Ford Modular engine
The Ford Modular engine is an overhead camshaft V8 and V10 gasoline-powered small block engine family introduced by Ford Motor Company in 1990 for the 1991 model year. The term “modular” applied to the setup of tooling and casting stations in the Windsor and Romeo engine manufacturing plants, not the engine itself.
The Modular engine family started with the 4.6 L in 1990 for the 1991 model year. The Modular engines are used in various Ford, Lincoln, and Mercury vehicles. Modular engines used in Ford trucks were marketed under the Triton name from 1997–2010 while the InTech name was used for a time at Lincoln and Mercury for vehicles equipped with DOHC versions of the engines. The engines were first produced at the Ford Romeo Engine Plant, then additional capacity was added at the Windsor Engine Plant in Windsor, Ontario.
Origins
In the early 1980s, then-Ford Motor Company chief operating officer Donald Petersen challenged Ford's vice-president of design, Jack Telnack, and his staff to come up with new vehicle designs to replace the boxy styling that had dominated Ford products for years. The result was the adoption of sleeker, more aerodynamic designs like that used for the highly successful Ford Taurus. In the second half of the 1980s, Petersen, then chief executive officer, sought to update Ford's decades-old V8 architectures, challenging Ford senior engineer Jim Clarke to develop a new V8 engine that would surpass Ford's earlier V8s in every meaningful way, from power and efficiency to emissions performance and smoothness of operation.Clarke and his engineers studied engine designs from major European and Japanese automakers and sought to develop a technologically advanced, power-dense, dependable, low maintenance V8, with no major service required before of use.
The initial engine design would implement a 90° vee-angle with a bore and a stroke of, resulting in a displacement and creating a nearly 1:1 bore-to-stroke ratio. This square configuration was chosen primarily for its positive noise, vibration, and harshness characteristics. The engine would utilize features such as a chain-driven, single-overhead camshaft valve train with roller finger followers, a deep-skirt cast-iron block construction and cross-bolted main bearings, all benefiting long-term durability. In the interest of reducing overall engine weight, aluminum-alloy heads would be standard and all major engine accessories would be mounted directly to the block, resulting in a more complex block casting but eliminating the need for heavy mounting brackets. All engines in the family shared a common bore spacing of.
Tight construction tolerances were used in shaping cylinder bores to accommodate narrow piston rings. This improved engine efficiency through reduced friction and oil consumption while also promoting cleaner emissions.
Various single- or dual-overhead camshaft eight- and ten-cylinder engines could be produced. Six-cylinder derivatives were also explored, though never built. In order to accommodate the wide array of engine configurations possible within this architecture, Ford developed a new modular tooling system for producing different engines quickly and efficiently in the same factory.
Such an approach allowed for significantly faster changeovers when switching from one engine platform to another among the modular engine family. This also allowed for the existing engine plants, and their supporting offsite production facilities, to handle shorter production runs.
By 1987 Ford was fully committed to producing the new Modular V8, having invested $4 billion in the engine's design in addition to retooling the company's Romeo, Michigan tractor plant to build the engines. Three years later, in the third quarter of 1990, the first Modular engine, a 4.6 L SOHC V8, would be used in the 1991 model year Lincoln Town Car. In spite of having a smaller displacement, the lighter 4.6 L Modular V8 could generate more power than the Town Car's previous overhead valve 5.0 L V8 and accelerate to 1.5 seconds faster, all while delivering better fuel efficiency.
Ford modular engines would go on to become its chief gasoline V8s and V10s.
4.6 L
The displacement 90-degree V8 was offered in 2-valve SOHC, 3-valve SOHC, and 4-valve DOHC versions. The engines were also offered with both aluminum and cast iron blocks, depending on application. The 4.6 L's bore and stroke are nearly square at, respectively. Deck height for the 4.6 block is and connecting rod length is center to center, giving the 4.6 L a 1.67:1 rod to stroke ratio. Cylinder bore spacing measures, which is common to all members of the Modular engine family. All Modular V8s, except for the 5.0 L Coyote and 5.2 L Voodoo, utilize the same firing order as the Ford 5.0 L HO and 351 CID V8s. The 4.6 L engines have been assembled at Romeo Engine Plant in Michigan, and at Windsor Engine Plant and Essex Engine Plant, both located in Windsor, Ontario.The final 4.6 L engine was produced in May 2014 and installed in a 2014 model year Ford E-Series van.
2-valve
The first production Modular engine was the 4.6 L 2-valve SOHC V8 introduced in the 1991 Lincoln Town Car.The 4.6 L 2V was built at both Romeo Engine Plant and Windsor Engine Plant, which had different designs for cylinder heads, camshaft sprockets, valve covers, crankshaft and main bearing caps.
Vehicles equipped with the 16-valve SOHC 4.6 L include the following:
| Vehicle Name | Production Years | Engine Output | Notes |
| Lincoln Town Car | 1991–1993 | | |
| Aston Martin Lagonda Vignale concept | 1993 | | |
| Lincoln Town Car | 1994–1995 | | |
| Lincoln Town Car | 1996–1998 | | Ford EEC-V Introduced |
| Lincoln Town Car Touring Sedan | 1999–2000 | | Performance Improved w/standard dual exhaust |
| Lincoln Town Car | 2002–2011 | | |
| Ford Crown Victoria Mercury Grand Marquis | 1992–1997 | | with dual exhaust option Ford EEC-V introduced 1996 |
| Ford Crown Victoria Mercury Grand Marquis | 1998–2000 | | with dual exhaust option |
| Ford Crown Victoria Mercury Grand Marquis | 2001–2002 | | Performance Improved w/dual exhaust option |
| Ford Crown Victoria Mercury Grand Marquis | 2003–2012 | | with dual exhaust option |
| Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor | 2004–2011 | and | Mercury Marauder Air Box and 80 mm MAF |
| Ford Thunderbird Mercury Cougar | 1994–1995 | | |
| Ford Thunderbird Mercury Cougar | 1996–1997 | | Ford EEC-V Introduced |
| Ford F-Series | 1997–2000 | at 4400 rpm at 3250 rpm | |
| Ford F-Series | 2001–2005 | at 4750 rpm at 3500 rpm | Performance Improved |
| Ford F-Series | 2006–2010 | at 4750 rpm at 4000 rpm | |
| Ford E-Series | 1997–2000 | | |
| Ford E-Series | 2001–2014 | | Performance Improved |
| Ford Explorer Mercury Mountaineer | 2002–2005 | at 4750 rpm at 4000 rpm | |
| Ford Expedition | 1997–2000 | | |
| Ford Expedition | 2001–2004 | | Performance Improved |
| Ford Mustang GT | 1996–1997 | | Ford EEC-V Introduced |
| Ford Mustang GT | 1998 | | |
| Ford Mustang GT | 1999–2004 | | Performance Improved heads |
| Ford Mustang GT Bullitt | 2001 | | Performance Improved heads; alternate intake manifold based on Ford Racing design, unique to this application |
| MG ZT 260 | 2003–2005 | | |
| Rover 75 V8 | 2003–2005 | | |
| Mobility Ventures MV-1 | 2011–2014 | | also available in factory CNG version |
3-valve
The 3-valve SOHC 4.6 L with variable camshaft timing first appeared in the redesigned 2005 Ford Mustang.The engines are equipped with an electronic Charge Motion Control Valve system that provides increased air velocity at low engine speeds for improved emissions and low-rpm torque. Cylinder block material varies between aluminum used in the 2005-10 Mustang GT and cast iron used in the truck applications.
The 3-valve SOHC 4.6 L engine was on the Ward's 10 Best Engines list for 2005–2008.
Vehicles equipped with the 24-valve SOHC VCT 4.6 L include the following:
| Vehicle Name | Production Years | Engine Output | Notes |
| Ford Mustang GT | 2005–2009 | | |
| Ford Mustang Bullitt | 2008–2009 | | |
| Ford Mustang GT | 2010 | | |
| Ford Explorer Mercury Mountaineer | 2006–2010 | | |
| Ford Explorer Sport Trac | 2006–2010 | | |
| Ford F-150 | 2009–2010 | |
4-valve
The 4-valve DOHC version of the Modular engine was introduced in the 1993 Lincoln Mark VIII as the 4.6 L Four-Cam V8. Lincoln marketed the engine under the name InTech after 1995.The 1993–1998 4-valve engines featured cylinder heads with two intake ports per cylinder and variable runner length intake manifolds with either vacuum or electrically activated intake manifold runner controls depending on application. The engine was revised for 1999 with new cylinder heads featuring tumble-style intake ports, new camshaft profiles, and fixed runner-length intake manifolds. These changes resulted in more power, torque and a broader power-band when compared to the earlier 4-valve engines.
All 4.6 L 4-valve engines featured aluminum engine blocks with 6-bolt main bearing caps, the only exception being the 2003–2004 SVT Cobra which had a 4-bolt main cast iron block. The 1999 and earlier engines featured an aluminum block cast in Italy by Fiat subsidiary Teksid S.p.A. Since 1996, all of the 4.6 L 4-valve engines manufactured for use in the SVT Cobra have been hand-built by SVT technicians at Ford's Romeo, Michigan plant.
The 4-valve DOHC 4.6 L engine was on the Ward's 10 Best Engines list for 1996 and 1997.
Vehicles equipped with the 32-valve DOHC 4.6 L include the following:
| Vehicle Name | Production Years | Engine Output | Notes |
| Lincoln Mark VIII | 1993–1998 | | |
| Lincoln Mark VIII LSC | 1995–1998 | | |
| Ford Thunderbird SVE | 1996–1997 | | Supercharged, never progressed past prototype phase |
| Lincoln Continental | 1995–1998 | | FWD, different bellhousing |
| Lincoln Continental | 1999–2002 | | FWD, different bellhousing |
| Lincoln Aviator | 2003–2005 | | |
| Mercury Marauder | 2003–2004 | | |
| Ford Mustang SVT Cobra | 1996–1998 | | |
| Ford Mustang SVT Cobra | 1999, 2001 | | |
| Ford Mustang SVT Cobra | 2003–2004 | | Iron block, supercharged |
| Ford Mustang Mach 1 | 2003 | | |
| Ford Mustang Mach 1 | 2004 | | |
| De Tomaso Guarà | 1998–2004 | | |
| Spectre R42 | 1995–1998 | | |
| Marcos Mantis | 1997–1999 | | |
| Marcos Mantis GT | 1998–1999 | | Supercharged |
| Panoz AIV Roadster | 1997–1999 | | |
| Panoz Esperante | 2000–2009 | | |
| Qvale Mangusta | 2000–2001 | | |
| MG X-Power SV | 2003–2005 | | |
| Invicta S1 | 2004–2012 | |