The Challenge of Fuel Economy and Emission Regulations: Improving the 2016 Mustang GT's Low-End Efficiency

As fuel economy and emission regulations continue to tighten, it has become increasingly difficult to keep vehicles like the 2016 Mustang GT alive with clever technology. However, there are ways to improve the Mustang's low-end efficiency without sacrificing too much top-end power. The idea is to keep the engine as fuel efficient as possible at lower RPMs and light throttle applications, while transforming it into a raw muscle car when you're flat out on the Mustang.

One piece of technology working towards this goal is the charge motion control valve. Like any other gasoline engine, air enters through the air filter, passes along through the throttle body, and then enters the intake manifold before being split between the eight cylinders. It's here that the charge motion control valve comes into play. Ford actually patented this device back in 1999, which is where our information comes from.

What you have for this example is a V8 engine, but it could be used for any style engine. The intake air comes in, passes through the throttle body, and then enters the charge motion control valve. This valve has valves in each port where the air will flow through, which all rotate together. At lower RPMs, these valves are closed, restricting airflow and limiting power at low loads. However, when high RPMs and high loads occur, the valves open up like a wide-open throttle valve.

The charge motion control valve's primary function is to optimize engine performance by channeling air into the combustion chamber with more velocity. This creates a better mixture of air and fuel, which improves fuel economy, idle stability, and reduces emissions at lower RPMs. Although this technology might sacrifice some power when fully engaged, it allows the vehicle to have both efficient low-end grunt and raw muscle car capability.

Another key aspect of this system is its ability to optimize airflow without sacrificing performance too much. When you close the valves at lower RPMs, they restrict airflow significantly, which can be beneficial for fuel efficiency. However, even when the valves are fully open like a wide-open throttle valve during high loads or RPMs, there's still a slight restriction due to packaging constraints and design limitations. Nonetheless, this slight reduction in power doesn't seem to have affected the engine's overall performance too much.

The 2016 Mustang GT boasts an impressive 43.5 horsepower from its 5-liter V8 engine. While this isn't a significant increase compared to modern engines, it still provides ample muscle for many driving needs. Adding devices like the charge motion control valve can indeed add cost and complexity, but as seen in this example, it also offers a unique way to balance efficiency with performance.

This technology is particularly interesting because it allows the vehicle to have both decently efficient low-end power and raw muscle car capability without fully sacrificing either aspect. This blend of fuel efficiency and high-performance driving can be attractive for those who want both worlds, making this technology an exciting innovation in automotive engineering.

Ford's investment in the charge motion control valve demonstrates their commitment to improving engine performance and reducing emissions while maintaining or enhancing driving capabilities. As regulations continue to tighten, it will be interesting to see how manufacturers adapt and innovate to balance efficiency with power and performance.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhello everyone and welcome as many of you know fuel economy and emission regulations are always getting more and more stringent making it more difficult to keep Vehicles like this 2016 5 L V8 Mustang GT alive with clever technology however there are ways of improving the Mustang's low-end efficiency without sacrificing much top-end power the idea is to keep the engine as fuel efficient as possible at lower RPM and light throttle applications but transform it into a raw muscle car when you're flat out on the Mustang one of the pieces of Technology working towards this goal is the charge motion control valve now like any other gasoline engine the air enters through the air filter passes along through the throttle body enters the intake manifold where it's then split between the eight cylinders and then it runs into the charge motion control valve so how does this system work well Ford actually filed to patent this device back in 1999 and so that's kind of where this information here is coming from and so as mentioned what you've got you've got your V8 engine of course for this examp it could be used for any style engine doesn't have to be a V8 um you've got your intake the air comes in passes through the throttle body in the intake manifold and that's where it runs into this charge motion control valve and so that's what we've got drawn in red right here and as you can see there are valves in each one of these ports where the air is going to flow through and so these will all rotate together and at lower RPM these valves will pretty much be closed so you're restricting the air flow uh and at low loads and then at high RPM and high loads you'll open that so it's pretty pretty much just wide open just like a uh wide openen throttle valve and so what that looks like here where we've got the intake all the way coming to the intake valve you've got your charge motion control valve after which you'll have your fuel injector spraying in the fuel to mix with the air and then it'll go inside the combustion chamber and so looking at just the two intake valves here so we're going to have two intakes of course uh for a four valve cylinder and here we have an opening and so as you can see uh this valve will open and close depending on what RPM you're at what throttle uh position you're at and so as you close this fully you can see there's just a small opening there so most of that air is going to flow into this intake valve rather than both of them now of course some air will go through both of them and they will both open but most of the air will flow through here and you're also restricting that air flow significantly so not much air can pass and you're really going to speed up that air flow there because you're channeling it into a much smaller uh area so what this is doing you're getting higher velocity air you're sending most of that into one valve um and so you want to position the charge motion control valve as close as possible uh to the intake valves now obviously there's going to be packaging restrictions which force you to bring that back up but you want it as close as possible uh for maximum efficiency and so what this does is it creates this swirl and Tumble of the air and fuel um and so that's going to give a better mixture so moving into the advantages you know that better mixture of air and fuel at these lower RPMs it's going to give you better better fuel economy it's going to give you better idle uh stability and it's also going to lower emissions so it lower RPMs you know these are things that it doesn't it's okay to sacrifice power because you're not really giving it a full throttle disadvantage however moving into when you do get on Full Throttle you're still going to have this you know and even though it's going to be wide open and not much restriction there is still going to be a slight restriction there in air flow um you know not a huge deal obviously Ford has compensated for it on the engine's plenty powerful 43 5 horsepower I believe out of that 5 L V8 engine and of course you're always going to be adding cost and complexity when you're adding devices like this so it's a cool way you know of allowing a vehicle to have you know a decently efficient uh running engine at the lower RPMs and lower engine loads uh but still be able to produce plenty of power when you need it and still have you know that characteristic 5 L V8 engine which the Mustang is known for so thank you guys for watching and if you have any questions or comments feel free to leave those belowhello everyone and welcome as many of you know fuel economy and emission regulations are always getting more and more stringent making it more difficult to keep Vehicles like this 2016 5 L V8 Mustang GT alive with clever technology however there are ways of improving the Mustang's low-end efficiency without sacrificing much top-end power the idea is to keep the engine as fuel efficient as possible at lower RPM and light throttle applications but transform it into a raw muscle car when you're flat out on the Mustang one of the pieces of Technology working towards this goal is the charge motion control valve now like any other gasoline engine the air enters through the air filter passes along through the throttle body enters the intake manifold where it's then split between the eight cylinders and then it runs into the charge motion control valve so how does this system work well Ford actually filed to patent this device back in 1999 and so that's kind of where this information here is coming from and so as mentioned what you've got you've got your V8 engine of course for this examp it could be used for any style engine doesn't have to be a V8 um you've got your intake the air comes in passes through the throttle body in the intake manifold and that's where it runs into this charge motion control valve and so that's what we've got drawn in red right here and as you can see there are valves in each one of these ports where the air is going to flow through and so these will all rotate together and at lower RPM these valves will pretty much be closed so you're restricting the air flow uh and at low loads and then at high RPM and high loads you'll open that so it's pretty pretty much just wide open just like a uh wide openen throttle valve and so what that looks like here where we've got the intake all the way coming to the intake valve you've got your charge motion control valve after which you'll have your fuel injector spraying in the fuel to mix with the air and then it'll go inside the combustion chamber and so looking at just the two intake valves here so we're going to have two intakes of course uh for a four valve cylinder and here we have an opening and so as you can see uh this valve will open and close depending on what RPM you're at what throttle uh position you're at and so as you close this fully you can see there's just a small opening there so most of that air is going to flow into this intake valve rather than both of them now of course some air will go through both of them and they will both open but most of the air will flow through here and you're also restricting that air flow significantly so not much air can pass and you're really going to speed up that air flow there because you're channeling it into a much smaller uh area so what this is doing you're getting higher velocity air you're sending most of that into one valve um and so you want to position the charge motion control valve as close as possible uh to the intake valves now obviously there's going to be packaging restrictions which force you to bring that back up but you want it as close as possible uh for maximum efficiency and so what this does is it creates this swirl and Tumble of the air and fuel um and so that's going to give a better mixture so moving into the advantages you know that better mixture of air and fuel at these lower RPMs it's going to give you better better fuel economy it's going to give you better idle uh stability and it's also going to lower emissions so it lower RPMs you know these are things that it doesn't it's okay to sacrifice power because you're not really giving it a full throttle disadvantage however moving into when you do get on Full Throttle you're still going to have this you know and even though it's going to be wide open and not much restriction there is still going to be a slight restriction there in air flow um you know not a huge deal obviously Ford has compensated for it on the engine's plenty powerful 43 5 horsepower I believe out of that 5 L V8 engine and of course you're always going to be adding cost and complexity when you're adding devices like this so it's a cool way you know of allowing a vehicle to have you know a decently efficient uh running engine at the lower RPMs and lower engine loads uh but still be able to produce plenty of power when you need it and still have you know that characteristic 5 L V8 engine which the Mustang is known for so thank you guys for watching and if you have any questions or comments feel free to leave those below\n"