Ardent Motors - Engineworks - A History

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Cygnus Series – Holding the Line, Biding its Time - 1996-2005

It took some time for innovations such as multipoint injection to make their way into the Cygnus series. That refresher occurred in 1996. Otherwise the series remained little change, at least until 2000, when a new performance 1.8L turbo was released, and the 2.2L gained new technology launched on that small mill; variable valve timing. Both small turbo engines also required premium fuel starting in 2000, a major departure from long-standing company policy.

CK4-E was based on the Economy Cygnus, but its focus was anything but economy. Big power in a small package was the name of the game, and it hit on all cylinders. At 158 ponies, it outmuscled the “Big” Cygnus by a fair margin. The 2.2L CT4-E was closing in on 200 HP. Towards the end of the time period, Ardent’s engineers considered expanding its usage into less familiar territory as an outright replacement for the aging Orions.

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1996 CA4-D 2.2L: 97.5 HP, 122 ft-lb torque
1996 CB4-D 2.5L: 130 HP, 147 ft-lb torque
1996 CT4-D 2.2L: 158 HP, 185 ft-lb torque
1996 CE4-D 1.8L: 79 HP, 93 ft-lb torque
2000 CT4-E 2.2L: 178 HP, 195 ft-lb torque
2000 CK4-E 1.8L: 158 HP, 160 ft-lb torque

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Taurus Series – Performance, Technology, and Dependability - 1998-2010

After the discontinuation of the 5.6L Taurus, Ardent’s engineers began focusing their energy on optimizing reliability and power output out of their smaller displacements. In evaluating what was left in their line, the 4.0L “Economy” option was dropped, and the 3.5L Shrike was retuned slightly to balance it a little more towards efficiency, without sacrificing previous performance figures. It still retained the 24V SOHC configuration of its predecessor to keep costs down, since it was now the base V8 option. It was also the only Taurus series that didn’t receive VVT-L in 1998. It would gain that equipment, along with dual cams, in its 2004 revision.

The cost of tooling necessary to put out two 4.3L V8’s was starting to mount, and the sales difference between the versions was no longer enough for Ardent to justify keeping both around. Some of the tuning changes for the HiPo were applied to the regular TA8, and the merged model became the only 4.3L displacement available, dropping the total number of Taurus options to three.

For the 2004 revision, Taurus went full-upscale. There was no more “affordable” bang-for-your-buck engine in the lineup, as Ardent’s inline-4 and V6 models filled that role. The blocks and heads were all re-cast in AlSi, the crankshaft was now forged, and manufacturing tolerances in the plant were tightened even more. Exhaust configurations were changed as well. The results on both power and reliability were tremendous.

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1998 TA8-H 4.3L: 294 HP, 268 lb-ft torque
1998 TK8-H 4.8L: 378 HP, 326 lb-ft torque
1998 TS8-H 3.5L: 187 HP, 212 lb-ft torque
2004 TA8-I 4.3L: 319 HP, 281 lb-ft torque
2004 TK8-I 4.8L: 427 HP, 335 lb-ft torque
2004 TS8-I 3.5L: 248 HP, 233 lb-ft torque

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Cygnus Series – Forcing the Issue - 2006-2011

It had been nearly a decade since the last major revamp of the basic 4-cylinder line. Keeping with the company’s new ideal of light and powerful, the 2.5L “Big” Cygnus didn’t make it to the year 2006. In larger cars, it was replaced by the CT4 turbo. Internals on all models moved to forged materials, matching pace with the Taurus series’ focus on reliability. VVT-L also made it to the Cygnus series for 2006.

A third turbo option appeared at this time, smaller than any other engine produced by Ardent. CF4-F was a tiny 1.4L turbo based on the economy 1.8. Power from the tiny mill was reasonable, and economy was also very good. It was a bit of an expensive option, but popular for buyers of the Wisp subcompact who wanted a little thrill without sacrificing the essence of their ride.

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2006 CA4-F 2.2L: 134 HP, 133 ft-lb torque
2006 CE4-F 1.8L: 104 HP, 108 ft-lb torque
2006 CF4-F 1.4L: 105 HP, 115 ft-lb torque
2006 CT4-F 2.2L: 180 HP, 196 ft-lb torque
2006 CK4-F 1.8L: 169 HP, 161 ft-lb torque

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Orion Series - Swan Song – 2009-2012

Executives at Ardent had a tough choice ahead of them. The Marathon was an icon, but the Orion power plant under the hood just couldn’t keep up anymore. The relic of the 1940’s had been showing its ultimate weakness for over a decade. A redesign was due, but it was hard for the folks who had built two slices of history to part them. For better or worse, the Marathon was married to the Orion. Redesigning the car to take any other power plant would make it nearly unrecognizable, and the decision to cut Orion’s funding in the late 90’s came back to bite Ardent. With heavy hearts, they quietly began a complete redesign for their sports coupe; a front-wheel drive model with a modern, high-displacement turbo-4 from the Cygnus series. To honor the company’s heritage, the design process was slow and thorough.

In the meantime and the under the eye of the public, Ardent announced a redesign of Marathon; its eighth and final generation.

OT6-K would be the final iteration of the HiPo motor that first debuted in 1963. The advanced injection system, borrowed from Taurus V8’s development team (before it could hit the flagship line), kept the high performance turbo motor running on regular pump gas. The turbo Orion still put out 324 horses, but with another significant efficiency boost. Though the automotive press didn’t have kind words to say about this final refresh of Ardent’s legendary motor, mostly due to its lack of variable timing technology, the public still continued to buy it to the very end.

The final Orion-powered Marathon, a 2012 Fire Red model, rolled off the assembly line on February 10th, 2012. The vehicle was never loaded on a train for delivery to a dealership; it instead made its way to the lobby of the corporate office, where it sits next to the first 1968 Marathon ever built, and an immaculately-restored (and functional) 1948 Ardent Special Six.

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Taurus Series – Getting Ready - 2011-present

In 2009, Ardent showcased new Direct Injection technology on the Orion series motor. Though the engineers working on the Taurus series were upset by their ideas being usurped by another team, executives stood by their decision to give the old motor a memorable sendoff.

The greenlight to release that technology on Taurus series motors came in time for the 2011 model year.

The Shrike variant gained more than 10 ponies over its previous version, and yet was consuming less gas than ever; important in an age of high gas prices. Its bigger cousin, the 4.8L Killer, gained an even larger jump in efficiency, despite no power gain.

The Taurus lineup was set and stable for the future, waiting for what improvements may come…

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2011 TA8-J 4.3L: 343 HP, 291 lb-ft torque
2011 TK8-J 4.8L: 428 HP, 339 lb-ft torque
2011 TS8-J 3.5L: 260 HP, 241 lb-ft torque

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Cygnus Series – Carrying on a Legacy - 2012-present

As promised to Ardent customers, the large displacement 4-cylinder replacement to the Orion series arrived. The 2.2 Cygnus versions were bored and stroked (evenly, retaining its squarebore design) to 2.4L, while the 1.4L was similarly debored and destroked to 1.2L, gaining a naturally aspirated twin in the process. All motors in the series received direct injection technology and forged crankshafts.

Though this raised the costs of the motors significantly, Ardent had made clear that their focus for the future was on reliability and economy.

CT4-G, the new 2.4L turbo version of the Cygnus slated for the replacement to the Orion-powered Marathon. Though not nearly the firebreather than its 6-cylinder ancestor was in the end, it hit the magic 200 horsepower mark, and the coupe it powered was much lighter. Within the company, there was a metaphoric torch for small performance engines since the Sixties. Though unofficially passed a decade earlier, this was now, to the public, officially raised by the Cygnus series…

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2012 CA4-G 2.4L: 159 HP, 152 ft-lb torque
2012 CE4-G 1.8L: 117 HP, 113 ft-lb torque
2012 CC4-G 1.2L: 78 HP, 74 ft-lb torque
2012 CF4-G 1.2L: 107 HP, 108 ft-lb torque
2012 CT4-G 2.4L: 201 HP, 243 ft-lb torque
2012 CK4-G 1.8L: 187 HP, 182 ft-lb torque

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Phew... ok, all that work is done. Comments? Complaints? Suggestions?

(and hey, at least V6's aren't actually in game yet, or you'd be reading me yammer on a lot longer....)