyote team understands that overall the Mustang GT market is technologically conservative, or maybe we enthusiasts better understand there is no replacement for displacement. And so the team wanted to introduce the new engine in traditional, less-expensive, naturally aspirated dress.
But as we just heard, this doesn't mean the Coyote will always keep its traditional charms. The engine was engineered from the beginning for supercharging or EcoBoost, so why not EcoBoost the engine now?
"We were able to meet our objectives without it, and quite frankly, it's quite expensive," Mike educated. "On this platform, its $50 to do DI on the V-8 with two pumps and eight injectors ... And the other thing is, we only had two years to deliver it, from initially talking about it to spitting 'em out at the factory. It could have been potentially one of the technologies that tripped us up in terms of timing."