Premcar develops ultimate V8 Ford Falcon

The crew behind the development of the Miami V8 has now realised its ultimate potential.

A new intercooler package - dubbed the GT Holy Grail - unleashes 483kW at 6800rpm and 753Nm from 4500-5200rpm from Ford’s 5.0-litre supercharged V8, the upgrades applicable to any Miami-equipped Falcon. Just 100 kits will be offered; pricing is yet to be announced but will be in the ballpark of $25,000.

The package includes a new cast aluminium intake manifold, a twin air, triple water-pass intercooler system, front-mount water-to-air heat exchanger, high flow coolant pump, OE-standard hoses, pipes and fittings and a unique engine and transmission calibration.

While many boast of OEM levels of drivability and reliability, Premcar’s position as the original developer of the engine gives its claims far more credence that most. Premcar morphed out of Prodrive Engineering following a management buyout in 2014.

Premier’s Engineering Director, Bernie Quinn, told MOTOR: “This has been a while in the making. We went down [the intercooling] path when we were developing the Miami engine originally; I always had it in my head that we were going to do it at some stage.”

Indeed, the program manager for the XR Sprint program, Justin Capicchiano, explained on MOTOR’s Performance Car Podcast that intercooling the V8 was considered for the XR8 Sprint before development funds were allocated elsewhere.

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Intercooling is the key that unlocks consistent bulk power from the Miami engine. “It’s about having cool enough combustion,” explains Quinn, “which allows you to have more boost and more advanced spark timing to get more power and torque. We haven’t just pushed the boost up, we’ve done a lot of work on optimising cam timing to get the most power and torque out of it, whilst maintaining the original engine’s durability and driveability.”

A number of intercooled prototypes have been built over the years, but following the recent development of a pair of Sprint-based prototypes, “We made the decision to invest in tooling for all the parts. We’re doing it in the same way as we’ve done any OEM program.

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“For example, we’re re-casting the lower intake manifold with all the water galleries, we’re retooling the whole intercooler, [we’re] using OEM-quality pumps, radiators and heat exchangers, using the same suppliers basically that we used for the original development program. And of course our guys have the background with the cal (calibration), because we always did the calibration for the FPV stuff and Ford stuff.”

The package has been subjected to the same stress tests as a regular OEM engine, including a 100-hour full power dyno test, shaker rig vibration and hot/cold environment testing. Factory driveline protection is retained and gear-specific boost and torque maps are included in the calibration.

Premcar recommends that cars fitted with its engine upgrade also use Shockworks upgraded suspension package and good quality tyres, such as Michelin Pilot Super Sports.