My dad bought a 2011 F-150 3.5L

Dmace · Apr 30, 2011

RollingsFarms said:
i never have and never will be sold of a HEMI motor as a good towning motor.

Funny, because even though it's about half a liter smaller and only has a 5-speed transmission vs. the GM/Ford 6-speed autos it still stays with them in towing matches and even won a few...
2010 HD Quarter-Mile Acceleration Test (Loaded) - PickupTrucks.com Special Reports

Still, after all of the grades, we remained very impressed by the Hemi's overall performance at Milan Dragway and on the 7-percent and 16-percent climbs.

RollingsFarms · Apr 30, 2011

make no mistake, i'm not big fan of the GM 6.0 either. the Ford 6.2 is no V10 but would be my engine of choice out of the 3, with the Hemi being last. I have a friend who has a 2004 Dodge 4x4 with the Hemi and that motor SCREAMS with 8,500# behind it. my 5.3 is no stump puller itself, but it doesn't scream like that Hemi with the same weight behind it. granted that Hemi will blow my doors off in a race, but who cares?

whodat526 · Apr 30, 2011

RollingsFarms said:
make no mistake, i'm not big fan of the GM 6.0 either. the Ford 6.2 is no V10 but would be my engine of choice out of the 3, with the Hemi being last. I have a friend who has a 2004 Dodge 4x4 with the Hemi and that motor SCREAMS with 8,500# behind it. my 5.3 is no stump puller itself, but it doesn't scream like that Hemi with the same weight behind it. granted that Hemi will blow my doors off in a race, but who cares?

whats wrong with a 6.0 the one i have has pulled a 32ft gn trailer with 3 tractors on it with no trouble and it does this just about every week going to and from tractor auction i dont think there is another gas motor that can tow as much

zman007007 · Apr 30, 2011

weedhopper,its your positive attitude that I like about you. LOL :laughing:

PHILIP8N · Apr 30, 2011

Dmace said:
I have and even tried it on a road course car. I don't know exactly how Ford's system is but on most (like mine) the water cooled turbo was plumbed into the engine coolant system. Normal turbo's are cooled and lubricated by engine oil which can easily withstand the high turbo temps (over 1400F) and the constant change in temps. A normal vehicle will only get coolant temps up to around 200F before cooling, now take a 1400F turbo and feed that coolant through it and now the radiator and water pump are trying to move and cool down boiling water.

I used that water cooled turbo for about a month before scrapping it as my cooling system just wasn't enough to handle it.

I do not consider this a water cooled turbo. The only thing that is water cooled is the impeller shaft bearing housing. The bearings are still lubricated by oil, but there is a coolant jacket surrounding this to regulate the oil temperature. Almost all gasoline turbo engines do this becasue of the higher exhaust temps. Only a small btu rejection increase when doing this, and be sure Ford took this into consideration during design and when testing. A 'water cooled turbo' is what you would see on a marine or hazerdous location diesel engine. Here, the turbine housing (along with the exhaust manifold) has a coolant jacket surrounding it to lower surface temps for safety reasons. This has allot of btu heat rejection and results in a much larger cooling package. Since most marine engines are two looped cooling from 70F fresh or salt water, this is not an issue. But with a standard industrial engine with typical air cooled fin and tube heat exchangers, the cooling package design is considerably larger. Thru work we have packaged and sold many Cat and a few Cummins engines with water cooled turbos without a problem. Philip.

Rancher Ed · Apr 30, 2011

whodat526 said:
whats wrong with a 6.0 the one i have has pulled a 32ft gn trailer with 3 tractors on it with no trouble and it does this just about every week going to and from tractor auction i dont think there is another gas motor that can tow as much

While I agree the 6.0 is a fine motor I don't think it can compare to the GM 8.1 or Fords 3v V10 (I think it is better than the 2v V10 but haven't driven them both).

Back on topic, congrat on the truck. I think the TT3.6 is cool and hope it works well for him. I would personally like to see a ~5L direct injected V8 with a single turbo instead of this small V6 with twin turbos. I would think it could get the same mileage in real world driving because the single turbo would only spool if you romped on it or were climing a steep hill but don't know for sure.

Diamondpilot · May 1, 2011

He picked it up yesterday. Running around town getting a bed mat, going to lunch, stopping at his favorite watering hole, taking a few buddies a ride in it, ect he said its doing 17.8MPG with less than 100 miles on it.

I should see it sometime this week and post more. I can not wait to drive it. Again, he is a muscle car guy and he said this thing has power like you would not believe.

Chris