Ford Duratec V6 engine
| Ford Duratec V6 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Overview | |
| Manufacturer | Ford |
| Also called | Mondeo V6 |
| Production | 1993-2012 |
| Layout | |
| Configuration | 60° V6 |
| Displacement |
|
| Cylinder bore |
|
| Piston stroke | 79.5 mm (3.13 in) |
| Cylinder block material | Aluminum |
| Cylinder head material | Aluminum |
| Valvetrain | DOHC 4 valves x cyl. with VVT |
| Valvetrain drive system | Chain |
| Compression ratio | 9.7:1-10.0:1 |
| RPM range | |
| Max. engine speed | 6500 |
| Combustion | |
| Turbocharger | Twin-turbo (on Noble M400 and Rossion Q1) |
| Fuel system | Sequential multi-port fuel injection |
| Management | BorgWarner |
| Fuel type | Gasoline |
| Oil system | Wet sump |
| Cooling system | Water-cooled |
| Output | |
| Power output | 170–508 hp (127–379 kW) |
| Torque output | 165–521 lb⋅ft (224–706 N⋅m) |
| Chronology | |
| Predecessor | |
| Successor | Ford Cyclone engine (Upper size: Duratec 35) Ford EcoBoost engine (Mazda MZI 35, Mazda GY) |
The Ford Duratec V6 is an aluminum-block, dual overhead cam V6 engine with a 60° bank angle and cast iron cylinder liners. It was introduced with the 1993 Ford Mondeo and used widely through 2012 in numerous vehicles by Ford's associates brands, including Mercury, Lincoln, Jaguar and Mazda.
Ford's design brief outlined an engine for front-drive, transverse layouts that was short enough for an 11-metre turning radius and with class-leading performance, emissions, economy and durability, as well as reduced NVH.
Interviewed at the time of the engine's U.S. launch in the Ford Contour, head of Ford's V6 program Bruce Coventry noted that Ford had turned to Porsche at a time when its engine development resources were stretched thin. Porsche had already completed the engine's early development, which explains its commonality with Porsche's engines of the period. Notably, the cylinder head design and the use of a main bearing ladder recall Porsche's V8 engine design for its 928.
While the primary engineering was Porsche-derived, Ford licensed a high-integrity cylinder head manufacturing method from Cosworth. Specifically, this involved a sand casting process developed by noted scientist John Campbell, known as the Cosworth Casting Method. This technique used zircon as its casting aggregate. To improve material uniformity, the mold was preheated, cooled to achieve even temperatures, and rotated during casting. This process created dimensional accuracy, high strength, and a dense structure with low or no porosity .
The Duratec's design was inspired by the variable intake system on Ford's 4.6-litre modular V8, which used dual intake ports that opened and closed to vary the effective inlet tract length. Due to this system, the torque on the early 2.5-litre variant of the US-market Contour varied by no more than five per cent from 1,500 rpm up to 5,200 rpm. Bruce Coventry said, “There won’t be a four-valve V6 that can match our torque curve." At higher speeds, the engine's inlet tract was effectively shortened. The design featured a cam chain instead of a belt, an efficient water pump and an over-capacity oil pump.
During its ownership by Ford's Premier Automotive Group, Aston Martin reportedly created a V12 engine by hand-welding two 3.0 Duratec blocks together.
The engine features fracture-split (cracked) forged powder metal connecting rods, and a forged steel crankshaft in two major variants for the 3.0L version: a 232 hp using direct-acting mechanical bucket (DAMB) tappets and a 208 hp variant using roller finger followers (RFF) .
The engines were manufactured at Ford's Cleveland Engine Plant 2, which had undergone a $688M renovation in 1988 when the 3.0L Duratec engine family was under design. Every engine was hot-run on an 85-foot, 34-station carousel that monitored eight critical operational functions for a minimum of four minutes prior to its completion. Approximately 3.5 million 3.0L Duratec engines had been manufactured by late 2005.