S650 Coyote V8: Differences in GT vs Dark Horse

“The engines if you go back to the current generation, and you look at performance series — Mach 1s, Bullitts, etc. — they’ll have relatively unique engine hardware specifically on the intake manifold sometimes on the headers. And they achieve differentiation in performance through unique engines,” Krenz explained. “On this program, the engines are far more common between the GT and the Dark Horse. Literally, the only difference at the end of the day is we ported over the forged connecting rods from the Predator engine.”

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tdstuart said:

Connecting rods, upgraded cams, and tuning. That is the current info we have.

https://www.mustang7g.com/forums/threads/gen-4-coyote-5-0l-v8-specs-photos-s650-mustang.156258/

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Dub347sbf said:

Thanks, I should have used that thread. I wonder why camshafts werent mentioned in the article. Not as much difference between the two as a Mach 1 or Boss for sure.

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tdstuart said:

What does the mach 1 have different than the normal gt? I thought it was just the intake manifold, tune, and intake pipe?

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Dub347sbf said:

That's right. If the camshafts are different in the DH, that makes sense. If it is only the rods like the article above states, there really isn't much separating the two other than a tune horsepower wise. Same intake manifold and tubes etc. So i wonder if the redline was raised along with a tune, which is why they needed the gt500 rods.

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Gogoggansgo said:

Don’t kid yourself upgraded cams could give the dark house a solid 20-30hp alone especially if they focus on valve timing to a key. Point being i wouldn’t be surprised if the dark horse hits 525hp

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While there may only be a 20 horsepower or so swing between the base Coyote and the sinister Dark Horse variant, we have seen more radical engine upgrades for similar differences in the past, such as back in 2013 when the Mustang GT Coyote delivered 420 horsepower, but the Boss 302 powered by its RoadRunner cousin stepped up with 24 additional horsepower, courtesy of ported heads, a unique intake, better cams, and more.

Despite the modest increase in power for Dark Horse, achieving more than 100 horsepower per liter in naturally aspirated form is an impressive feat, but achieved with far fewer modifications than past performance variants. It will be the most potent non-boosted Mustang powerplant to date, but to pass Ford’s durability tests, engineers needed more strength. It turned out that the company’s measurement tools sensed some “bending moments” in the standard, powdered-metal rods when the engine was run at full tilt.

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Dub347sbf said:

Thanks, I should have used that thread. I wonder why camshafts werent mentioned in the article. Not as much difference between the two as a Mach 1 or Boss for sure.

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Schwerin said:

Rods and cams are a bigger difference than a manifold that could be called "comparable" and an intake tube.

Also, the Boss had pistons, rods, compression ratio, camshafts, valve springs, crankshaft-sensor trigger-wheel and manifold over a normal GT. There was a reason the BOSS engine was given its own name, Roadrunner, and the Mach1 and, so far, the DH doesnt.

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“On this program, the engines are far more common between the GT and the Dark Horse. Literally, the only difference at the end of the day is we ported over the forged connecting rods from the Predator engine

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Dub347sbf said:

Right. Again, the article says the cams are not different. That is what i am wondering about. Even the Ford media website Dark Hoese release says nothing about different camshafts, only rods.

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Dub347sbf said:

Right. Again, the article says the cams are not different. That is what i am wondering about. Even the Ford media website Dark Hoese release says nothing about different camshafts, only rods.

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