For the first time in four years, Mack is launching an entirely new engine line.
The MP (Mack Power) 7 displaces 11 liters with six ratings from 325-405 hp, and torque ratings from 1260-1560 lb-ft. For ’06, the engine will be compliant with EPA ’04 emissions regs, although the company says the design is ready to be brought into compliance with ’07 standards.
Details/features of the MP7 include:
- Cooled exhaust gas recirculation;
- Variable-geometry turbocharger with sliding nozzle ring;
- Electronically controlled, unit fuel injectors;
- Single overhead camshaft, with 4 valves per cylinder;
- Wet-sleeve cylinders with single-piece, steel pistons;
- Mack’s proprietary, PowerLeash engine brake, which provides braking horsepower equal to horsepower output.
- A rear-mounted PTO option.
- Performance optimization for use with Mack Maxitorque and Allison automatic transmissions.
- VMAC-IV, the latest version of Mack’s Vehicle Management & Control system, which enables an optional Co-Pilot display, with program access from a column-mounted stalk.
- 30,000-mile oil drain intervals for standard highway applications, and 300 hours for most construction applications.
The MP7 will be available in Mack’s application-specific families, which include Maxidyne, for high-performance, vocational applications; MaxiCruise, for vocational and highway applications; and Econodyne, for fuel-sensitive, highway applications.
New homes for the MP7 will include the ’06 Granite vocational truck – which will boast a new cockpit layout and improved ergonomics – and the new Pinnacle, which externally is little changed from the current Vision model, but will get the same interior enhancements as the Granite. Granites and Visions with current powertrains will remain available until ’07.
In addition to the MP7, Mack announced plans to launch the 13-liter MP8 in ’07, with ratings from 415-485 hp and torque from 1540-1700 lb-ft; and the 16-liter, MP10 engine at an undetermined date.
Nearly concurrent with Mack’s announcements, Volvo Trucks North America said it would offer 11- and 13-liter engines for ’07 – in addition to its 16-liter powerhouse introduced earlier this year. Since Volvo Powertrain supplies engines to both Mack and VTNA, the two engine brands will have common architecture and similar features.
However, Mack and Volvo are quick to point out that there will be hardware differences, such as piston profiles, and programming variations, such as different torque curves, that will ensure the engines maintain their “personalities” and performance characteristics unique to each brand. “You’ll never see a Mack with a diagonal stripe on the grille,” jokes Mack President & CEO Paul Vikner, “or a Volvo with a Bulldog on the hood.”
