Not long ago Ford launched the 7.3-liter Godzilla engine for its Super Duty pickup truck series. The engine provides the best-in-class power and torque figures, but it looks like things are about to get even better.
Ford’s long-time supplier Whipple is working on a supercharger for the Godzilla engine that could give it mad levels of power. Photos of the supercharger surfaced online, but the final unit will look slightly different. Even more important, the supercharger is going to arrive eventually and we could have a Godzilla engine that’s churning out 700 horses! Does this mean the engine will be used in other Ford products as well?
This Could Be The Next Big Thing For Ford Performance
The Godzilla engine made its debut in the Ford’s Super Duty pickup truck series. The 7.3-liter V-8 gasoline engine develops 430 horsepower and 475 pound-feet of torque and is mated to a 10-speed automatic transmission.
Earlier this year, the folks at TFLtruck put the Ford Super Duty Tremor fitted with this engine on a dyno and it made 358 horses and 407 pound-feet of torque at the wheels.
These stock figures are best-in-class, but they're poised to get even better.
What Do We Know About The Whipple Supercharger?
The one seen in the images is made of billet material, but the production version will be constructed of cast aluminum.
Whipple has also made provisions to use their Legendarily Massive Oval Bore TB. The supercharger is quite similar to the one Whipple makes for the 5.0-liter Coyote engine. It uses the same triple intercooler setup, but will have much larger intercooler cores.
How Will It Be Useful In A Super Duty Pickup Truck?
If you’re wondering why it’s got bigger intercooler cores, it’s simple. Since this is being used on a truck and not a sedan, the supercharger here will not be used for fast straight line dashes, but to travel with a load at higher speeds. SVTPerformance sums it up perfectly - a 7.3L equipped Super Duty is more likely to find itself loaded to 20,000 pounds pulling a 5 mile-long 7% grade at interstate speeds. Even at 4-6 pounds of boost, that type of load can generate a tremendous amount of heat and having a Super Duty-sized intercooler system is required to perform that level of work.
Final Thoughts
The Whipple Supercharger for this Godzilla mill seems to have a lot of potential. There is news of the Coyote engine being retired, so that leaves only the GT500’s V-8 engine in the company’s lineup other than this Godzilla mill.
With this big engine, Ford could explore different options by plonking it into other vehicles as well. Do you think it could be offered as an option in the F-150 Raptor to take on the upcoming Ram Rebel TRX? Or, how about an F-250 Raptor? It seems next to impossible, but we can still ponder over it and grin to ourselves.