It is almost hard to believe that a year has passed since Ford officially announced the new large displacement, overhead-valve pushrod engine aptly named “Godzilla” for its Ford Super Duty lineup. Many of the top engine builders across the country were excited to get their hands on this 7.3-liter Windsor-style engine to see just how mod-friendly this offering could be.
Well, we are happy to report that one of the first Godzilla-swapped Fox-body builds is taking place right now. This new engine offering from Ford is not only ready to deliver class-leading performance in the truck market for 2020, but also has the potential to make some serious power in the drag racing community as well!
Earlier this year, you may remember a video surfacing from the popular YouTuber REVan Evan, as he documented the team at Evolution Performance becoming the first performance shop in the country to hit the 9-second mark in a 2020 Shelby GT500.
It will be interesting to see how the 7.3-liter Godzilla engine handles rpm and boost, and how it will compare to the LS and Coyote. -REVan Evan
Evan is back at it again, but this time he is hanging out with the crew at Team Z Motorsports in Taylor, Michigan, to report on a yet-to-be-announced Fox-body project that was in the works.
The video starts with Evan walking into Team Z Motorsports garage area towards a Fox-body Mustang with a blue blanket concealing what’s underneath. And once the cover comes off, pushrod enthusiasts bare witness to Godzilla himself nestled quite comfortably inside the engine bay!
Team Z Motorsports CEO Dave Zimmerman, along with the former head of Ford Performance, Brian Wolfe, took on the monumental task and began to explain the process.
“We had to make a slight modification to the old pan and then drop the steering rack about an inch and a half so we could get the crank center line in the determined area that we thought would be optimal for the Fox-body and SN95,” Dave explained. “We made a set of solid motor mounts and a custom K-member which will be available to the public at launch.”
In stock form, the Super Duty application for this 7.3-liter engine cranks out a best-in-class gas V8 output of 430 horsepower and 475 lb-ft of torque, and is designed and engineered to be a long-life motor. And as Brian Wolfe points out in the video, when you transfer this type of engine into a racing or drag strip application, it is ripe for high performance, giving it the potential to make an insane amount of power.
This particular Fox-body build from Team Z Motorsports is also being paired with the popular 10R80 transmission found in 2018+ Mustangs, and this potent combo is sure to hurt some feelings come race day.
Did Someone Say 600 HP with Only Minor Modifications?
Evan asks Wolfe what type of power he thinks enthusiasts eager to make the swap can achieve come race day. “I think that a 600 horsepower type variant is going to be easy to come across with just very simple bolt-ons,” replied Brian.
But what makes Evan’s YouTube channel so exciting to watch is that this particular video was only the first in a series of videos documenting what it takes to achieve these types of numbers. His latest set of videos features stock dyno numbers, engine teardown, and even bolt-on accessibility.
We caught up with Evan as he was on the road filming yet another project to ask him his thoughts on the Godzilla engine. “The 7.3-liter is a really neat engine with many features that will work well for cranking up the horsepower,” remarked Evan. “It will be interesting to see how it handles rpm and boost, and how it will compare to the LS and Coyote. We’re planning to move forward with a Fox project and a full race version in the near future. Stay tuned to the channel.”
We are excited to witness precisely how this engine handles boost and have already subscribed to the REVan Evan channel for all the updates.