GM DOHC plans, shelved in '08

[scholtmj]

Originally Posted by 1989ZR1#74

Well before you throw the Powertrain guys under the bus it was a bit of an affront to them. The tenor of that comment was basically

"How could you let the blue oval beat you in tech?"
"They have a cool DOHC motor and you have push rods?"
"Don't you think your design is behind the times?"

Then the "don't car how many CAMs comment." THen they went on to explain packaging and how the OHV engine is not by any means low tech.

Basically the their right. They will blow the doors off the DOHC ford...

True, they might have felt the cold shoulder but they were stepping into the lion's den of DOHC Chevy guys. They should expect passionate defense of a motor GM stopped supporting.

[jimmac28]

Where is the best push-rod technology, just have to look to NASCAR, 850-900 hp @ 9500 RPM from a carbureted 358 cubic inch motor. So there is some room, but to get the SB to 500 hp they had to throw cubic inches at it and that?s what Corvette has been doing, nothing special they are doing what Hot Roders have been doing for years.

Where should the 350 cu LT-5 be if left in production, easily 475-500 hp that fit?s in a C4 an is as dossal as Buick. I don?t think engineering had any thing to do with the end of this engine. It had to be all marketing and the bottom line boys, why should we spend on engineering when we can BS everyone.

And remember the LT-5 is late 1980?s technology just think where we would be 20 years later.

[DMark]

Originally Posted by jimmac28

.... And remember the LT-5 is late 1980?s technology just think where we would be 20 years later....

Where Ford is with the 2011 Mustang - - - 5.0 DOHC with 412 hp.

[DaveK]

I think it was pretty hilarious when the guy made his "if I can beat you" comment. Yeah, you can beat us, by adding considerable eaxtra cubic inches and having 20 years of technology and engineering refinement.. yep, you can really beat us...

Also at the JVD BBQ, didn't the last speaker say in his slideshow that they had already done the engineering on how to fit the LT5 in to the C5 package?

It was the bean counters winning yet again. Dave M as much as said so. The LS series was cheaper because they could share it with the trucks, standard cars and other assorted farm vehicles... which is why they never achieve the legendary status that the LT5 has.

You don't see Ferrari putting truck engines in their cars, or Porsche or any of those other super cars!

[Aurora40]

Originally Posted by DaveK

You don't see Ferrari putting truck engines in their cars, or Porsche or any of those other super cars!

You do see both Porsche, and especially Ferrari, going to the same displacement well, though.

The performance of LS equipped Corvettes has been impressive. And it was suitable for cheaper cars like the G8 and even Impala.

Would it have been interesting to see where the lt5 program would have gone? Hell yeah. But was going LS the wrong move? I'm not sure how anyonecan look at the cars to date and say so.

Abandoning the DOHC V8 altogether though, yeah I too think that will bite them. I don't see how Cadillac can hope to run with the big boys without one.

[Aurora40]

http://www.insideline.com/car-news/g...e-in-2009.html

[LGAFF]

Well, dumping the program keeps our cars unique to the breed.

[Locobob]

The guy on stage who was most vocal about touting the LS motors was not an engineer but a marketing guy, I can't think of his name off hand. I talked to him a bit more while waiting in line for a poster and he was rather adamant in his support of the choice to go with pushrods instead of DOHC.

[XfireZ51]

BTW, we were all there to celebrate an historical event which involved Chevrolet, Lotus and a DOHC motor. I didn't hear guys like Graham Behan rushing to the defense of the OHV technology. My question was prefaced by an observation about how young people KNOW about the LT-5. They know about it more than most other Vette guys. They are the future of Corvette and they have grown up on OHC configuration. What I asked is what do the guys in Dearborn know that the Warren guys don't or vice versa. Frankly the story of the LT-5 isn't much different than some other firsts by GM. We've seen them abandon efforts just as they were getting it right. Then somebody else comes
along and picks it up making it their own. The LS series is a marvelous piece of engineering and packaging. But let's not kid ourselves. It was built to power trucks and not high horse high speed supercars. It's the formula that makes Corvette a great bang for the buck BUT, it won't capture the next generation which it needs to do in order to continue on. That was my point. I've worked in
marketing most of my life. I have done strategic
and product planning. You're either a leader like Apple or end up with Zune.

[Aurora40]

Originally Posted by Locobob

The guy on stage who was most vocal about touting the LS motors was not an engineer but a marketing guy, I can't think of his name off hand. I talked to him a bit more while waiting in line for a poster and he was rather adamant in his support of the choice to go with pushrods instead of DOHC.

Hmm, sounds like the guy deserved to get some flak if he was doing that at a ZR-1 event. That seems typical though... Incapable of giving credit to some older approach, all they can do is tout the latest and greatest.