Well, I don't think that I ever said that. What I might have said is, don't assume that the LS2 is the last word in either displacement or output in the next Camaro.





It's not.

 

....or, adding to what Charlie said, even that the LS2 is going to be around for a long time.

 

Well i do agree that we are not going to see the 450HP camaro. But are we going to see a Camaro that will outrun a 2002 Z28 M6?

 

Yes. Why wouldn't we? Even if the real hp ends up being about the same hopefully we are talking about a slightly smaller and lighter car, possibly with better gearing.

I don't think Settlemire would let Camaro go backwards. He's said before something to the effect that the mission will always be to do everything at least as well or better than the last car.

 

All of these conversations kinda strike me as odd.

See, the bar keeps going up on horsepower, and it can be done relatively cheaply with pushrod technology... and concurrently have very little impact on economy or emissions.

We know that the LS2 has a relatively small cam.

We know that the bar for acceptable horsepower has gone up considerably.

We know that the truly limiting factor for the LSx engines was not the engine itself, but the associated drivetrain components and the chassis in the case of the F-cars.

We also know that GM has yet again raised the bar with the truck engines for the GMT-900's, which will offer significant horsepower improvements.

Any idea that there is some advantage to using a motor other than the LS2 or superior development for a top-shelf SS is just kind of silly. The economics of the situation point to commonality with as many platforms as possible.

An LS2 Camaro vs. an LS2 Corvette will result in pretty much the same thing that the sharing of engines always has - there will be certain option layouts that will cause the SS to be just as fast as a particularly optioned Corvette, but only because of gearing and other vagaries. The Corvette will, on the whole, be a faster, better performing car simply because of weight.

Now, Chrysler has raised the bar to 425hp, and the SRT-8 is certainly an impressive machine with outstanding performance for it's size and weight. Does anyone here really think that 425hp is unattainable with the LS2 or further development, or that it would be prohibitively expensive when shared across a couple of hundred thousand vehicles?

I would see no problems at all with the top-shelf SS moving into a 425-450hp bracket, as long as the other vehicles that use the same powertrain architecture are doing the same thing. GTO, CTS-V and Corvette cannot hold still due to market pressures in the horsepower arena.

This is one of GM's greatest strengths - economy of scale. The ability to offer a superior product at a lower price because of the fact that the volumes will be so high that unit cost drops considerably.

F4's got the LS1 because it made economic sense to put it in it. My opinion is that it makes no sense AT ALL to have a engine developed for a Camaro that is lower powered and unique only to that model for more money than you could have the higher-powered variant.

 

Oh, ya never know.


Is there any doubt?

 

Just an educated guess: Camaro SS in the LS2 hp range and Z/28 in the LS2+ hp range.

 

Thank you!!!

Furthermore, GM has a history of sticking "detuned" Corvette motors in Camaros. Sometimes the "detuning" was a different cam; and sometimes the "detuning" was a sticker with a bogus HP rating.

 

So thats why you were putting the z28 in the SRT8 and GT500 class then. Now I am even more curious.........

 

If we are talking about recamming an LS2, why not recam a truck motor?

 

Just another educated guess: Reverse the above.

 

Yet another educated guess: SS gets fancy chrome plated 19" wheels, Z/28 gets forged, road race inspired 19" wheels.

Guess which motor goes with which wheels.

 

MMmmmm...yummy?

yet another educated guess: All the harping by Z28 purists that it should be the top, Z06-style model, have finally paid off? SS to remain optioned out GT boulevarder type, Z28 to be serious effort GT500 competitor?

 

Yet ANOTHER educated guess:

Money talks.

 

I would fully expect Z to be the pricest model in that scenario. SS needs to be contented and priced for the masses, however.