SEMA 2016: Manley Offers Forged Internals For Virtually Every Ford

The folks at Manley Performance Products have provided Blue Oval enthusiasts with stronger, forged engine internals for just about every Ford you can think of for more than six decades. The company started way back when pushrod Ford V8 engines ruled the day, but the company has recently turned its attention toward the modern EcoBoost engine family.

Our Pro Series connecting rods can handle 1,000 or more horsepower

“For the 3.5-liter EcoBoost V6 engine, we have pistons and Pro Series connecting rods,” Gary Mecklenburg of Manley told us. “Our pistons allow for various oversizes, and we retain the factory compression ratio because these engines use direct fuel injection. You can’t mess with the height of the bowl [referring to the unique shape of the direct-injection piston top]. It has to be exactly where it is, so you can’t do the lower dish style of piston. Our Pro Series connecting rods can handle 1,000 or more horsepower, and you can match with a set of pistons for the four-cylinder EcoBoost engines. We can make valves, but our valves currently for this platform are custom. We can make just about anything that anybody wants.”

Although Manley has a steady focus on late model Ford and other manufacturer applications, the company has been manufacturing pistons for pushrod engines for decades. As Gary said it, the older platforms have been extremely popular all around the world.

“We have piston and rod packages, as well as valves and valvesprings for Coyote and Raptor applications, too,” Gary explained. “For both platforms, we have Pro Series connecting rods. For Coyotes, we’ve introduced connecting rods for all-out drag racing applications. One of them is a 4340-grade that will handle 1,500 to 1,800 horsepower; and the other is for street-driven vehicles over 300 horsepower.”

One of the things that Manley also does differently, according to Gary, is that they use a thicker bottom skirt area, which prevents collapse due to higher loads from more horsepower. It’s a critical design feature that they’ve spent a lot of time developing, because even if the rings are just a few thousands of an inch, which can cause a loss of the ring seal; pumping oil into the cylinders, and causing detonation.

“When it comes to all of our pistons, we design them using a 2618-grade forged aluminum,” Gary added. “We tend to push the ring lands down as far as we can, which makes for a thicker ring land area. This prevents them from breaking out of the ring lands. We use Total Seal piston rings, as they’re designed with these specific components in mind. We really like their ring packages. We always use the factory offsets on our pistons during the forging process to prevent any additional noise or vibration–allowing you to continue to use the factory ECU.”

Keep up with Manley and its latest offerings for the EcoBoost platform by visiting their website here for more information.