http://www.goauto.com.au/mellor/mell...256C54001E0BA8

 

Here's a better pic of the car, go to this site:

http://www.pressroom.com.au/sms/smsp...021017109s.jpg

It's very horn. And the bulge in the hood is suggestive!

 

OMG!!! I read in that article that the GTHO might be billed as the next higher level performer above the GT and XR8! This is the first I have heard of this!

And it has the backing of management IF it can be justified by the market... this is just too good to be true! (The Original GTHO's had the 351 Clevelands I posted about in another thread... and they were AWESOME. ) The closest thing we had here stateside was the '71 Boss 351 Mustangs - made for only 1 year. Obviously the new ones won't have that powerplant, but anything that will give that level of performance will be VERY impressive.

From the article... "By not doing that, however, Ford and FPV avoid further talk of a power war and leave space above the current range for the return of the legendary GTHO.

Mr Flint said it was "quite likely in the future" that GTHO would reappear, but the performance and specification levels would be established only after extensive consultation with customers."

I repeat... WHY DO THE AUSSIES GET ALL THE GOOD STUFF!!!!
Bring it here... pleeezzze!

I gotta tell you guys, speaking as a performance enthusiast - not just a Ford guy -, I don't know what has gotten into Ford since Bill Ford took over a couple years ago... but I LIKES IT!! I've been pouting about lame family car offerings for almost 2 decades now, and factory Mustangs that get hammered on the track unless modded, but NO MORE! GT40, Mach 1, Cobras, new/old T-birds, Marauder, the Falcon GT, Falcon Barra program... now talk of the GTHO down under!?!? I feel like I'm 12 years old again and back in the '60's/early '70's - but I got my license and a little money this time!!! So when come the Talladega Specials, Cyclone Spoilers, CJ Torinos, Cougar Eliminators....
:stops to take deep breath, wipes drool on shirt sleeve, scratches self violently, and smiles from ear to ear:

 

Lol@pony. Very true bro. There isn't a better time to be a performance car enthusiast and a Ford one at that. Someone (Bill???) with an actual heartbeat and a pulse is making things happen over at Ford.

Now if we can just get them to offer some of their better overseas cars here in the states...

 

Ford needs that car here badly!

 

It's funny how they still use the 5.0 and 5.8 Windsor's in their lineups and we don't. Something just doesn't sound right. They have a 295hp 5.0 and a 334hp 302 based 342ci. That 5.0 would have fit nicely in the current GT and the 342ci (5.6) in the new Mach 1. Both would be considerably torquier cause the 5.6 is pushing 370lb-ft. While the 4.6 mustangs were getting their asses handed to by the Ls-1's, Ford sat and watched while they offered these 2 engines over in the ausi market instead of the much needed U.S market.

They used them in the precvious falcons i believe. They might have finally dropped them cause the new 5.4's seem to be putting up better numbers.

 

If you're the Ford of 2 or 3 years ago under the leadership of Nassar, you don't care about street/strip bragging rights because you're selling more Mustangs. All that seems to have changed under Bill Ford's direction. The thinking now (and very obviously so) is why can't we have our cake and eat it too? Time to wake up GM.

 

The 5.8 was last used in Australia in 1982. That was also the year that began a 10 year hiatus for Ford V8 power in Australia. Not a smart move. Through the 80s Holden cultivated a high power, performance oriented image, while Ford built family sedans and taxis. The V8 was finally reintroduced in 1992 in 5.0 litre form.

It's eventual state of tune was roughly 300hp (as you point out). Getting that from the engine wasn't cheap, however, and Ford had to spend big on re-engineering the top end of the engine. The 5.6 was an expensive marketing exercise. It's been stroked out to 5.6 litres and produced about 340 hp. Ford Oz invested the money because they were sick of not having anything to compete with HSV. The engine itself was only in production for about 10 months.

It's a damn fine engine, though. Loud, powerful and a fist-full of torque down low. Just how we like our V8s in Oz.

The Windsor's are no more, having made way for the 220, 260 and 290kW engines, with promises of more to come. From the looks of it the new V8s are INCREDIBLY torquey down low, which is excellent. One of the major complaints here in Oz about the LS1 is that it needs too many revs before power and torque comes on tap in a big way. No such problems in the new Ford V8s.

 

One of the local car magazines (Wheels) had some details on the engine. It might interest those of you keen to speculate what Ford will be doing for the next Mustang in the States. The car itself won't be released until March next year.

Here's what the mag said:

Getting the performance for the new GT was not an easy task. The Falcon's new 5.4 litre V8 is good, but it was never going to be good enough. "It just wasn't suitable and no way were we ever going to achieve the power and torque requirements", says Ford Performance Vehicles Chief Engineer, Winfried Beilhartz.

The search for a more suitable engine for the GT started with the 4.6 litre Mustang engine. FPV built a prototype with it, then went to the US to check out the supercharged Mustang engine, the supercharged two-valve 5.4 litre from the Lightning F-series, and the Mustang Cobra R's 5.4 litre unit.

"The Cobra R engine seemed closest to the spec, but didn't quite give the performance we wanted", Beilharz says. "We acquired a prototype version of that engine, fitted it to a vehicle, did all the performance times, and it was shy of the target, but it was a good basis to start from".

In the end, Beilharz says FPV managed to convince Detriot that its new four-valve quad-cam alloy head -- dubbed U231 and yet to appear in any US product -- was just what it needed. These heads and the Navigator sourced block are the basis for the XR8 engine, but more work was required to get the additional 30kW and 20Nm for the GT spec.

(My note: XR8 makes 260kW or 350hp, GT makes 290kW or close to 400hp. GTHO is rumoured to make in excess of 330kW).

Increasing the compression ratio from 9.5:1 to 10.5:1 meant sourcing new pistons and ring gear locally (i.e. Oz). By using the cam profile from the Cobra R, lift has been increased from 10mm to 13mm on inlet valves and from 10mm to 12mm on exhaust valves. New valves, springs and finger followers are fitted to suit. FPV also looked at a shorter run manifold for the GT over the XR8 that gave better power but not the torque required, so settled for the XR8's locally sourced unit.

As the first engine in the Ford world to use the new heads, Beilharz says it has already attracted the attention of other powertrain engineers...

 

I'm guessing GTHO stands for "GT-High Output" right?

When is it coming out and will it use the 5.4L as well? Is 330kw around 445 horses.

 

A GTHO hasn't been officially announced yet...

 

True, but David Flint has made his intentions reasonably clear with regard to the GTHO. It will be released only if certain benchmarks are met...