by ACourtney » Tue Jun 07, 2016 4:38 pm
Come on Kelvin I know that you're holding back the punchline.
When we saw the engine on the Ford stand at Autosport two years ago we asked the Ford man how you changed the timing belt and he said "you don't need to, it will last the life of the engine" and when we asked him what that was he said "100k"
Ignoring the short life span and the timing chain access issue, the biggest packaging problem with this engine is the height and that is entirely due to the depth of the sump. That is nothing new with Ford engines, the old Ford Kent and Pinto engines all came with similarly deep, stepped, sump pans, but those sump pans were pressed steel so they were easy to cut and shut to improve the ground clearance. The sump pan on the 3 cylinder Ecoboost is an aluminium casting, which also forms part of the engine structure. It could be cut and shut, but you need to find a welder who knows what he is doing.
Powertorque, the Ford industrial engine distributor, rate the 1.6 4 cyl Ecoboost more highly. It weighs and costs more, or less, the same as the 3 cylinder as it is a simpler package, but puts out 210 BHP in standard crate form.