Ford has an amazingly rich road racing history, plenty of it in the years leading up to the introduction of the Mustang. In 1963, Ford (in collaboration with Lotus) embarked on an ambitious project to build a car with a lightweight, powerful, low-displacement V8 engine. Between 1963 and 1970, when Ford pulled out of all forms of auto racing to focus on safety improvements in passenger cars, this high-tech engine would take 73 wins - more wins than all other competitors combined.

Custom car builders are dropping these motors into wild rides like this 1962 Falcon, so the legacy continues to live on. Make sure you check out the Quad Cam Ford website for a wealth of information about this awesome motor.





In order to win, Ford determined that they needed to add fifty horsepower without adding fifty pounds to the engine. The result is a dual overhead camshaft engine, with vertical valves and exhaust ports exiting on the inside of the cylinder heads (where the intake usually goes). Weighing in at under 400 pounds, this engine produced 425 horsepower on race gas. The revised exhaust system was even better than the short stacks that most racers used in those days, and would lead Ford to victory after victory in the coming years.

Just twenty of these rare engines were produced in 1966, and they were never offered to the public, though they powered some of the most famous racing cars in history. Among those cars was the infamous GT40, which scooped up victories at the 24 Hours of LeMans four years in a row. Ford won five or six Indy 500 races between 1965 and 1970 using this engine, and they dominated every other race they entered. These engines were $23,000 back in the 1960's - the equivalent today would be approximately $153,000. But Ford didn’t stop there.



There was even a turbocharged version of this engine, reduced down to 159 cubic inches. Because Ford cylinder heads were not part of the block, however, their engine suffered noticeable boost leak (unlike the Offy engines of the time). Running 80 inches of manifold pressure, the engines made about 825 horsepower, an astounding tally considering this was over forty years ago.

Unfortunately, development of these engines came to a dramatic halt when Henry Ford was forced to admit his company spent far more money on racing than safety. But the legacy that these engines left us can be felt in today’s 4.6 and 5.4 liter modular motors, as well as the new line of EcoBoost engines.

 

cool find

 

Not at the track????

 

You realize that when FORD ejected AJ Foyt took over the developement of that engine and one of those was in his car when he won his 4th 500 in May 1977

Coyote History
A.J. Foyt, Jr. had already won the Indianapolis 500® twice when he began building his own Indy® cars for 1966. Foyt's teammate George Snider put his Coyote on the front row for the 1966 Indy 500®. Foyt scored his third victory at Indy in 1967, in a Coyote of his own construction - a first at Indy. In 1971 Foyt adopted the abandoned Ford racing engine program and re-badged the turbo V-8 engine as "Foyt." In 1973 he raced a new design car that would remain competitive and win races through 1978.

 

I dont even wanna imagine what that engine would cost these days. Modular parts are expensive as it is.... Old school Modular parts gotta be threw the roof.