Boss is the internal name for a family of large-displacement
V8 engines from
Ford Motor Company intended to compete with
Chrysler's
Hemi and
General Motors' 6.0 L
Vortec engines. Originally named
Hurricane, development of the engine was cancelled in 2005, then revived in early 2006 by
Mark Fields. In light of the devastation caused by
Hurricane Katrina in 2005, it was renamed the
Boss engine. In spite of this change, Ford did not officially market the engines with the Boss name in any production vehicle where they were used, instead referring to the engines by their displacement.
The first (and ultimately only) modern Boss engine, a 6.2 L V8, was produced at the
Ford Romeo Engine Plant in
Romeo, Michigan, from 2010 to the plant's closure in December 2022.
Ford Australia and
Ford Performance Vehicles used the "Boss" name for V8 engines from 2002, but these were
variations of the
Ford Modular V8 with locally produced parts.
The 6.2 L (379 cu in) V8 is the main variant of the Boss engine. The V8 shares design similarities with the
Modular Engine family such as a deep-skirt block with cross-bolted main caps, crankshaft-driven gerotor oil pump,
overhead cam valve train arrangement, and bellhousing bolt pattern. In particular, the 6.2 L features a two-valve per cylinder
SOHC valve train with
roller-rocker shafts, hemispherical heads, and two spark plugs per cylinder, as well as dual-equal
variable cam timing. Notably, it uses a much wider 4.53 in (115.1 mm) bore spacing (compared to the Modular's 3.937 in (100.0 mm)), allowing for the use of larger bore diameters and valves. The 6.2 L V8 has a bore diameter and stroke of 4.015 in × 3.74 in (102.0 mm × 95.0 mm). It has lightweight aluminum cylinder heads and pistons, but makes use of a cast-iron cylinder block for extra durability to meet the demands of truck use.
This V8 went into production in early 2010 and debuted in the 2010
Ford F-150 SVT Raptor as a late-availability option. A version of the Raptor from Ford Racing called the Raptor XT unveiled at the SEMA show featured a high-output version of the 6.2 L V8 with 500 hp (370 kW). Ford planned to build 50 XTs, but there is no indication they ever did. For the 2011 model year, the 6.2 L V8 was introduced in the Ford F-250 and F-350
Super Duty as a replacement for both the 5.4 L
Triton V8 and the 6.8 L
Triton V10, and in the F-150 as the premium engine option, though it was not available in all configurations.
For 2017, the 6.2 L V8 in the
Super Duty received new tuning and modified camshafts to bump torque to 430 lb⋅ft (583 N⋅m), while power remained at 385 hp (287 kW). It was also now mated to Ford's TorqShift G 6-speed transmission; Ford's Live-Drive Power Takeoff (PTO) Provision with Mobile Mode was also optional on 6.2 L equipped trucks.
Applications: