I'm calling it, the Triumph V8 is the worst engine ever made

"cletus44 aka Clayton Seams" (cletus44) 01/23/2018 at 09:55 • Filed to: None

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The Triumph V8 was a 3.0L SOHC twin-carb motor made from 1971 to 1977. And just knowing that info, you’d assume it’s pretty cool. But the Triumph V8 was riddled with designed-in faults so cad that it shouldn’t have left the factory.

Our story starts with the Triumph SOHC I4 motor found in the Dolomite. A happy, revvy, and peppy engine, it was available in sizes ranging between 1.2 and 1.7 liters. So when Triumph decided that their old 2.5L I6 wouldn’t cut it in their sleek new Stag, they decided to make their own V8 by mashing two I4's together.

The Triumph I4 was actually designed with “twinning” in mind so it wasn’t a completely outrageous concept. The trouble was the execution. The trouble began immediately. Early prototypes were 2.5L V8s topped with Bosch mechanical fuel injection. The injection couldn’t be made to work properly so it was abandoned in favor of two Stromberg carburetors. (Collectively attached by a single bolt to the intake) The carbs were reliable but didn’t make as much power as the injected version so displacement had to be increased.

They increased the displacement by expanding the cylinder bores which choked the water passages and made them smaller. They now had a larger engine with less cooling capacity.

Other bits of design brilliance include a water pump mounted on top of the engine , a coolant fill cap that was not at the highest point of the cooling system, a single row timing chain that needed to be replaced every 25,000 miles and more.

But the crown jewel of the Triumph V8 were its head studs mounted at an angle to each other that promoted head warpage. The list goes on. I wrote a super nerdy article on Driving.ca if you want more detail.

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Has a worse engine ever been made?

OpposResidentLexusGuy - USE20, XF20, XU30 and Press Cars > cletus44 aka Clayton Seams 01/23/2018 at 10:14

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The Triton is worse. What other engine destroys itself in the process of basic maintenance .

Party-vi > OpposResidentLexusGuy - USE20, XF20, XU30 and Press Cars 01/23/2018 at 10:16

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What now?

Azrek > cletus44 aka Clayton Seams 01/23/2018 at 10:17

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I remember hearing the Cobra Jet engine was the best engine in the world as long as you didn’t drive it.

kanadanmajava1 > cletus44 aka Clayton Seams 01/23/2018 at 10:20

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Any diesel engine is worse. They sound like broken while they are still in working condition.

BvdV - The Dutch Engineer > cletus44 aka Clayton Seams 01/23/2018 at 10:21

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Great article! This is exactly the kind of stuff I like.

Also, now I kind of want a Triumph, preferably a Dolly Sprint...

MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s > kanadanmajava1 01/23/2018 at 10:21

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Man, I hope you have your flame suit on

Rust and Dust - Oppositelock Forever > cletus44 aka Clayton Seams 01/23/2018 at 10:21

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!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!

Yup.

punkgoose17 > OpposResidentLexusGuy - USE20, XF20, XU30 and Press Cars 01/23/2018 at 10:22

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Is that the one that only has 3 threads for the spark plugs? I had an auto tech teacher said he would soak the spark plugs overnight before any spark plug change. Also, Ford had a thread kit for them because stripping the threads was such a regular thing.

MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s > cletus44 aka Clayton Seams 01/23/2018 at 10:23

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Read that as “Trump V8" at first and was confused yet it was perfectly rational that if Trump made a V8 it would be hot garbage

crowmolly > cletus44 aka Clayton Seams 01/23/2018 at 10:23

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From the GM side, I’d throw out:

1.) The Vega 2300. Aluminum block, but fuck cylinder liners because those are for commies and this is AMERICA GOD DAMN IT. The block warped, there were head issues, excessive vibration, only 90 hp, tons of oil use. Part of the reason the Vega almost killed GM (according to some).

2.) Olds diesel. Basically they took the gas 350 and didn’t do much to the heads and fuel system. Head bolts didn’t last, so neither did gaskets. Plus there wasn’t a water separator for the fuel. The ‘rep of this one is that it soured US buyers on diesel fuel for a while (with a few exceptions).

Rustholes-Are-Weight-Reduction > cletus44 aka Clayton Seams 01/23/2018 at 10:24

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Inb4 the rotary haters: go suck a bag of dicks :)

CobraJoe > cletus44 aka Clayton Seams 01/23/2018 at 10:31

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That is an interesting read.

Funny thing is, some of those ideas are pretty clever, just poorly executed.

A jackshaft driven water pump? You’ll never have to worry about overheating because of a thrown belt! Being able to replace the head gaskets without resetting the valves? Brilliant! An over-square engine in a lightweight sports car with overhead cams? Who needs torque!

Sounds to me like the R&D department were heavy on the Development and light on the Research...

OpposResidentLexusGuy - USE20, XF20, XU30 and Press Cars > punkgoose17 01/23/2018 at 10:32

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Yeah that’s exactly the engine. My dads shop has a  hundred $ tool set just for the 2 tune ups they do a year. End up still breaking about 25% while using the kit it seems

OpposResidentLexusGuy - USE20, XF20, XU30 and Press Cars > Party-vi 01/23/2018 at 10:33

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http://www.fourwheeler.com/how-to/engine/1507-replacing-troublesome-ford-triton-54l-v8-spark-plugs/

Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer > crowmolly 01/23/2018 at 10:34

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1) Apparently Porsche agreed. The engine in the 928 didn’t have liners either. I’d argue that was worse because it was a performance engine, whereas the Vega engine was just a cheap piece of shit as intended... but then on the other hand that meant there were a lot more of them in circulation and would be driven more often, so you’d expect some fucks to be given about reliability.

cletus44 aka Clayton Seams > CobraJoe 01/23/2018 at 10:35

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Thanks! Yeah in theory, the engine was a winner. They just skimped on the execution.

cletus44 aka Clayton Seams > BvdV - The Dutch Engineer 01/23/2018 at 10:36

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Dolly Sprint uses half a Triumph V8 and I want one too. Those are cool cars.

TheTurbochargedSquirrel > cletus44 aka Clayton Seams 01/23/2018 at 10:39

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The best part is British Leyland had the well regarded Buick/Rover V8 they could have used in the Stag but they decided it would be better to mash 2 I4s together instead.

vondon302 > OpposResidentLexusGuy - USE20, XF20, XU30 and Press Cars 01/23/2018 at 10:41

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4.6 3 valve does the same thing. Broke 2 of mine with only 25000 miles. Tool made the fix easy and the new plugs are fine.

TheTurbochargedSquirrel > kanadanmajava1 01/23/2018 at 10:43

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“I’m not used to engines that just rod knock the whole time” - Mike Finnegan

OpposResidentLexusGuy - USE20, XF20, XU30 and Press Cars > vondon302 01/23/2018 at 10:44

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The fact that it was a problem is lik e putting the wrong head gaskets in a car.... oh w ait... c’mon Ford you’re better than this.

CobraJoe > TheTurbochargedSquirrel 01/23/2018 at 10:45

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Smashing two I4s together can be an effective way to design a V8...

Demon-Xanth knows how to operate a street. > cletus44 aka Clayton Seams 01/23/2018 at 10:46

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Articles like that are what brought me to Jalopnik...

https://jalopnik.com/5383870/engine-of-the-day-overload

BvdV - The Dutch Engineer > cletus44 aka Clayton Seams 01/23/2018 at 10:49

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Yeah I know. Another reason for me to want a Dolly is that there are some rumours that Michelotti originally designed it for DAF:

Sadly DAF decided against introducing a bigger car, and Triumph bought the design (there are some rumours they bought it from DAF, others say they bought it from Michelotti) As you can see t he r oofline is very similar to the Dolly , and as  Michelotti’s DAFs and Triumphs shared the same design style, they just needed to change the nose and some other details .

themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles > cletus44 aka Clayton Seams 01/23/2018 at 10:55

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Two words: Oldsmobile Diesel.

Possibly the worst designed, and laziest designed, diesel ever thought of.

Quadradeuce > cletus44 aka Clayton Seams 01/23/2018 at 10:58

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We should do a series to showcase the 3 worst engines from each manufacturer.

WilliamsSW > crowmolly 01/23/2018 at 10:58

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I’d vote for the Vega, personally - both of those were half assed at best.

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > CobraJoe 01/23/2018 at 11:20

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You’re about right with that :) the interesting thing is that a lot of those problems are eminently fixable these days and you wind up with a pretty damn good engine.

Head studs are a royal pain in the arse to get out the first time, but coat them in proper anti-seize when you put them back in and you shouldn’t have problems. People do double-row timing chains for them. Stick a modern expansion tank on the bulkhead to raise it to the highest point in the cooling system. Lastly, there’s been a couple of guys do a decent amount of DIY development work on the engine. Nothing crazy, just porting, breathing mods, fuel injection, exhausts etc. One guys’ got it sitting at 246bhp/222lb-ft which is really not bad for a street 2-valve 3.0l :)

Highlander-Datsuns are Forever > cletus44 aka Clayton Seams 01/23/2018 at 11:21

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I see two SU style carbs tilted at a 60 degree angle, you need not say any more.

shop-teacher > Rustholes-Are-Weight-Reduction 01/23/2018 at 11:25

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Ah, the rotary. The quintessential great idea, that doesn’t really work very well. ;P

shop-teacher > cletus44 aka Clayton Seams 01/23/2018 at 11:26

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“two Stromberg carburetors. (Collectively attached by a single bolt to the intake)“

Wait, WUUUUT??? 

Shift24 > OpposResidentLexusGuy - USE20, XF20, XU30 and Press Cars 01/23/2018 at 11:26

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Not even basic maintenance, it would destroy its self while running. At any random time the spark plug could give up, pop out and make wonderful sounds while driving

http://www.fordproblems.com/trends/spark-plug-ejection/

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > cletus44 aka Clayton Seams 01/23/2018 at 11:27

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Edit: nevermind

OpposResidentLexusGuy - USE20, XF20, XU30 and Press Cars > Shift24 01/23/2018 at 11:29

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Oh.  Th at sounds wonderful .

crowmolly > Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer 01/23/2018 at 11:31

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The Vega engine was not intended to be a cheap piece of shit. It was intended to be the way of the future for small cars.

Plus it was iron head on aluminum block vs. the 928s all aluminum. That adds to the jackassery.

crowmolly > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles 01/23/2018 at 11:32

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I swear that engine was designed on a Friday afternoon before the holidays.

Party-vi > OpposResidentLexusGuy - USE20, XF20, XU30 and Press Cars 01/23/2018 at 11:32

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Jesus that’s awful

OpposResidentLexusGuy - USE20, XF20, XU30 and Press Cars > Party-vi 01/23/2018 at 11:36

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Haha yeah... Apparently in another comment someone said they will sometimes p op out while driving. What a goof up by Ford lol.

vondon302 > OpposResidentLexusGuy - USE20, XF20, XU30 and Press Cars 01/23/2018 at 11:41

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New redesigned plugs solved the issue. The triton problem sounds much worse but yeah either way it’s shitty.

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > TheTurbochargedSquirrel 01/23/2018 at 11:51

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People think that was the obvious solution, but the main thing preventing that was production capacity for the V8. They didn’t design it in-house, they basically bought the tooling and design wholesale from GM, which set the upper limit for the amount they could build until they could get more tooling.

To put it in perspective, they were already stretched for capacity in the late 60s with just the Range Rover, the P6 and the P5B. They’d planned expansion in the early 70s for the SD1 which they hoped would sell in large numbers, but at that point they couldn’t justify purchasing more tooling when the Stag V8 could be produced entirely on the slant-4 tooling aside from casting the block and R/H head casting.

It’s part of the issue with being a cash-strapped company (or cash-strapped anything really). In order to save money in the long term, you often need to invest money in the short term.

Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer > crowmolly 01/23/2018 at 11:52

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Not quite how I meant it... nobody (or, almost nobody) designs a product with the intention of it being shitty. But it was designed to be the cheap run-of-the-mill product. Which at the time usually meant you ended up with a cheap piece of shit.

In other words... that it was bad, in itself, isn’t shocking. HOW bad it was is the issue

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > cletus44 aka Clayton Seams 01/23/2018 at 11:59

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The issue with the angled head-bolts is less to do with warpage and more to do with head-gasket failure as they caused the heads to ‘walk’ slightly during heat cycles. Then, when you needed to change the head gasket, you’d find the bolts seized into the alloy head (common on older alloy-head engines before they started to anti-seize them properly). Normally you’d use the compression to try and free them, or hammer stuff upwards, but because the bolts are at an angle to the studs you have to remove them before the head goes anywhere.

Not smart.

Saab’s idea incidentally (design of the engine was outsourced to Ricardo and jointly funded by Triumph and Saab).

MLS head-gasket and anti-seize on the head bolts and you’re away.

Similarly, modern expansion tank on the bulkhead raises the level of the coolant reservoire to above the engine, and there are kits to fit Holley carbs for not too much money.

Lots of problems, all eminently fixable :) shouldn’t have been there to begin with of course...

CobraJoe > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 01/23/2018 at 12:17

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I’d imagine that any amount of stress testing or abuse testing would have shown those problems pretty quickly, but I also love seeing owner designed improvements.

246hp is pretty darn good for any NA 3.0L. My Ej255 needed DOHC and a turbo to make that much in stock form.

Mark Out West > cletus44 aka Clayton Seams 01/23/2018 at 14:32

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Okay, so I’ll admit it - I owned a 1973 Stag replete with 3.0 V-8. Engine overheated, heats warped, gaskets leaked. Time for a new gasket and decking.

Aluminum head + steel studs + iron block + water = welded in place. Had to take the entire engine to a Douglas Aircraft subcontractor and have them electro-discharge machine each stud out of the head/block. Guess how much that cost.

Once running the Stag was a delight.

Mark Out West > shop-teacher 01/23/2018 at 14:36

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Not quite. The carbs used 4 cast-in studs to attach to an intermediate intake “Y” fitting, with each carb canted at 45 degrees.. That “Y” fitting attached to the intake manifold using a single, central bolt. Sealing was via O-ring, IIRC.

Rustholes-Are-Weight-Reduction > shop-teacher 01/23/2018 at 15:04

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Sadly :(

But it’s so great :)

shop-teacher > Rustholes-Are-Weight-Reduction 01/23/2018 at 15:19

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Yeah, count me as one who doesn’t get it ... but if you’re happy, I’m happy for you!

Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies > OpposResidentLexusGuy - USE20, XF20, XU30 and Press Cars 01/23/2018 at 15:24

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3

V

Z

E

Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies > vondon302 01/23/2018 at 15:25

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It’s also a lot more rare than the internet blows it out to be.

Rustholes-Are-Weight-Reduction > shop-teacher 01/23/2018 at 15:25

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Even I currently don’t have one. Emphasis on currently.

Shift24 > Party-vi 01/23/2018 at 15:25

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Here is a video why

and what it sounds like

OpposResidentLexusGuy - USE20, XF20, XU30 and Press Cars > Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies 01/23/2018 at 15:26

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Broken plugs is more rare than the internet makes itout to be?

OpposResidentLexusGuy - USE20, XF20, XU30 and Press Cars > Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies 01/23/2018 at 15:26

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Pshhhh it’s fine. 

Shift24 > OpposResidentLexusGuy - USE20, XF20, XU30 and Press Cars 01/23/2018 at 15:28

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Yep i posted a video in a below comment

  https://oppositelock.kinja.com/1822347744

Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies > OpposResidentLexusGuy - USE20, XF20, XU30 and Press Cars 01/23/2018 at 15:29

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There are several half million mile fleet 5.4's. The plug problem was pretty much isolated to the 2004-2008 trucks, and even then, cam phasers are a more common issue. Plug ejection is actually a fairly rare occurence .

OpposResidentLexusGuy - USE20, XF20, XU30 and Press Cars > Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies 01/23/2018 at 15:30

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But the fact that the plugs break in the engine is the bigger problem. 

shop-teacher > Rustholes-Are-Weight-Reduction 01/23/2018 at 15:48

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Glutton for punishment, eh?

Rustholes-Are-Weight-Reduction > shop-teacher 01/23/2018 at 15:58

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I had a love/hate relationship with the rx8. The first one nearly killed me, the second one had one repair after another. But driving it was so great. Not the fastest car, but the best I’ve driven so far

I have another burner, try to guess it! > OpposResidentLexusGuy - USE20, XF20, XU30 and Press Cars 01/23/2018 at 16:11

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Isn’t that the one where you have to remove the cab too?

OpposResidentLexusGuy - USE20, XF20, XU30 and Press Cars > I have another burner, try to guess it! 01/23/2018 at 16:12

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Looks like that’s only the V-10.... but yes. 

Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies > OpposResidentLexusGuy - USE20, XF20, XU30 and Press Cars 01/23/2018 at 16:32

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The ejection.

Jordan and the Slowrunner, Boomer Intensifies > OpposResidentLexusGuy - USE20, XF20, XU30 and Press Cars 01/23/2018 at 16:33

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It’s a pile.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 01/23/2018 at 18:03

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Solid. I was wondering if there was an afterlife for those engines.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > cletus44 aka Clayton Seams 01/23/2018 at 18:03

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Thanks; that was a fun diversion.

not for canada - australian in disguise > cletus44 aka Clayton Seams 01/23/2018 at 19:35

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The worst part is that they could’ve just taken the proven Rover/Buick V8 and things would’ve been fine. But no. They just HAD to make their own engine.

Berang > cletus44 aka Clayton Seams 01/23/2018 at 21:19

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I’m sure it’s been mentioned 5000 times by now, but once upon a time, in the bad old days, Oldsmobile had a diesel...

Berang > shop-teacher 01/23/2018 at 21:26

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Well, the wankel rotary does everything it was designed to do... it just doesn’t do anything outside of that well (or at all).

shop-teacher > Berang 01/23/2018 at 23:13

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It was designed to turn oil into noise?

Berang > shop-teacher 01/23/2018 at 23:21

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it sure does

(but also with fewer parts, no reciprocating parts, better balance, no valve train noise, etc. etc. it fulfills all of its design goals, it just sucks at everything it wasn’t intended to do in the first place)

shop-teacher > Berang 01/23/2018 at 23:32

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So they didn’t intend it to make torque?

camaroboy68ss > cletus44 aka Clayton Seams 01/23/2018 at 23:48

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I think the worst engine ever made, mainly has to due that it had siblings in the same engine family that are legendary and this motor is just a piece of junk.

Worst Engine ever: the Chevy small block 262ci V8!

Yes you read that right! A version of the Chevy small block is the worst engine made! Why you might ask? The small block is one of the best engines ever built for swapping into pretty much anything and making good power for pennies.

Now many of you know that the 70's and 80's were a dark time for performance cars in the US. The Corvette was a slouch, Z28 Camaro’s were all stickers and no real go. The infamous 305 was created and was a big slouch of a motor compared to the hot 302's and LT-1 350s that were not that much older. While the 305 was a dog from the factory, there is still potential in the engine to make ok power due to all the interchangeability of parts with other better small blocks Chevy’s.

Now cast yourself back to 1975. Emissions and fuel economy are now the thing on a car buyers mind more than ever before. Foreign cars from Japan are taking over the US market because they are more efficient that what the big three can built at that moment. They were all scrambling to go from big burly high HP V8s to small motors. It was a big change for the big 3 and one they were not doing very well with in the mid 1970's. Chevy had brought out the Vega with a small aluminum block I4 that was all new attempt for Chevy and it was a piece of garbage that would eat itself up due to not putting steel sleeves in the bores of the aluminum block. Though this motor was also a piece of garbage its not the worst.

That belongs to the 262 ci V8 that was available for 1975-1976. This motor was Chevy attempting to take their proven small block Chevy and reduce it be more fuel efficient and meet the demands of the market. What the result was is a true boat anchor of small block Chevy’s. These motors have pretty much zero performance potential that is usually expected in a small block Chevy. The block casting is thin wall for cost and weight savings, so there is no room to bore the motor out, larger heads like off a 307 or even off a low horse 350 will not flow properly due to the small bore and stroke combo and will usually have valve/piston interference issues.

Even disregarding the lack of performance potential, the 262 was a gutless wonder that wouldn’t even break the tire loose in the Monza’s they were placed in originally. Somehow these motors also placed into Monte Carlo’s. What was Chevy thinking? Sticking a motor that barley moved the little Monza into a tank of a Monte Carlo? I guess they wanted to sell yard art? In the long line of amazing engines in the Small Block family, the 262 is the one stain that most don’t know exists and to those that do know of it, just shake their head at how worthless it is.  

My bird IS the word > cletus44 aka Clayton Seams 01/24/2018 at 00:22

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the aluminum vega engines, maybe? Even then....

dannyzabolotny > MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s 01/24/2018 at 01:41

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Diesel isn’t really flammable so it’s fine if he doesn’t.

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 01/24/2018 at 04:29

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Yeah it’s odd. They sold relatively few of them, but basically the moment they stopped selling them they became a bit of a cult car so the attrition rate has been pretty low and lots of people have invested in fixing all the niggling problems.

I know one other one that involves the splined rear driveshafts binding under load causing the rear end to lift slightly if you get on it hard...which is fixed with a kit that swaps an entire E30 rear end under there :) I think there’s also proper CV driveshafts available.

For being a car company that’s been well and truly dead for 34 years there’s a surprising amount of aftermarket and modern development for Triumphs :)

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > CobraJoe 01/24/2018 at 04:39

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Yeah I remember reading a memo from somewhere in BL’s history about engineers warning that some design (I think it was the BMC E-Series) needed another 6 months of testing to sort out the teething problems, and the reply was ‘let the public do it’.

Yeah, there was a reason BL’s cars as a whole were pretty trouble-prone (although the reasons behind that are a hell of a lot more complicated than just ‘union workers went on strike’ or ‘management was incompetent’).

Yeah I remember being impressed with that figure. That’s a pretty healthy number for a built 2v Alfa V6 or BMW M30 or any other solid performing 3.0l.

I remember reading a little about a chap who was trying to modify Sprint 16v heads to fit a Stag (more complicated than it sounds as I think the bore spacing is staggered on the V8 or something like that). It’s a real shame nothing seems to have come of that as a good flowing 32v 3.0l V8 that’s significantly undersquare would be a real joy of an engine :)

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires 01/24/2018 at 08:58

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The knob Jeremy Clarkson does a segment about the Stag and says many good things about the car and how it drives, he just shreds on the engine.

The original Oppo who created this thread links to his original story about the Stag and there’s a YouTube video capturing the sound of that engine and it’s wonderful.

I think that given your comment about Triumph having been gone these many years and so many having done so much with this Stag, we have to reevaluate whether or not the car was a success. Perhaps history provides the measure of that.

BiTurbo228 - Dr Frankenstein of Spitfires > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 01/24/2018 at 10:08

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Yeah it’s a lovely, lovely sound :) makes the Rover V8 sound positively pedestrian.

Interesting thought about different measures of success. At its basest form, if a car didn’t make a profit (or didn’t make as big a profit as the company banked on) then the car was a failure.

However you’re right that if we re-evaluate what constitutes a ‘success’ to include long-term cult status and an ongoing aftermarket long after the car’s stopped being produced then a whole raft of ‘unsuccessful’ cars suddenly become ‘successful’.

Even if you look at it from a purely financial perspective, I’d be pretty confident in saying that the profits generated by the Stag aftermarket (and other stuff like restoration) has far outstripped the profits Triumph made selling the car itself.

Hell, I wonder if cars with massive aftermarkets like Supras or classic Mustangs have more money in their aftermarket alone than cars the same company is selling today. Interesting thought.

Pickup_man > OpposResidentLexusGuy - USE20, XF20, XU30 and Press Cars 01/24/2018 at 12:56

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You really don’t like the modulars do you? I feel like we’ve discussed this before so I doubt there’s any changing your mind. Sure there were some problems and Ford definitely should have done better, but they’re really not that hard of a fix, and there’s cheap solutions out there that eliminate the problems altogether. Certainly not what I’d consider the worst engine of all time.

OpposResidentLexusGuy - USE20, XF20, XU30 and Press Cars > Pickup_man 01/24/2018 at 13:01

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I don’t remember talking about modulars in general unless you mean the 4.6/5.4/etc in particular . It’s not a terrible engine as in how it runs etc but that mistake in engineering is no bueno. 

Pickup_man > OpposResidentLexusGuy - USE20, XF20, XU30 and Press Cars 01/24/2018 at 13:41

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Yeah, I’ve defended them before in other articles, thought it was against you, maybe not, doesn’t matter. Overall I really like the modulars, the 5.4 in particular. Yes there were some issues, but I don’t think they were bad enough, or common enough to warrant it the worst engine ever title. Plus fixes usually usually aren’t that expensive or complicated. If someone asks I’m more than happy to give my stamp of approval on any 5.4 truck, with the condition that the proper fixes have been documented, or they know that they’ll likely have to have them done in the near future.