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Ford Mustang 4.6L Engine FinaleAfter A 15-Year Fling, The Mustang And The 4.6 Part Ways From the August, 2010 issue of 5.0 Mustang & Super Fords By Dale Amy Photography by Dale Amy
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An era is ending as some of... An era is ending as some of the last run of Mustang Three-Valve 4.6-liter modulars approach the final inspection station at Ford's Romeo Engine Plant in Michigan. We managed to catch a complete batch of Three-Valves in this shot, but normally this line would have been a mixture of aluminum-block Mustang engines and other cast-iron 4.6 variants. Without ceremony or fanfare, shortly before 1 p.m. on Monday, March 1, 2010, the final 4.6-liter Three-Valve Mustang engine trundled slowly down the overhead assembly trolley to the final inspection station at Ford's Romeo Engine Plant. Ever the Mustang romantics, we wanted to be there to document the official termination of this 15-year relationship between Pony and powerplant, one that may have had an iffy beginning, but which matured into something pretty strong over time. We've been to the sprawling 2.2-million-square-foot Romeo plant before-it's in a rural area a few miles due north of Detroit-but previously only to its so-called "Niche Line," where the supercharged 5.4-liter Condor (GT500) and 4.6-liter Terminator (Cobra) Four-Valves have been lovingly bolted together in the relative calm of a dedicated facility. In comparison, Romeo's main high-volume line, where for the last few years all of FoMoCo's armada of Two- and Three-Valve 4.6s have been produced, is a noisy, immense, and incomprehensible multi-level maze of automated or manned machine tools and work stations, all joined by mechanized lines or overhead trolleys, and bathed in the Halloween-orange glow of what we presume is low-pressure sodium lighting. In short, this is the definition of a modern engine-production facility, efficiently transforming raw block castings into complete V-8s, needing only gasoline and the guiding electrons of a processor to make horsepower and smiles. Seen from the opposite direction,... Seen from the opposite direction, individuals in this same gaggle of Three-Valves are headed for either manual- or automatic-transmission GTs, as determined by their flywheel or flexplate. It looks like the autos definitely outnumber the sticks. At this stage, they are filled with oil and, assuming they pass final inspection, are ready to drop into the engine bays of some of the final 2010 GTs at the AAI plant about 65 miles down the road at Flat Rock. Anyway, grateful for the friendly cooperation of Romeo's employees and management, as well as Ford's PR team, we took what photos we could. But in the end, nothing could stand still for long because even though the last aluminum-block Mustang Three-Valve had been built on this day, armies of iron-block 4.6-liter variants continued to march down the line at a rate of somewhere around a thousand engines per eight-hour shift, headed for the likes of Crown Victorias, Explorers, and light-duty trucks. Inside the plant, there was disappointment that production of the Mustang's new 5.0-liter Coyote V-8 had been assigned to the Essex engine plant, located across the Detroit River in Windsor, Ontario. But that loss is partially compensated by the fact that Romeo will build the big-bore 6.2-liter truck engines now appearing in '11 Raptor and Super Duty pickups. Sadly, we're assured the 6.2 is a bit large for the Mustang engine bay. In this shot, we're looking... In this shot, we're looking back down the line from the final inspection station, where the engines are rotated 90 degrees on their trolleys. Note that the engine in the foreground is a Three-Valve but has a painted iron-block and more pedestrian exhaust manifolds, likely destined for an Explorer or F-150.
• 1996: Goodbye pushrods, hello overhead cams. The GT gets a 215hp SOHC Two-Valve 4.6, while the Cobra boasts 305 hp, DOHC, and four valves per cylinder. The GT's new modular was a silky-smooth operator, and claimed about the same horsepower and torque ratings as the outgoing 5.0 pushrod, but its reduced displacement could be perceived by a right foot, and the aftermarket was scared to death of its newfangled complexity. We were worried.  Every paint daub, grease-pencil...  Every paint daub, grease-pencil slash, or marker scribble you find on your Mustang's modular has meaning, and they occur at various points along the assembly process, often as task-completion verifications. The blue "W" on this front cover was already on the Mustang engines as they approached the final inspection station (you can see them in our lead shot), but the black initials were added right at this final station as some final component placements were verified.  This is the final inspection...  This is the final inspection station. The red flash on the front of the engine is from the scanner in the inspector's hand, which he's using to read bar-code stickers on different critical components on this Three-Valve. You can see a monitor in the background on which there are currently some green and yellow rows across the screen. Individual rows remain yellow until the respective sticker is scanned, turn green if the anticipated sticker is in place (meaning the correct component), or red if it isn't. A red code will stop the assembly line.  And this is it-the final Mustang...  And this is it-the final Mustang Three-Valve ever assembled. Not long after this photo was taken, it was placed on a rack with two other similar, but not as historic examples and rolled onto a truck for quick shipment to the Mustang plant, in this case, for installation into an automatic GT. (Beside it, you can see a Two-Valve 4.6, likely headed for a Crown Vic Police Interceptor.)  This is the final engine's...  This is the final engine's cam-cover data tag, so if you've ordered a late-production '10 GT automatic, keep your eyes open for that final eight-digit number: 42395605. Will it go in the last 2010 GT built? Possibly, but not necessarily. As for the other data on the tag, the "REP" and "E1900" signify the Romeo plant, and the "260210," meaning February 26, 2010, is the day this engine's machined block started down the assembly line. That was a Friday, the plant doesn't operate on weekends, and we shot this mid-day on Monday, so the Three-Valve took some part of one workday to evolve from a bare machined block to complete assembly.  After the engines pass final...  After the engines pass final muster, they carry on via their overhead trolleys toward the shipping area a few hundred yards away, where they are sorted as to destination vehicle-assembly plant and placed in threes on stackable metal shipping racks.  When you produce upward of...  When you produce upward of 140 engines per hour, things move quickly in the shipping department, as evidenced by the blur of this fork-lift hustling a six-pack of late-production Three-Valves toward a waiting semi for transport to the nearby AutoAlliance International Mustang assembly plant.  One of one?
Sitting in the...  One of one?
Sitting in the Romeo plant's front lobby is this highly polished blown Four-Valve 4.6-liter, apparently built for display purposes some time ago. Similar to the dual-inlet Super Stallion show car's 5.4, this 4.6 didn't see fruition. Of obvious note are the twin inlet ducts off the back of the blower, each with its own mass air sensor.  This somewhat time-worn schematic...  This somewhat time-worn schematic accompanies the oddball, and clearly shows that the "primary" and "secondary" inlets were intended to feed directly from what appear to be early SN-95-style hoodscoops, thus justifying the "cold-packed intercooled system" designation. We guess it was deemed too costly for production, but it was a forefather of the Terminator Cobra, which featured a similar arrangement save the dual inlets.  As we were leaving the plant,...  As we were leaving the plant, we happened upon this stash of freshly machined 4.6-liter aluminum Mustang blocks sitting idle at the start of what, in normal circumstances, would have been their assembly line. No longer scheduled for assembly, these will likely be set aside as service parts or sold into the wholesale market. But who knows? These orphans just look so lonely ...  1999: Wheezy first-generation...  1999: Wheezy first-generation Two-Valve heads and intake were dumped for Performance Improved replacements; GT horsepower rose to 260. Cobra Four-Valve horsepower was now 320. While the aftermarket was still timid with stuff that we used to take for granted, like heads and cams, superchargers were creating the effect of supplementary displacement for the little 4.6.  2003: This was a banner year...  2003: This was a banner year for the 4.6-at least in Four-Valve form. Stick-axle fans got a naturally aspirated DOHC in the new Mach 1, producing 305 hp and 320 lb-ft, while the rest of us were smitten by the supercharged Terminator Cobra with its berserk off-idle torque and 390 hp. Meanwhile, the Two-Valve GT held steady at 260 hp right through the end of 2004.  2005: All hail the S197 GT...  2005: All hail the S197 GT with its aluminum-block, 300hp Three-Valve, and variable cam timing. Even in a heavier platform, this 4.6-liter feels larger and more virile than its displacement would suggest. Three-Valve GT horsepower eventually rises to 315 for '10 (following the Bullitt's lead for '08), and bows out of Mustang use as the ultimate expression of SOHC 4.6-liter development. What came in for '96 as a point of contention for many Mustang enthusiasts now goes out with its heads held high.
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