Quote:
Originally Posted by mike100
I don't know when GM will break away from OHV V8's, My take is that GM is holding back...way back...
Makes you wonder what the mid cycle refresh is going to bring.
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GM made a decision for the C5 to develop pushrod V8s and abandon the LT5. Much has been said whether or not that was the correct decision. People have pointed to the power levels of present day LSx engines and said it was the right decision. That can not be established from the data. They can rightly say that their program has been successful and they have achieved good gains in power. However the LT5 was, at the time of the decision, a viable 400+ HP engine.. It took GM 10 years of development to regain that level of power. Further increases came with increases in displacement and FI. All of us know that the existing LT5 was capable of much more. We would all like to have seen what development of the LT5 would have wrought. The supposed superiority of OHV engines in my mind is answered by the racing classes that do not penalize any valve configuration. In those classes OHC engines are dominant. The lone exception is unlimited drag racing. All that being said, we can and do enjoy the unique position that the ZR-1 hold in the Corvette lineage. It does not have to compete with a 25 year newer car. My hope is that GM corrects the LT1/LT4 problems soon. If they are holding back it's not working. Maybe they will adapt OHC heads to the latter block, but I doubt it.