30-yr anniversary of the debut of the Mustang SVO at Nelson Ledges

[JWFisher]

Yes, it's right now, June 18-20 1982.

And I was there. At this very moment back then, I was waking up and making some breakfast, before reporting to the grid where I was an SCCA-licensed Pit Marshall. I spent all of my time during the 24-hour endurance race working with both Mustang SVOs as well as walking around the track taking pictures and observing the SVOs in competition. And, based on what I saw there, making plans to buy one once they came out (which Ford, sadly, delayed until 1984).

Read my full write-up here: http://www.drivingenthusiast.net/sec-blog/?p=13249

And think today, again, about the special and unique effort Ford put into this car. There hasn't been anything like it since and there likely ever won't be again.

[Tman]

Fantastic Wite-up, i really enjoyed reading that.

Totally agree on the unique effort Ford made with these cars, People who know these cars, Understand exactly what your saying, cheers.

[JWFisher]

Thanks! It was great being there... an amazing time. Nice to talk to some Ford engineers who were actually given the opportunity to build what they could, versus what their budget constrains them to building.

We'll have a bit of interesting Ford racing history here in Texas next year - "your" V8 Supercar series is planning to come all the way over here to run on our new Circuit of the Americas F1 track. There has been some in-fighting between the organizers here, but the plan was announced. If it happens, we'll finally get a first-hand look at the famous Ford vs. Holden battle that we've been reading about for all these years.

Unfortunately, Ford will be at a disadvantage here since the Falcon isn't sold here and won't be in it's present form, or more likely never. Whereas the Holden Commodore is coming back here for 2014 as the ********* SS. This is the same short-wheelbase Holden as the late Pontiac G8 was. Apparently it's going to get some styling updates and it will be interesting to see if it gets the new Gen-V engine. The longer wheelbase version of the same car is already here as a police car - I saw my first examples on the road yesterday. So, Kudos to General Motors here.

[MikeFleming]

Ahh, but the Falcon [in a slightly modified, 2-door form with a non-Ford engine] is sold here. It's the new Camaro.

[JWFisher]

I can't agree. The Commodore has a far more modern chassis than the Falcon, and it was built from the start to meet US Federal safety regulations. That's what the Falcon can't do.
What's needed is an all-new Falcon, sharing parts with the 2015 Mustang to save costs. Not too likely. As it is, the current Falcon will be sold thru 2016 thanks to a Aus. Government deal that Ford did. The Government's sole interest was to keep workers employed. Ford just bought time. What happens after 2016 is not announced. And according to J Mays, a version of the next Taurus (aka, an enlarged Fusion) is the likely plan.
You may not know that the 2-gen's ago Taurus was sold in Australia to test the waters. Used most of the Sable front end. Ugly as heck. And a bomb in their market. You can find a few examples on their used car sites.
We absolutely have the give the Australians a great deal of credit... they have kept that car going, and have kept managing somehow to add premium features such as a continually improved IRS and now the EcoBoost 2 liter. But they really need an entirely new car. It's hard to see how Ford would invest in that, unless there was a very clear market in North America for a Ford (mass market) rear wheel drive 4-door.

[JWFisher]

But back to the SVO, since that is what started this.

Here's an "SVO" topic that bothers me: some people have called the new 2015 Mustang with the optional (assuming it's not standard) 2.3 liter EcoBoost I-4 the "new SVO". I couldn't agree LESS. To call that an SVO is an insult to the SVO we already have. The SVO was the top of the line premium Mustang, both in performance and technically.

The 2015 with the 2.3 EcoBoost won't be that, and it can't be that since the 5 and 5.8 liter engines are going to continue in that car as the performance engines.
What it will be is a nice driving car, with the best fuel economy of any Mustang engine, and the best fr/rr weight balance. It'll likely have 300-310 HP (an extrapolation based on what the current 2 liter EcoBoost makes) but that is more an efficiency statement than a performance statement. The 2015 will finally have a standard IRS, so it will out-handle the *real* SVO. But that does not make it an SVO. And it will have a mid-range price, not entry but not as much as a bare Mustang GT. And remember that it'll weight several hundred pounds more than our *real* SVO did.

So I think this "SVO" business needs to be stopped dead now, before it goes any further.

[MikeFleming]

*Only* 300 HP out of boosted 2.3L?? Seems 30+ HP shy to me.

[JWFisher]

It's point in the Mustang is fuel economy, not performance. the ~300 number is simply scaling up from what we have right now in the 2 liter EcoBoost.
The same engine in the Focus RS will likely make 330 or so.
The 300 number seems like a lot compared to 1986, but it really isn't. And it's got a heckuva lot heavier car to carry around. This will not be a "performance car" but it wil perform well and be fun to drive.

[Sick Puppy]

Nice write-up JW, lots of history I was unaware of.

Paul

[JWFisher]

Thanks! It was great to be there in person...

[4themasses]

A lot of very cool SVO articles there! As for the Volvo head swap, I think there is information on that at the turboford forum.

[Sick Puppy]

As for the Volvo head swap, I think there is information on that at the turboford forum.

Yes there is. It's gone from "you can't do that" to a very popular swap. Some of the TF vendors have swap parts available too.
I started on a 8V swap back when "it can't be done" using as many stock parts as possible to keep the "TF cheap" factor going.
I made an adapter plate so I could use an E-6 instead of a custom header and found a Volvo intake that would clear the distributor.
Of course having your own machine/fabrication shop is a big help. :-)

Paul

[JWFisher]

Yes there is. It's gone from "you can't do that" to a very popular swap.

I very much want to do that swap. Of course it would be great if somebody could write it up thoroughly… and if somebody else (you know who) could make the adapters by request.

Another possibility might be a simple Duratec swap, with an aftermarket turbo added-on? Since we've got to do custom programming for this, whatever proc it came with originally would likely be discarded. I'm thinking an NC Miata engine?

[Sick Puppy]

JW, here is a link from 11/2002 that is one of the first on this subject:

http://forum.turboford.org/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=4;t=000119;p=1

A search on TF resulted in this:

You searched for keywords: 'volvo swap' | 114 matches found

I sent you a PM.

Paul