Assistance would be appreciated...

[BlackSheepz]

Originally Posted by efnfast

Wow Mark, very well said.

Agreed. Very well said Mark.

[DRM500RUBYZR-1]

Stan,

You might do well spending some time researching a group known as the
"ZR-1 Owners Registry"

The group started around 1992 with a very similar mission to the ZR-1 Net Registry.

At one time they were rather robust and had over 1500 members. It held "gatherings" that were often well-attended, both at Bowling Green and Carlisle, as well as at the Mercruiser facility in Stillwater, Oklahoma.

It was quite a bit more "Mom and Pop" than our current Registry.

Larry Merow, since passed, was the editor of the Newsletter, and back then there was no internet or online presence.

When Larry became ill, the organization waned, and ultimately ceased to exist before he passed away.

I point it out, as it was, in it's day, performing many of the same functions, although it lacked the instantaneous nature of a web-based organization, which would have doomed it had it lasted longer but refused to migrate to the newer technology.

Much of our passion for this car can be traced to those beginnings.

It would be wrong to not at least give it mention in your work.

Thought this might prove helpful.
Thanks,

Marty

[Hog]

Who built the actual development engines?
I remember seeing the paperwork for the actual development engines and the hundreds of hours that the Engineers and Technicians at Lotus put on those engines.

Lotus Engineering’s clients numbered several of the automotive world’s big players including General Motors and Chrysler and it was to both of these that non-executive chairman, Alan Curtis broached the idea of purchasing Lotus. At the time, Chrysler was none too financially secure, but GM was thriving and Bob Eaton — who oversaw much of GM’s future engineering needs — was a keen Lotus fan and, indeed, employed Lotus Engineering on advanced research and design projects.

By 22 January 1986, a deal was struck and Lotus had been ‘adopted’. General Motors bought-out BCA, Schroeder-Wagg and JCB, the Americans effectively becoming the majority shareholder. After four months of co-owning Lotus with an arch-rival, Toyota sold out to GM —though it continued to supply components — and by October of the same year, GM had acquired a 91 per cent stake in Lotus. The deal had cost the US giant a paltry — in their terms — £22.7 million.

by October 1986 GM had paid 22.7 million British Pound Sterling = US$27,724,513 (in todays currency)

On August 27, 1993 GM sold Lotus to for £30,000,000 (British Pound Sterling=US$36,640,326) to A.C.B.N. Holdings S.A located in Luxembourg, sold again n 1996 to various companies







Excerpts in italics are from this site http://www.lotusespritworld.com/EHistory/ToyotaGM.html

I remember that GM had a specification that limited the size of the engine because it had to fit through a certain opening as the body was lowered atop it. This specification ended up being smaller that it actually required on the assembly line. It was this certain spec that forced Lotus Engineers to select the camshaft sprockets diameters that they did. Ideally they wanted larger diameter sprockets which would have been better for secondary chain durability at high race rpm.

[Z51JEFF]

Originally Posted by DravinWolfPro

Jeff,
Thank you for catching that. I've been going over so many articles from so many years and try to crunch it all down into short burst to catch the imagination that sometimes the way the words are conveyed get blurred. You know the old saying "I wish I had a second pair of eyes"? Ha Ha yeah, that's an understatement in this adventure. What would be your recommendation on how I can write that post to best convey my message?
Appreciate the input.
Best Regards,
Stan

***UPDATE***

This is a direct quote from http://www.corvetteforum.com/article...-and-overview/

"The C4 ZR-1 Corvette began production in 1990. It featured an engine
built by Lotus, which was then a subsidiary of GM. This engine had an
aluminum block, four overhead camshafts, and 32 valves. The motor also
had an air-management system. This allowed a ?part throttle? condition
which provided the option of turning off eight of the 16 intake runners
and fuel injectors. A valet key allowed the driver to switch between
full and normal throttle. Normal throttle produced 200 horsepower; at
full throttle, the engine put out 375 horse power.

At the time, General Motors had nowhere to manufacture the C4 ZR-1
engine, so it was produced by an outside manufacturer, Mercury Marine,
in Stillwater, Oklahoma, U.S.A.

Lotus also helped develop the ZR-1’s suspension system. Known as the
FX3, this ?active suspension system? would soon become the foundation
for all optional Corvette suspension systems."

It was designed by Lotus with some input from GM but built by Mercury Marine,M M can't be over looked in giving credit with the LT5. 3 principles here: GM,Lotus and of course Mercury Marine in Stillwater OK.

[XfireZ51]

Whatever happened to this effort? Sounds like it would be very appropos for the Registry to be involved in. Where better to get this information?!

[oricale]

If i may speak for dravin, the doc is in work, and dravin productions is going to many of the GTGs we have (gathering, carlisle)

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using ZR-1 Net Registry mobile app

[Hib Halverson]

Originally Posted by Z51JEFF

It was designed by Lotus with some input from GM but built by Mercury Marine,M M can't be over looked in giving credit with the LT5. 3 principles here: GM,Lotus and of course Mercury Marine in Stillwater OK.

>The LT5 was designed by Lotus to guidlines set by GM which also had input to Lotus during the design phase.
>The LT5 was developed jointly by Lotus and GM.
>Development engines were assembled first by Lotus and later by MerCruiser
>Production engines were assembled by MerCruiser.
>Development continued at Lotus and MerCruiser until September of 1991. That work produced a second generation LT5, introduced for 1993, and a third generation LT5 which, by 9/91 reached the early protype stage and, had the program continued, would have been introduced in late 1994 for 1995 ZR-1.

[Hog]

Thanks for the development engine info Hib.


I always thought that the GEN 3 LT5 was destined to MY1996 when OBD2 was mandated in NA? But the LT1 came in OBD 1 and 2 versions, so no reason the LT5 couldn't as well.


Just to round out the info, when did GEN 2 LT5 production at Mercuiser cease? EDIT N/m production ended November 1993.

thanks