Earlier this year, Ford made its ‘Godzilla’ pushrod V8 engine available as a crate motor. While the modular V8 concept is nothing new, this offering is simply different gravy. The guys from Merkel Racing Engines easily produced 1,114 horsepower (830.7 kilowatts) from the motor thanks to twin-turbos and not much else. Yes, that’s not a misprint, four-digit horsepower with very minimal modifications.
So what makes this powerplant such a potent package? To the uninitiated, it’s a 7.3-liter pushrod V8 which puts out 430 hp (320.6 kW) from the factory. That might sound fairly dismal for such a big engine, but we’d be remiss not to mention that it normally sits under the hood of the 2020 Ford F-250; as such, it puts out 475 pound-feet (644 Newton-meters) of torque at 4,000 rpm. For all intents and purposes, it’s designed to be a workhorse that will last forever.
14 Photos
Taking to its built tough ethos, this powerplant is a fantastic springboard to producing unbelievable numbers; we’ve since covered former Ford Performance bossman Brian Wolfe pumping out 780 hp (581.6 kW) without turbos. An impressive result, but nothing can compare to MRE’s figure of over 1,000 hp at 5,800 rpm.
The story goes that the only modifications involved plumbing the two 7875 VS Racing turbochargers, setting up the necessary intercoolers, and installing a set of 1,000 cc fuel injectors. Speaking with crew member David Henderlong, The Drive noted that these dyno tests are just as much about finding the engine’s limits as they are about making big power, adding that the stock camshaft, rods, and pistons held up to their best run.
While these numbers are immensely impressive, the team has plans to install a Whipple supercharger which they estimate could produce up to 1,500 hp. Until then we’ll need some time to pick up our jaws from the floor after witnessing the savagery of turbocharged ‘Godzilla’.