v8 Miata News Guy

Ford has to put the brakes on F-150 production for a week, and it seems parts suppliers are to blame. The new truck is reportedly selling so well that companies who make parts for the truck are having trouble keeping up with demand.

Engines for the pickups are produced at the Brooks Park facility in Ohio. A slowdown there will cause 3,000 employees at Ford’s Dearborn truck plant to take an unplanned week-long vacation.

Analysts are quick to point out that if vehicle sales increase as some are predicting, more shortages could occur in the near future. However, the parts shortage only appears to affect Ford at the moment as General Motors and Chrysler are currently full-steam ahead in their respective production facilities.



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MRM331

The more they sell the better. Everyone of those trucks is a possible 5.0 coyote engine donor in a few years. The more they make the less valuable those engines will be when it comes time to pull one from a yard and stick it in a Miata in 3 to 5 years.

Good times! Go Ford!

-Jason

rookie

Jason, looking ahead ... are the new 5.0 's going to be able to drop in to match the old 5.0's ? What do you know about the possible fit into the miata?

MRM331

Honestly I have no idea. My thoughs on this are sort of Euclidean and go as follows:

1. We know that "new" 5.0 is somewhat smaller than a 4.6 liter mod motor in all dimentions.

2. We know that, although not exactly usable, people have managed to shove 4.6 liters into NA and NB Miatas. The biggest issue in these cases was routing exhaust due to the engine's width.

3. Therefore, if we know a 4.6 will "fit" and a "new" 5.0 is smaller dimentionally in all directions then logic dictates that it MAY be able to fit although I owuld imagine a tubular subframe may come into play.

Although I'm talking here about a NA/NB I'm really thinking more along the lines of a NC in a few years with this engine using a modified version of V8 Roadsters NC LSx subframe they are working on.

We'll see...

-Jason