You totally missed my point, COMPLETELY. You don't have to lecture me about GM's and Mopar's pushrod mills, I'm well aware. I'm one of the STAUNCHEST defenders of the power and efficiency of GM's OHV V-8's you'll find on this Ford-nutty forum!! And I don't need a history lesson, we don't need to start jousting 'till we're debating sleeve-valve Stearns Knights on a Mustang forum. I was speaking from FORD'S perspective, not mine, I don't know how you missed that. And I guess while Ford had gone modular in '96 that I must've gotten whacked in my "ricer" head while I was special-ordering my "stone age" '97 S351 supercharged Speedster from Saleen, that replaced my beloved pushrod '93 Corvette. You've really got me wrong, trust me. Give me a break, that had little to do with the point I was making (not to mention the S7 debacle has practically bankrupted Saleen again, if the rumors I hear are accurate). The fact of the matter is that Ford is 100% committed to OHC V-8's, period, done deal, it's been etched in granite for years now. Years ago, Coletti said, Nasser said, even Bill Ford has said, to loosely paraphrase, "you'll never see another pushrod V-8 from Ford", PERIOD. Sure, Saleen decided to go with a Windsor-derivative pushrod mill. But Saleen is Saleen, not Ford, last I checked. According to FORD, NOT ME, their future is the OHC layout. GM has a different opinion/approach, and DC has yet another. The R-model would logically showcase the latest and greatest evolution of what Ford can accomplish in powertrain development. They haven't laid a finger on a pushrod engine for years. When they transitioned to the modular family, they had the enormous task of weaning the Ford faithful off of their Windsor small blocks, and getting them "on board" with the new and technically intimidating modulars, without losing everybody to "brand X or Y". Now, you suggest that they would toss all that aside and drop a stroked aluminum-block windsor into a Mustang. All that would accomplish is to reignite the outcry in the Mustang world to have ALL Mustangs go back to pushrods. What a bright move that would be
. Myself? Personally? SURE, I would LOVE a new R with a 550 h.p. 7.0 all-aluminum 427. My point was, don't hold your breath, it doesn't have a snowball's chance in hell of happening. Fine.... so explain to me why it was not the logical choice to power the new Ford GT?? It would have displaced the same cubic inches as the originals that finish 1,2,3 in Lemans, and there wouldn't be any of that "well if you supercharged a Ferrari 360...." chatter that always happens when you compare a forced-induction car to one that is n/a. So why didn't Ford go with the aluminum 427 in the new GT?? I'll give you a hint: Read comments above regarding Ford's commitment to OHC and its commitment to showcasing the abilities of the powertrains they are using in their passenger cars.