High RPM to Remove Carbon

Yeah, nobody posts on the internet when their car is doing great! Except maybe here. I know that there were some issues, and people blamed it on Dexcool and everything else. But to build a high performance V8 engine, without EGR, and still qualify as an ULEV (you know, like a Honda 4) was a feat of engineering.
Unfortunately, and back to the point of this post, the biggest mistake was putting that engine in a luxury car which owners would baby.
That ring carbonization was mostly due to the motor oil not being able to withstand the heat of combustion. And some of us took care of those issues pretty well I'd say.
BTW, I see them every day down here, not on Sapranos! :)
I was surprised that the Northstar engine was built until 2011, but my memories were more of the 1990s shop queens. I also noted that they maxed out at 300 horsepower for the most part, most had around 275. Basically any 2.0 turbo these days could match or beat its performance. GM knew how important quality was at that point, and of course ruled the world on the V8s that we still crave today. There was really no excuse for this design.
 
Oil consumption in the Northstar was a function of the industry-wide switch to low-tension piston rings in the late-80's/early '90's, and no manufacturer was immune to the problem. Even the beloved Honda and Toyota struggled with this during the time period.

Not a Northstar-specific problem.
 
Unfortunately GM didn't put an oil temp in the ZR2. I'd be curious what the oil temps were after sustained 4k rpms for 15 minutes.
Thing is, you aren’t necessarily making more power, just more rpms.

I think @wwillson found lower oil consumption and lower EGTs running at higher rpm (within reason) due to more charge air and probably a bunch of other reasons I don’t recall.
 
Engine Sound? Simple: Take a four cylinder in Car Size (2 Liter) but add the abbility to rev like a Motorcycle, to 9000 RPM.



From Minute 3:30 on:



The "***!" faces from the passenger seat are allways priceless when you rev it to to redline for the first time.
 
I took the Corvette out for a drive today and was playing around with driving at a steady 2500 rpm vs 3000 rpm. In 50 degree weather if I am holding it at 3000 rpm in 4th gear for 20 minutes the oil temperature gets up to 239F. I later tried doing 20 minutes at 2500 and the oil temperature settled around 220. I also gave it a few full throttle blasts and then coasted down.
I’m not really comfortable with the idea of seeing close to 260 degree oil temperatures (even with ESP 5w30) but I’m ok with 220-240.
Can any of those numbers be quickly converted to non Freedom Units? I know water freezes a zero and boils at a hundred. ;)
 
According to their own words, it has “2x the cleaning detergents”… compared to what though? Their 87? A competitor’s premium? What’s their benchmark for comparison? Hard to tell with marketing speak like that.
I've read, from several sources, on multiple ocassions, and over a period of a few years, that Top Tier fuel has between two and three times the amount of detergent than non Top Tier fuel.

If that's accurate, then the Circle K fuel may just be the equivalent of a typical Top Tier fuel ... nice, but nothing particularly special.
 
I was surprised that the Northstar engine was built until 2011, but my memories were more of the 1990s shop queens. I also noted that they maxed out at 300 horsepower for the most part, most had around 275. Basically any 2.0 turbo these days could match or beat its performance. GM knew how important quality was at that point, and of course ruled the world on the V8s that we still crave today. There was really no excuse for this design.
Yes. They used a different cam profile in the 300 hp ones. I owned both versions and musch preferred the STS/ETC version with the lower overall gearing and 300 HP. Same fuel economy, which was good for the time, but that's no longer the case.
They actually tried to certify that engine for airplane use.
That didn't work. Even though the test bed runs were full throttle for 1000 hrs!
 
Whatever, LS, LT, push rod V8s are push rod V8s to me 🤣

You owe yourself to go grab an HPDE with an instructor if you have this car, Vettes are one of the most popular cars on track when I go. I am not a big Vette person however, I had an instructor a few years ago with a C7 and it changed my mind riding along with him, I would buy one in a heartbeat.
Not only that but Mosport is not too far away!
 
The only 4 cylinder sound I ever heard that sounded sweet, was when I first saw and heard a Honda 750, 4 cylinder motorcycle crack the throttle back in 1969.

Everyone looked, because no one had ever heard that sound before coming from a motorcycle. It had both the Harley's and the "wing-ding-ding" sound of the 2 strokes beat 11 ways to Sunday.

My 2 cylinder Suzuki 650 (four stroke) sounds pretty good at 10,000 rpm!
 
Well this explains why my daughters cars never use oil. She can, and probably does this all day long without even knowing.
Same. 2007 Ford Five Hundred. 242k, engine and transmission are in great operational state. The rest of the car looks like she just won the demo derby at the county fair but man, that thing rides like a hovercraft.
 
Never have done it "Scientifically" like the method described here, but i could assure that you can always feel the difference after you drive a car hard on the autobahn which was previously used mostly on short trips or around town.

4.000 RPM is my prefered cruising speed here with my Winter beater VW golf MK III. It´s a perfect smooth ride with 100 MPH / 160 KMH in 5. gear. You can drive for hours this way, the engine will last forever.

My Honda S2000 is a different story, to my knowledge it is one of the few engines wich you can destroy on the autobahn, because the engine cant stay the insane piston speed at 9.000 RPM for a longer period of time. Read: 30 Seconds ~ 1 Minute to my best knowledge.
I read about two cases in the german forum where owners blow up the engine on the Autobahn because they want to know "how fast this car can go" 🤦‍♂️
They know everything about computers, but dont know the meaning of "Piston Speed" and what happens inside a engine....

Unfortunately, quite a few engines develop problems if run at top speed for extended periods.

Hyundai i30 N burned valves, others destroy turbos (housings aswell as bearings)
 
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