In the last 30 years, Ford has had several experimental engine developments - many of which were ultimately abandoned. Most of these have never been seen, much less detailed technically. "T-Drive" is one of them; another was the stratified charge V-8 engine of the 70s. I've finally found some information on T-Drive, a unique and truly innovative system. I'm still looking for information on the stratified-charge V-8, and while some information was published 30 years ago about it I haven't yet been able to find anything definitive in my personal library.
Ford's experimental T-drive is a system consisting of a transversally located (both for front or rear engine drive) inline engine, a transmission, and associated packaging. It was designed by Ford in approximately the 1990 timeframe and shown in several auto shows and to magazines. Ultimately, it was abandoned due to several reasons. Ford went ahead with the "modular" V-6, V-8, VB-10, and V-12 engine families instead.
The T-Drive engine was literally T-shaped - the transmission was located in the middle of the engine instead of at one end. This allows easy and compact placement in small spaces. Due to the tight spacing of the cylinder bores, engines were possible from 4 to 8 cylinders. And T-Drive was designed form the start as a DOHC engine, state-of-the-art at that time. Because the technology was entirely consistent across the board, any new technology such as cylinder head advancements could be applied to the entire range of engines quickly.
Engine output was disclosed. However, there are no reasons why it wouldn't be exactly the same as a conventional engine. Displacement was apparently 2, 3.2, and 4 liters (4, 6, and 8 cylinders).
Ford Engineers:
- Don Carriere, Principal Research Engineer
- Ansel Flanery, Senior Research Engineer.
Advantages:
- Family approach to a range of engines
- Because of the size of the engine, and placement ahead of the axle centerline, front-, all-, or rear-wheel drive configurations could be engineered
- Rear-wheel drive could have used variations of existing off-the-shelf transmissions (saving money).
- Packaging advantages for "cab-forward" design.
Problems:
- Packaging, NVH, durability.
- Harmonics, torque pulse and gear rattle.
- Limited bore size (torque, breathing, valve area) and displacement.
- Engine weight over front axle-line, creating weigh-balance issues as in a front-wheel drive car
- Front- or all-wheel drive would have required engineering variations on existing transmissions.
- Bulky transmission placement behind the engine - requiring specific design changes on existing front-wheel drive-based platforms.
| This is the most outrageous example of T-Drive: an 8 cylinder Tempo. |
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| Note the DOHC inline-8.
The test car didn't have room for a conventional braking assist system - note the two reservoirs hung off the strut brace.
It's not known if this is a front or wear wheel drive car.
You'll note that on both of these engines, there is a gap in the middle of the engine where the drivetrain take-off was engineered. |
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| This is a FOX-chassis T-Bird, with a 6-cylinder T-drive engine.
The engine is transverse, leading to an questionable weight balance. |
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| The rest of the driveline is conventional rear wheel drive. This car was probably built to demonstrate use of the near-off-the-shelf driveline.
Note that the engine takes up the full engine bay - not the radiator placement (normally very far-forward in a FOX T-Bird).
And note the uneven length intake paths! |
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The T-Drive engine joins pictures, descriptions, and specs of many of Ford's modern engine families on my site. There are currently >590 JPEGS of images in the Ford engine area: http://drivingenthusiast.net/sec-ford/FMC-engines/! I am adding to them as further images become available, and often add high-res images as well. You'll also find more engine images in the new Mazda section, as well as in several other non-Ford sections.
There are also several blog categories on my site which are specific to engines, including:
- Engine - Technology
- Ford - Engine - EcoBoost Family
- Ford - Engine, Experimental
- Ford - Engine - Modular Family
- Ford - Engine - Duratec Family
- Ford - Engine - Diesel
- Ford - Engine - BOSS Family
- MAZDA - Rotary Engines
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