Noble, Marcos, Morgan, Caterham, Westfield, Ginetta, Dare, Invicta, Farboud and – er – London Taxis International.
Not quite a who’s who of British specialist car manufacturers, but a list of some of the companies who have either already obtained engines from Power Torque Engineering (PTE) or have talked to PTE about doing so.
And it’s not just car manufacturers but tuning companies too, with the likes of Mountune, Raceline, Minister and Dunnell all getting base engines from Power Torque.
The result is that Power Torque Engineering now accounts for around 97 per cent of total business for Ford Power products in the UK and about 70 per cent of business for Europe as a whole (including the UK).
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Want to use a Duratec V6 inline? Power Torque can help |
Performance and Power Torque
But what is it about the Coventry-based company that attracts so many performance related customers? According to sales manager Jon Townley it’s because, “We’re specifically geared to look after the smaller OEMs and specialist builders’.
What this means in practice is that PTE is just as happy to deal either with a DIY kit car builder who only wants one component or a big commercial customer like LTI which buys around 2,500 complete engine and gearbox units a year.
It also means that it's not just some cash and carry warehouse that supplies the customer with a crate full of bits and leaves them to it, because Power Torque also has a team of engineers available to help customers develop special installations.
“All of our technicians are fully trained on Ford vehicle systems so they can deal with any diagnostic or wiring issues,” says Jon.
“With a lot of the specialist manufacturers we deal with, like LTI and Morgan, the guys here have done the installation from point one. So they’ve taken the engine as it comes from Ford, decided what bits they need, what bits they don’t need and integrated it into the vehicle with the wiring and diagnostic systems and everything else.”
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Duratec V6 prepared for fitting in Morgan with power steering pump removed and special air filter and exhaust manifolds fitted |
“We would aim to work with the manufacturer to be able to install that engine and everything that that entails. So you’ve got the intake, exhaust and fuel systems, all the accessories the engine’s got to drive, the gearbox, the clutch interface and the electronics.”
“If they need to go through full homologation we can liaise with companies like Roush, Cosworth and MIRA, so we can offer pretty much a full package service.”
Power Torque also have a bank of other specialist companies it can call on to make whatever parts might be necessary for a particular installation, as evidenced by the Duratec V6 chosen to replace the defunct Rover V8 in Morgan’s traditional roadster.
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This lot is going to end up powering Nobles |
As it comes from Ford, this is obviously set up for a transversely mounted front wheel drive application, so fitting it in the Morgan required a special bell housing to mate it to a Jaguar S-Type gearbox, as well as a special air filter that sat on top of the engine yet still fitted under the low, narrow bonnet.
And because traditional Morgan drivers don’t want any of that poncey power steering and air con nonsense, all the standard bits for that are removed and replaced by a special drive belt assembly just for the alternator.
But if specialist manufacturers want to develop their own installations without Power Torque’s help, then Power Torque is equally happy to simply supply the bits.
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Tuned and turbocharged Duratec V6 ready for fitting in a Noble |
The Noble connection
An example of this also provided by the Duratec V6, this time as used by Noble. In ‘Noble spec’ it's heavily modified by Noble Motorsport in Chesterfield: Noble reworks the internals and bolts on a couple of turbos before sending it to Barwell for fitting.
At least, that’s the way Noble has been doing it up to now. This approach is being revised in the face of increasing production demands, and this is another area in which Power Torque can help small manufacturers. Consequently there’s a move towards Noble Motorsport just doing the internal modifications, then shipping the bare engines back to Power Torque to fit the turbos and other external components as well as the gearbox, to which it already fits the LSD and special shifter.
The plan is to help Noble Automotive streamline its production by constantly having several complete ‘Noble spec’ engine and gearbox assemblies in stock that Noble can simply order and drop straight into a car when required.
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Want a 2 litre Duratec? Power Torque has plenty |
Duratecs and Zetecs
It’s not just Noble that Power Torque are doing this for either as it's increasingly starting to supply complete packages that manufacturers can simply take straight out of the crate and put straight into the car.
Not that all the engines Power Torque supply do get fitted to cars. At the time of my visit there was a collection of 1.4 Zetec S engines earmarked for portable firepumps, with more water moving duties lined up for a row of big IVECO truck engines destined to power irrigation pumps.
In fact about half of Power Torque’s business is industrial related and goes beyond engine supply to include things like heater controls, door locks and dashboard vents used on JCB diggers and Dennis fire engines.
However, with the company now giving up their IVECO franchise, this year will see a shift in focus more towards the specialist car and racing market – which, let’s face it, is a lot more interesting than watering lettuce.
As part of this shift, Power Torque was at the Autosport Show for the first time this year, and it's about to expand its current range of straight four and V6 engines by adding American V8s – and American Ford Racing tuning equipment.
These will include all the traditional pushrod V8s such as the 302, 351 and 460 big block as well as the 4.6 litre quad-cam Mustang engine. There’ll also be a special 5 litre ‘cammer’ which is a special, higher power variation of the quad-cam engine with unique engine management system that’s been designed specifically for the specialist car market. And right at the top of the Power Torque tree will be ‘stroker’ versions of the pushrod engines right up to 514cu in (nearly 8.5 litres!) for the drag racers.
Of course there's a number of companies in the UK already dealing with this sort of stuff, but Power Torque figures that being able to buy off the shelf at a good price from an official Ford supplier will prove to be attractive to many potential customers.
Not that you actually can buy it off the shelf at the moment because this is so new PTE hasn't got any in yet…
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2 litre Duratec with tasty go faster bits |
Plenty of Duratecs though – both 2 litre straight four and 3 litre V6 variety.
What's hot and what's not?
Sales of these are split about 50/50, with most of the V6s going to small OEM manufacturers like Noble and Morgan who want the extra prestige that comes with the extra cylinders (though Morgan still fit four pots too) while the 2 litre is currently a very hot item with kit car manufacturers and the tuning brigade. Such a hot item in fact that Power Torque have taken to keeping around 40 in stock so it doesn’t get caught out by surges in demand and can guarantee off the shelf supply.
PTE also holds a stock of Mitchell Cotts MCT5 gearboxes for 2 litre Duratecs used in rear wheel drive applications, to which it also plans to add a stock of the latest Borg Warner T5s – and it’ll even sell these to people who don’t want to use Ford engines…
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Mitchell Cotts MCT5 gearboxes with special bellhousings for 2 litre Duratecs used in rear wheel drive applications. |
The MCT5 is a development of Ford’s discontinued MT75 box but without the integral bellhousing, making it suitable for fitting to many different engines, while the latest heavy duty T5 is rated to 600lb ft - so if you’ve just broken the gearbox in your highly tuned TVR you know who to see...
Front wheel drive gearboxes are of course no problem, though one thing Power Torque can’t supply at the moment is a transaxle for in-line mid-engine applications, but it's hoping to be able to do something with the new Ford GT gearbox if Ford ever makes it available without the rest of the car attached.
Ford power has tended to pretty much dominate in the UK specialist car sector for some 40 years now, and when you look at all that’s now on offer from Power Torque Engineering, it seems likely that domination will continue for a lot longer yet.
© Copyright Graham Bell 2005
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