News Roundup: Ford’s 7.3-litre V8, a drop-top Challenger and Canada’s EV uptick

2018 Ford F-250 Super DutyDerek McNaughton / Driving Welcome to our weekly round-up of the biggest breaking stories on Driving.ca from this past week. Get caught up and ready to get on with the weekend, because it’s hard keeping pace in a digital traffic jam.Here’s what you missed while you were away.Ford’s 7.3-litre V8 looks like a beaut’ of a bruteWhile Ford continues to move toward smaller, turbocharged solutions like its EcoBoost engine, it must also keep in mind the needs of those for whom economy comes second to pure brute force and durability in tough conditions: the Super Duty drivers. It’s with them in mind that the Blue Oval put together a new 7.3-litre V8 that this week we learned is good for 435 horsepower at 5,500 rpm and 475 lb.-ft. of torque at 4,000 rpm. Is this a return to form for Ford, or just another gas-guzzling beast? There’s a conversation happening in the comments on this story. Join in. Ontario driver shot in face for giving the middle fingerInvestigators in London, Ontario are offering $10,000 for information leading to the arrest of a suspect of a shooting that took place in broad daylight following what they believe to be an incident of road rage. A 21-year-old local man who’d just left work for the afternoon was shot in the face in his Volkswagen after giving the finger to an aggressive driver in a Chevrolet Cruze. The incident involving the two strangers took place in the vicinity of Royal Crescent and Wexford Avenue around 4 p.m. on May 11. It works — sort of? Canada’s $5,000 EV rebate program is seeing resultsCanadian buyers are starting to come round to the electric vehicle market thanks to the $5,000 national rebate program initiated by the federal government, according to sales numbers analyzed by an expert at the website Canada EV Sales. The numbers may be coming mostly from two provinces – B.C. and Quebec – and they may be small – EVs accounted for four per cent of all vehicle sales in May and June – but they’re growing nonetheless. Transport Canada confirms that some 14,000 EVs have been purchased in Canada since May 1. Chevy is taking chrome wheels off the menu for the Corvette C8Decades from now, when we look back on the elements of automotive style and design that defined the era that was the early 21st century, we will see chrome. Lots and lots of shiny chrome. But that era is over as of right now, according to Chevrolet, which has deliberately neglected to include an option for chrome wheels on its upcoming mid-engined Corvette C8. Apparently the brand doesn’t think the next generation of Corvette drivers wants to wear the same pair of shoes as the last. There’s still a “polished” rim option, but no outright shiny chrome. Sorry, Vin, you had a good run. This dealership built an open-top Challenger The car world is tipping its hat this week to a North Carolina dealer that took the initiative to build the Challenger that Dodge didn’t have the guts to. It commissioned a Florida shop to take a little off the top of three Challenger models, now each listed for sale from US$56,300 to $US64,000 with their retractable soft tops. Both of the automaker’s main U.S. competitors already had convertible versions of their ponies, but Dodge never got around to making the chop. Well, Dodge, don’t bother now, because Keffer Dodge, Chrysler, Ram and Jeep in Charlotte, N.C. has us
Origin: News Roundup: Ford’s 7.3-litre V8, a drop-top Challenger and Canada’s EV uptick

Ford’s new 7.3-litre gas V8 makes some outrageous power numbers

Ford F-Series, America’s best-selling truck for 42 years, is once again raising the bar for capability with its all-new 7.3-liter V8 gasoline engine. The 7.3-liter engine in Super Duty pickup cranks out best-in-class gas V8 output of 430 horsepower at 5,500 rpm and best-in-class torque of 475 ft.-lb. at 4,000 rpm. When your author initially heard the Blue Oval was in the throes of developing a new truck engine displacing a prodigious 7.3 litres, it was assumed someone had frying pans for fingers and simply mistyped the displacement. Surely they mean six-point-three litres, I thought while eating a bowl of breakfast nails and shaving with a rusty razor (thats the meal of choice for Super Duty owners, right?).Nope, 7.3 litres it is, or 445 cubic inches. Ford claims this engine produces a best-in-class gas V8 output of 435 horsepower at 5,500 rpm; and 475 lb.-ft. of torque at 4,000 rpm.In a day and age where most manufacturers are bent on downsizing and turbocharging their gasoline engines (including Ford themselves with its EcoBoost), this 7.3-litre brute is a remarkable departure.The aim is to provide durability in the harsh environments into which Super Duty trucks are often pressed. Ford says to this end the engine uses overhead valve architecture yep, this is a pushrod mill. Engine builders know having an in-block cam reduces engine height and width; look at an old Ford 5.0-litre and 4.6-litre side-by-each for that stark illustration.This engine also features a variable-displacement oil pump that provides more oil when drivers are working the thing like a rented mule, but reduces parasitic loss under light loads. It is hooked to Fords ten-speed automatic. Engine start/stop and cylinder deactivation tech goes unmentioned.Such a design choice is interesting because, for nearly twenty-five years, Fords gasoline V8 engines have been small(er) displacement units and of an overhead-cam design. If your authors memory serves correctly, the last Blue Oval pushrod V8 was a 351 Windsor found in the 1995 Cobra R. Im certain youll tell me Im wrong in the comments.A differently tuned version of the same engine will also pop up in F-Series chassis-cabs and E-Series cutaways. The other two engines, a 6.2-litre gas and 6.7-litre PowerStroke turbodiesel, arent going anywhere. This new 7.3-litre should appear on dealer lots this
Origin: Ford’s new 7.3-litre gas V8 makes some outrageous power numbers