Ford’s new 7.3-liter pushrod V-8 truck engine pumps out 430 horsepower

For those of you who need to haul or tow heavy loads but are not located near a truck stop or aren’t particularly fond of the smell of diesel fuel, Ford is bringing out an all-new 7.3-liter (445-cubic-inch), gasoline V-8 engine for its Super Duty pickups and medium-duty trucks. Said to have best-in-class (gasoline-powered) 430 horsepower and 475 lb-ft of torque, in most of the applications the new V-8 is mated to another all-new piece of gear, Ford’s 10-speed heavy duty TorqShift automatic transmission.

In introducing the new engine, Joel Betramo, Ford’s manager for gasoline powered V-8 engines, said, “The 7.3-liter is designed for maximum durability in the harshest environments given that our customers live and work in these conditions every day. This engine has the largest displacement in its class and is designed to provide benefits in key areas like power, durability, ease of maintenance, and total operating costs.”

Built at Ford’s historic Windsor, Ontario, engine plant, the new motor will be optional on the 2020 F-Series Super Duty pickups, and a version of it will be standard equipment on medium duty F-550, F-600, F-650, F-750 pickup trucks, F-53, and F-59 stripped chassis for converters, and the E-Series cutaway and stripped chassis model vans. The 10-speed automatic transmission will be standard equipment on all Ford trucks with the new engine, except for the heaviest duty F-650 and F-750 models, which carry over the heavy-duty six-speed automatic.

The heavier-duty trucks and E-Series vans will get a dyno-certified 350-hp, 468 lt-ft variant of the 7.3-liter V-8, with an optional high-efficiency calibration for better fuel mileage.

In both versions, the 7.3-liter V-8 has a variable-displacement oil pump for better lubrication and fuel efficiency, oversized main bearings, a forged steel crankshaft, and piston-cooling oil jets for greater durability and cooler running under heavy loads. For some reason Ford is also hyping the new motor’s “overhead valve architecture” as if that is something new, not developed over a century ago by David Buick. Every engine that Ford Motor Company builds today, and has built for at least 60 years, has an OHV architecture. It is unique in Ford’s gasoline engine portfolio, as overhead-cam valvetrains have been the norm at Ford for at least 15 years, so the move to a cam-in-block, pushrod architecture is interesting. Of course, Silverado, Ram, and Sierra never stopped using pushrod gasoline V-8s.

Pricing as well as cargo and towing capacities will be announced later.

We’re right in the middle of the busiest time of the year for racing and car shows, so a trust tow rig is always appreciated. All those trailer queens and track cars won’t get to their events by themselves.