Yamaha 4.4l DOHC V-8 (Volvo)

Latest addition to my my Ford Motor Company engine section: high-res images of the Yamaha 4.4l DOHC V-8 engine, as used in the Volvo S80 and XC90.

And possibly in the future Five Hundred and MK-S? The Five Hundred is an unknown (nothing announced), and the MK-S is officially only a concept. However, it’s been widely discussed for the Five Hundred and the MK-S with this engine is understood to be a 2008 production Lincoln (not a replacement for the LS, but larger).

Question is where the engine will be built for Ford & Lincoln usage: in the United States or will it be brought in from Japan at greater cost?

Street talk says this engine is related to the earlier SHO “Yamaha” engine. While the stroke is the same, the bore is far larger (entirely different bore spacing), the engine is architecturally very different (both blocks and head), it is cast entirely differently, and nothing else is in common. Certainly there are Yamaha family similarities here – Yamaha has been designed engines for Toyota, for example, for many years. But, these are not at all the same engine.

Volvo XC90 Gets a State-of-the-Art V-8

Volvo XC90 Gets a State-of-the-Art V-8

Volvo’s new V-8 engine was designed by Yamaha.

Deja Vu: Volvo to use Yamaha-sourced V-8 engine

USA Today has reported (06.14.2004: interview with Victor Doolan – CEO of Volvo Cars North America) that Volvo will introduce a 320-horse 4.4L V-8 in the 2005 XC90 SUV. The engine is built by Yamaha and shipped to Sweden for installation. 15 to 18 months after this introduction, it will be an option in unspecified other Volvo products. No further technical details are available at this time, except that the engine is quote ”trimmer” than the Jaguar engine. I interpret that to mean narrower – either thru head design or possibly it’s a 60-degree narrow angle V-8. 

The deal with Yamaha had initially been reported over a year ago…

We’ve seen Yamaha’s involvement with Ford before – notably on the SHO 3.0/3.2L DOHC V-6 and the follow-up 3.4L DOHC V-8. We also saw a showcar version of the previous Explorer with a 5-valve Yamaha cylinder head over the 4.6 DOHC Ford “modular” V-8. There was also the super-secret GN-34 mid-engine sports car project of the 80s – it was rumored that this unnamed car was powered by a 5-valve 3.8L version of the SHO engine. Too bad we’ll probably never know the full details of that engine – or the car.,

The SHO production engines were very low volume – only a couple of thousand per year.  The Yamaha SHO engines had some technical issues: sensor failures on the 3.0/3.2 engine (along with the need for a very expensive valvetrain adjustment at the 60k mile mark) and an issue with the 3.4 engine where the “press-fit” cams started to work their way apart in some cases. Obviously both weere serious design and quality issues for the handful of customers who had these engines (and you’ll note that I had 1 of each type of SHO).

Presumably, while we don’t yet know if the Volvo V-8 engine is based on any production engine, these types of technical glitches will be better addressed in design and testing. Certainly, it’s an absolute requirement for the slightly higher-volume XC90 market.

It’d be intriguing if this new engine were an evolution of the SHO 3.4l DOHC 60-degree V-8 engine – itself a lengthed Duratec V-6. That was an excellent engine that should be brought back. Perhaps Ford will offer it in the Five Hundred and Freestyle?

I expect that complete technical details will be available once the regular cycle of press introductions continues over the summer months.