I seem to have been inspired by Burmite.

I think a mid-level V8 is a great idea! It allows people the cache of a V8 equipped sporty car....but without requiring the committment to a full on performance car. It would be so much more approachable for so many people, than the cars most of us are looking for. The Mustang GT seems to be doing alright.

Statisticians be damned...I think it's a good idea!

PS
Are Ford's statisticians rowdier than GM statisticians?

 

You want to see a case made for it? Here you go:

All F-Bodies up till 1992: four to six engines every year. 2 to 3 V8's every year, sometimes more. Sold modestly well. Outsold its competition the vast majority of the time.. Amazing number of combinations to choose from, catering to a wider customer base. Known as generations that kept the ball rolling despite tough challenges and survived through them.

4th gen F-body: Only ONE V8 at a time to choose from, and one V6. No mid-level whatsoever to attract moderate buyers. Sold like hotcakes!(hotcakes that have been left molding in the open air for 3 weeks). No submodel distinction. Was increasingly outsold by its competition. Known as the hiatus-forming generation.

That's my best case at the moment.

GT

 

If you wanna get techincal (yeah, I know they were the same) but the 4th gen DID have a mid-range V8.... the LS1 in the Z28.

Chevy advertised the SS to have more power due to the exhaust, etc...


SO.... there you go.... mid-level V8

 

I know what you mean Darth. But why couldn't we have some real model deliniation in the next Camaro?

We are already expecting the the next Mustang to have at least two V8s. One with 280-300 HP, another with about 400hp. They can do it....and we should too.

The argument about too many coupes at GM for Camaro models to proliferate is beginning to evaporate.....we can't blame the Grand Am for everything.

 

I guess I wouldn't mind seeing a mid-level V8 in a future Camaro either.... but I do believe there is a good chance that the costs would outweigh the sales to do it... unless it were something along the lines of how the LS6 is a beefed up LS1.... then I could see a case for it.

 

Personally, you NEED a 5.7 "350"... But even in the vette's I think engine options are lacking. Screw the ls6 5.7L... Strap it out with a 6L engine and have some more fun! Make the z06 sickly fast... but ah well.

I understand that it was hard in the 92-96 era for chevy, with performance engines and truck engines miles apart. Atleast there was the Lt1/Lt4, let us not forget the Lt5... But I think if they redo the camaro they should use the interchangable parts more. The truck and performance engines are so similar, and they could continue that, to make a baby v8 (like 5L or smaller) as well as a huge stack of engine variants with little in the way of different parts. I think the new camar0 should be a 3.8Lv6 std, a supercharged 3.8Lv6, a 5.7Lv8 and a 6Lv8.

Think of it. The ls1 series derivatives are all really similar...

Base-3.8L N/A 200hp/200tq
RS-3.8L supercharged 280hp/280tq
Z28-Ls1 N/A 345hp/340tq
"SS"-6L engine with ls1 hotcam(std) and larger rockers. ???/???

Except the z/28 should be the top of the line, but with current trend- might as well continue.

 

Ahha! A man who knows what he is talking about.


Whether top engine model turns out to be 5.7l, or 6.0 l, or 6.4l...I don't know...but I like the idea of a more entry level V8....either a 4.8 or 5.3.

And I've used the Mustang GT analogy before....but I'm not sure if it even needs to be called a specific name. Maybe it could be an option on any base Camaro without having to call it something special like "GT" or SS or whatever.

Maybe just calling it "CAMARO" ought to be enough.

 

I wouldn't mind seeing a more fuel efficient big block, heh

 

Like the new 8100 series crate motor??

 

Since we started talking about performance engines... C5R heads, can you simply bolt them up to LS1/LS6? I know that cam and valvetrain have to be reworked, exhaust, etc.., but is any internal engine work required?

Those heads are very good, from what I understand.

Lastly, how expensive and how available are those C5R heads, and how come we are not seeing anyone on this board with those?

 

A 300hp 5.3L like the one found in the SSR truck would fill that mid-range slot nicely.

 

Nah, lets not continue it.

 

Its actually mostly because the heads themselves are very expensive and with the different valve angle (11* versus 15*) you need to get a custom intake manifold to go on top of it. TO make matters worse, with a compression ratio of I think 12.5:1 the heads won't allow the engine to run on 93 pump gas.

But to Z28Forever, lol it was interesting to wake this morning and check this board and see your comment. My post yesterday was more in anger than anything else. Its finals right now, of course I'll be in a pissy mood. But about the 3rd engine choice:

Do I want one? Damn straight I do! It'd be great for the 5th gen! Its just that the bottom line with a company is to make money and with Fbody sales where they were in the 4th gen, the 3rd engine option must have been examined. GuionM was right in that thread I posted in, statistics is an imperfect science and you can't predict the future. You can create a probability that something will happen, but nothing too definite. Long term predictions are out the window. Its why you always get a % chance of the weather occurring. Its never definite, but you can get a general idea whether its likely or not.

I've been studying this a lot recently. I'm a double major applied math and economics with an emphasis on actuarial science (a branch of financial statistics). But as to the short term (1 or 2 models years), you can somewhat predict the short term. Even at that, you can't predict it certainly and absolutely. You can create margins of possibilities. But because the 3rd gen and mustang had 3rd and 4th engine choices, of course it was looked at. But they probably determined that it was more likely due to poor sales at the time for the Camaro, that adding a 3rd engine option would not increase profits enough to justify the effort to do it. So therefore, it was not done. Just a comment that GM will examine stuff like this then decide whether its possible or not. That's all. It's not that GM is out to get us, its just that in the interest of profits, it probably wasn't feasible to do it due to a smaller sports car market.

Do I want a 3rd engine option? HELL YEAH!!!!
I want the most bad *** 5th gen possible! Don't get me wrong at all! Staticians be damned, I want a 5th gen option! But if it isn't possible, it won't happen. Who knows, maybe a new business case can be made since it seems like the market for these cars seems to be growing again?

Who knows what will happen in 5 years? We might be able to get one if it changes enough! You can never predict what will happen in 5 years!

 

I think that would be just about perfect.

 

Hey, I can see why you might be "pissy". I've pulled more than my share of all nighters (AND ALL WEEKERS! ).

By the the 3rd or 4th day, I can remember everyone getting alittle phsycotic.