Ford’s EcoBoost engine torture test gets TV broadcast, Web chat

Towing logs in Oregon and race cars in Florida, then running the Baja 1000 race. Ford did all that with one EcoBoost V6 built for truck duty. How did the engine fare? You can find out Saturday afternoon on NBC.

Ford has taken a series of Web videos, along with video of the engine being torn down during the Detroit auto show in January, to create a 30-minute show that NBC will broadcast at 4:30 p.m. Eastern on Saturday. The show is narrated by Ford commercial spokesman Mike Rowe.

At the same time, Ford will host an hour-long Web chat with Jim Mazuchowsi, manager of V6 engines for the automaker, at www.thefordstory.com from 4:30-5:30 p.m. Eastern.

Source:  Autoweek

What the Inside of a Tortured Ford EcoBoost V-6 Looks Like

Photos and Words by Jim McCraw; above photo courtesy of Ford

Ford Motor Co. made some history over the weekend when it did a complete engine tear-down and inspection of a “torture tested” 3.5-liter EcoBoost twin-turbo V-6 used in the latest F-150 at the 2011 North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

Auto shows, like NAIAS, typically showcase the latest metal in fancy displays bathed in brilliant lights and staffed with beautiful spokesmodels. They’re about as far as you can get from the garages that all cars and trucks will eventually require a visit to for service and maintenance. But for an hour Saturday, Ford turned part of its spotless blue and white display space inside Detroit’s Cobo Hall into a service bay for the last chapter of the F-150 EcoBoost torture test.

Detroit Preview: Ford will tear down EcoBoost engine (while building up the brand)

From China to Cleveland, Ford’s EcoBoost technology is good news. Ford will be showing off just how well the F-150‘s “hero” 3.5-liter EcoBoost truck engine has been performing with a public teardown at the 2011 Detroit Auto Show next month. The engine that will undergo the procedure has been tested for the equivalent of 160,000 miles and 10 years of “rugged use.” Jim Mazuchowski, V6 engines programs manager, said in a statement that the engine “received no special treatment, and now we’re going to see how it did.”

EcoBoost Torture Test: NASCAR Challenge

EcoBoost F-150 Baja Truck: Engine Swap

After months of hard work, the 2011 Ford F-150 EcoBoost “hero engine” has been installed in a race truck to take on the Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 desert endurance race this month. This same engine first endured 150,000 harsh user miles on the dynamometer, then was dropped into a new 2011 Ford F-150 to work as a log skidder in Oregon, tow a maximum trailer load at high speeds around a NASCAR track and beat the competition in a towing exercise at Davis Dam.