For all of us CORVETTE lovers out there

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I don't care about HP/liter, MPG's, or DOHC vs Pushrods..I just want the go to go fast LOL.
 
Originally Posted By: Trav
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So, 72.6 hp/liter is "technologically advanced?"

That sounds low. 20 yrs ago a 1 ltr 998cc bike engine made 145HP right out of the box. That's double.
This engine sounds like its being held back deliberately.

I suspect though the 145hp/L bike engine wouldn't have dragged my Neon around for 280,000km without a few rebuilds...
Probably the Vette engine is being held back abit too, but its probably very efficient as well.
 
Originally Posted By: A_Harman
Originally Posted By: OVERK1LL
Originally Posted By: Clevy
Wasn't there a ZR-1 in the 90's that was a dohc?


Yup. Engine was built by Mercury Marine. Made something like 360HP?


Initially 385, then 405.

Oops, 375 was right for the initial output of the LT5.
It was the LS6 in the C5 Z06 that started at 385, then went to 405. How about that, you pushrod haters! The OHV 5.7L LS6 made the same power as the DOHC 5.7L LT5, and was smaller, lighter, got better fuel economy, and was much more durable and easy to work on.


The LS6 was 10+ years later. Heck at this point, BMW's 400HP 5.0L DOHC engine was ending its life and being replaced by a 500HP 5.0L V10.

I don't hate pushrods at all. I'm just not as impressed by this engine as people seem to think I should be
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Originally Posted By: A_Harman
Originally Posted By: LT4 Vette
Old, bald, gold chain wearing fat guys accurately describes the Corvette crowd.



I am old and bald, but don't own any gold chains.
When I bought the car in 1991, I was young and balding, and was looking for a good-handling, reliable, cost-effective track car. Over the years, the 'vette has passed many more Porsche's and BMW's than have passed it. When I started tracking the car in '91, there were not many Corvette's showing up at track days, and the predominant numbers were with Porsche. Now, Corvette's are the predominant car, and Porsche's are #2 with the track-day crowd.

Mustang's are just dead meat.


No, they are just at the drag strip instead. Different strokes.
 
Originally Posted By: A_Harman
Originally Posted By: Klutch9
So, 72.6 hp/liter is "technologically advanced?" The GDI and VVT, along with cylinder deactivation is cool, but those power numbers really should be better IMO. I am curious, however, to see a cutaway of an OHV engine with GDI


Yes, 72.6 HP/liter is technologically advanced, when it is being achieved with the relatively mild cam timings that GM is using in the engine. There is a lot more to engine technology than just specific output. NASCAR Nextel-Cup race engines make ~140 HP/liter, and they are not as technologically advanced as the new LT1.


So the Coyote doesn't have mild cam timing?

NASCAR Nextel-cup engines can't idle in traffic or be driven in a leisurely manner.

There is certainly a lot more to it, that I agree with you on. Honda's VTEC technology, allowing two sets of cam lobes to be used to gain the high RPM performance that would otherwise result in a car that was awful to drive in everyday use is certainly a great use of technology.

The employment of variable cam timing as used in many of the engines we are discussing allow the power band to be shifted around. However, DOHC engines have the advantage here of being able to move the intake and exhaust cams separately.

I think there are greater limits to extracting usable HP/L out of a pushrod engine than there is from an OHC engine. RPM is limited for valvetrain durability. Cam profiles have to be limited for driveability. The easiest way to make more power considering those limitations is to throw displacement at it.

When these engines are hot rodded in the aftermarket, those limitations get tossed out the window. We throw in more aggressive bump sticks, heavier springs, deeper breathing heads....etc. We make a lot more power, but driveability, fuel economy, emissions compliance....etc, all of those things are affected.

Passenger car engines are a deliberate compromise. Delivering excellent power whilst still allowing good fuel mileage, low emissions and driveability. In my opinion, the freedom to make a bit more power whilst retaining those characteristics on a passenger car engine gives an advantage to the DOHC engines.
 
Originally Posted By: GMBoy
Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
Just so you don't think it was the 4 valve motor. The 405 hp is a two valver.



The ZR1 engine sported an all aluminum block and cylinder heads, DOHC (Dual Overhead Cams), and 32 valves (4 per cylinder)....all versions (375hp 1990-92 and 405hp 1993-1995).


oops, got the later ZO6 muddled up in there!
 
Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
Originally Posted By: LT4 Vette
Old, bald, gold chain wearing fat guys accurately describes the Corvette crowd.


Agreed that the majority of the owners are indeed older, but many of us who are neither fat or bald love the car, too!

Seriously, as a former owner of a few Vettes I definitely enjoyed them. They have character and are cheap to repair and pretty reliable track toys.

Very simple mods made them quite competitive on the road course and the strip, even against cars costing twice as much!



THANK YOU!!!!!
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Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
Originally Posted By: GMBoy
Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
Just so you don't think it was the 4 valve motor. The 405 hp is a two valver.



The ZR1 engine sported an all aluminum block and cylinder heads, DOHC (Dual Overhead Cams), and 32 valves (4 per cylinder)....all versions (375hp 1990-92 and 405hp 1993-1995).


oops, got the later ZO6 muddled up in there!



Easy to do since it had a similiar story..started with 385hp than went to 405hp. LOL!!
 
Originally Posted By: A_Harman
Originally Posted By: LT4 Vette
Old, bald, gold chain wearing fat guys accurately describes the Corvette crowd.



I am old and bald, but don't own any gold chains.
When I bought the car in 1991, I was young and balding, and was looking for a good-handling, reliable, cost-effective track car. Over the years, the 'vette has passed many more Porsche's and BMW's than have passed it. When I started tracking the car in '91, there were not many Corvette's showing up at track days, and the predominant numbers were with Porsche. Now, Corvette's are the predominant car, and Porsche's are #2 with the track-day crowd.


Yes, the people I know who own Vettes either open track/road race them, or have them at the strip every other weekend.
Even IF they wanted to/desired to, they would NEVER wear any gold chains under their driving suits since that's added weight (also the reason they don't want to be too heavy as well
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Now, maybe the garage queen owners/purely'waxers' deserve some of the "old, bald, FAT, gold-chainer" stereotype, I don't know.
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i might be a chrysler guy. BUT i think the 2014 Corvette LT1 V-8, is great. ill bet they sell like hot cakes. it is a good thing for all car guys. when i was 10 years i made friends with a guy that had a 1953 or 1954 corvette. he had made it in to a show car.
 
Over the past few years, I'm seeing more people coming out that are converting from drag racing to road courses.
 
I'm not quite sure where gold chains came from, but it wasn't from my comment. I also didn't insinuate that you were fat, per se.

Originally Posted By: dailydriver
^^^^
**DOUBLE SIGH**

Not that it's ANY of your business, but I'm near 60.


The reason why I asked your age is because I tend to see that people above a certain age that disparage the owners of certain types of cars.

In this case, you fit the mold of disliking the group of people who prefer, turbocharged awd economy sedans. Or, as I refer to them, as Turbo'Roos. These are usually also the same people that like taking Honda Civics, and turning them into Transformer looking cars, with annoying exhaust systems.

Oddly enough, this group of owners are constantly making fun of people who like American Muscle cars, and Corvettes. Throwing around fat, bald, gold chain, veteran plated has-beens, who need just enough storage capacity for their walkers to fit.

They tend to think that their turbo Civics can beat anything in a race, no matter the type of race, and usually have never heard of that big black evil mid 80's Buick car. They are young people, and usually have a very tight budget to work with.

Somewhere in the middle of those two groups is were I reside.


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Just how "light" does something have to be to satisfy your (and the other import ONLY "fanbases'") needs??

NO ONE is going to build a sub-2000 lb. car which will satisfy the CURRENT NHTSA/DOT requirements without using 100% aerospace/exotic materials, for less than $200K minimum.
(Save for your beloved current Toy-engined Elise, which seems to be able to do it for ~$50k-$75K, IF one can fit into it.)


Don't quite know where you came up with the Lotus Elise stuff from , but okay.

How little does it need to weigh for me?
As little as possible.

My Boxster tipped the scales at around 2800 lbs.
My RX-8 isn't much heavier, but it seats 4 real sized adults comfortably, front and rear. Can't say that about the Toyota FR-S/Subaru BR-Z twins, the Porsche 911 cars, the Ford Mustang (try and be 6+ feet tall and sit in the back of one of those for a 300 mile trip).

I live in Colorado, so I have both mountain roads to play on, and road course race tracks, like PPIR, and HPR to explore weight transfer and tire adhesion limits on. Lots of people in the US and Canada don't have the variety of roads and tracks that I have here, so they just want cars with big hp numbers, no matter how much they weigh.

The next vehicle on my shopping list will be either a Porsche Cayman, or the Alfa Romeo 4C, if it ever hits production, and gets sold here in the US. Both should be in the same neighborhood as a stripped Corvette, but, unless they completely redesign the style of the Corvette, I really am not interested in them.

My neighbor across the street has one, and I get to hear it fire up and idle in front of their house, pointed directly at mine for 7 minutes or so every morning. Doesn't make me salivate of feel any twinge of jealousy at all. I still think my Boxster and RX-8 sound better, but in completely different ways, than the Corvette.

Actually, it makes me feel sad for the poor engine in the Corvette, with all that fuel dilution that must be happening to the oil.

As for the turbo crowd, they don't care much one way or another about vehicle weight. All they tend to care about is how many PSI's of boost they can stuff into their car, and what the code is of the engine they are swapping into their economy car.

They tend to put ridiculous suspension mods on their car, to either have the car scrape the asphalt off of the road surface, or to have their tires bulge or stretch on their over-sized wheels.

Most Corvette owners have way better taste for vehicle modifications than the Turbo'Roo crowd, in my opinion.

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Old(er) certainly does NOT have to = fat.
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Again, don't know where you think I said you were fat, as it wasn't my intention.

I'm definitely not in the best of shape, but I can pull out health related reasons, like having had hip replacement surgery back in '09, related to a motorcycle accident back when I was 24 that broke my left femur. Lady blew a stop sign up the road from my house, just to fill in a blank, in case your imagination makes you want to come up with a reason for my accident.

In conclusion, for the same money as a base Corvette, I could have a base Boxster, and I would be happier, as the Boxster fits my driving preferences better.

But I love the technology that the Corvettes have been playing with in their drivetrains. Now, lets spend some R&D money on getting the car physically smaller, and lighter, and better quality suspension and interior bits to attract a different buyer segment, while retaining the ever-loyal Corvette buyers group at the same time.

Would that really be a bad thing?

BC.
 
Originally Posted By: A_Harman
Over the past few years, I'm seeing more people coming out that are converting from drag racing to road courses.


It requires a lot more skill, that's for darn sure
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I hope the C7 Vette has a better quality interior, that is one of the areas that while have drastically improved since the C5, needs to improve more to keep up.
 
Originally Posted By: OVERK1LL
Originally Posted By: A_Harman
Over the past few years, I'm seeing more people coming out that are converting from drag racing to road courses.


It requires a lot more skill, that's for darn sure
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Absolutely agreed, but not always present at all HPDE's I attend!

Weights of some of the best handling cars under 100k: BMW M3-3579 pounds, Corvette ZO6-3250, RX-8-3079, GT-R-3915 (!!!), Boxster-2971.

Light weight is one of the many secrets to performance. But you may not want to be in one of the light little cars when Soccer Mom runs that red light in the Expedition!
 
What's with all the Corvette dissing? The Vette is and has long been the world's best bang-for-the-buck sports car and it just keeps getting better. What's to complain about? Sometimes I think people just like hearing themselves complain...
 
Originally Posted By: OVERK1LL
Originally Posted By: A_Harman
Over the past few years, I'm seeing more people coming out that are converting from drag racing to road courses.


It requires a lot more skill, that's for darn sure
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What's the old saying? Drag racing is for fast cars, and road racing is for fast drivers?
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You can't compare a bike engine to a car engine...car engines don't turn 12 grand and that's where bike engines get all their power...

A two stroke, sure.
Dyno.. 145HP @ 8800 RPM 109HP @ 5500 RPM far from 12 grand wouldn't you say.
5500 RPM is well within a SBC range so if it made 109 HP per ltr it would be almost 550 HP and that number sounds about right for an engine this size and this technologically advanced.
 
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