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Science & Technology |
The engineering brilliance behind the C8 Corvette's LT2 V-8 |
2019-09-22 |
[Hargerty] Given the C8 Corvette’s role as the pride of GM, this sports car is both a revolution in American architecture and exterior design and a prime opportunity for engine lab gurus to shine. Squeezing 495 horsepower from 6.2 liters‐that’s 1.3 hp per cubic inch‐without benefit of overhead camshafts, multi-valve combustion chambers, or boosting is a worthy accomplishment. Here’s how the clever GM engineers did it. They began by keeping the best parts of the small-block V-8 Chevy launched for the 1955 model year: A 4.4-inch spacing between cylinder bores and one block-mounted camshaft activating a mere 16 valves serving eight cylinders. They also retained key refinements developed over six decades that improved this engine’s ease of making horsepower for the least weight, space, and cost: aluminum block and head construction; a deep-skirt cylinder block with cross-bolted main bearings and cast-iron bore liners; state-of-the-art electronic controls to meter the fuel and cleanse the exhaust; free-flowing cylinder heads with direct injection developed for the 2014 C7 Corvette’s LT1 engine; and squirters aiming a jet of oil at the underside of each piston to lower their operating temperatures. |
Posted by:Besoeker |
#4 If you want heartless efficiency go watch F1 racing. Owning a Corvette is more than that. It's about knowing what's in the engine, and that its tradition harks back to the pride of American manufacturing. When you buy a Corvette you're not just buying a bucket of car parts. You're buying heritage. GM has plenty of modern cars. Go buy one of them. Or better yet, a European car because we have low tariffs on theirs while they put high tariffs on ours. |
Posted by: Herb McCoy 2019-09-22 21:43 |
#3 So, instead of adopting modern design concepts they instead used a bunch of engineering kludges that add complexity and potential failure points. Sounds like the GM I know. |
Posted by: Iblis 2019-09-22 12:06 |
#2 1963 Split window. My favorite car of all time. Quite a feat as I love cars. The pic is even in Tuxedo Black. If we ever win the lottery, this is the 1st purchase. The only resto-mod change I'd do is to swap out drum brakes for disks. Thanks B :) |
Posted by: Warthog 2019-09-22 10:00 |
#1 I had an uncle in the late 80’s who was a machinist at a research center. His team was given a new Corvette engine and basically told to run it continuously at a high RPM until it burned up. Then tear it down and recommend improvements on parts. If I recall he said the heat started in the exhaust area and worked back into the engine before locking up. Thanks for posting the article. |
Posted by: Airandee 2019-09-22 06:54 |