Marauder block same as '03 Cobra?

[khc3]

Is the Marauder's block the same as the one used in the '03 Cobra? Or, my real question, what's the max safe horsepower the Marauder block can handle, given that lower-end parts are upgraded?

thanks!

[Ross]

khc, there are a number of posts on this site regarding the strength of our internal engine parts vs. the forged Cobra parts, and how much power our engines can stand. Most of these issues have been raised when the question of supercharging has come up. Based on the number of SC'ed MM's on this site, so far it looks like the engine has held up well to the SC'ers that have been added.
However, it must be said that the add ons have mostly been done by real pros like Kenny Brown, Dennis Reinhart and Trilogy. I think that a lot of people here are of the opinion that too much boost could hurt our engines. I am not smart enough about this to have an opinion one way or another, but just trying to summarize what has been posted before.
You might try doing a search for "internals", "boost", or "forged" to find some of those threads that talk about this subject. There has been a lot of info and opinions which have gone back and forth on this.

[Racerx88]

Unless I'm wrong, the Cobra has an iron block. Ours are aluminum.

[khc3]

Thanks for the info. The reason I ask is that I have the dream of eventually (several years from now) building out the motor to 500+ HP, with a SC if that is what is required. I would assume that this level of power would require new pistons, rods, crank, etc. But I would like to keep the alum. block if it could handle the power. Obviously, I'm pretty new to this custom car stuff, and I'm trying to go back and read as many of the relevant posts as I can.

A related question: what's the weight difference between an iron block and an alum. one?

[Ross]

khc, check out www.vtengines.com . They are one of the supporting vendors of this site, and they have stroker kits for our engine. They can probably answer a lot of your questions about building up this engine internally.

[SergntMac]

The '03 Cobra and the Marauder engines are similar in design only. They do not share parts. The Marauder shares its InTech 32V engine with the '03 Mach 1 and the '03 Aviator.

When you're supercharging a Marauder, your boost is limited to 10 PSI, due to the stock 10:1 compression. Properly tuned, the InTech can develop 450+ RWHP, but the tuning is very critical here, and you're on the edge of durability.

Our stock internals are well known to be highly durable, but they are sensitive too. A cast iron assembly may give you some margin for error when you run lean, or, redline, but aluminum is not forgiving, and parts will crumble. If you hold at 8 PSI and a good tune, you should see 400+ RWHP and have no problems with the bottom end, and still be "stupid fast." Cast iron vs. aluminum block? I don't really see a difference, other than added weight to an already heavy car.

Should you want more power, rebuilding the Marauder bottom end to lower compressions would one way to improving performance. Lower compression will allow more boost, and as long as you're in there, improving other internals is simply the cost of the parts.

Someone ^ there mentioned VT Competition Engineering, one of our supporting vendors here. They offer a 5.0L stroker kit for the Marauder that is priced very competively, and answers all your possible concerns. This is the lowest buck option I've seen for the InTech 4V engine, and the bang for the buck is high...Just ask Mad-3R.

[khc3]

Thanks for the info, gentlemen. You've given me a good start.

[sailsmen]

For what it is worth I remember reading an interview with one of the Ford engineers when the Intech was being developed and he said the basic architecture was for a max 100hp per liter or 460.

I assume he was talking gross since they were not discussing a particular chassis application, manual or automatic.

I am sure various things have changed on the engine since then, but this information is worth having.

[Warpath]

The block is the last thing you will have to worry about. It can handle practically any power level you want. Some have produced 1200 hp from it (1/4 mile trips only). Ford went to the cast iron block for the 03 Cobra because the aluminum block would not last 150k miles boosted. If you want that type of mileage, change to a cast iron block when you have an engine built.