Concur completely. I seriously doubt you'll see anywhere near that kind of weight loss, but I like the idea!

 

You misunderstand me.

I said I'm not worried about horsepower, not that I don't care.

I'm confident that they'll maintain the power-to-weight ratios close to what they are today (or better! ). What I'm worried about is that the decrease in displacement will come at the cost of higher-revving, peaky motors that have a lot of peak power and not a lot of torque, especially low-end torque.

I acknowledge that, for racing, HP is king (with all the usual caveats about gearing, traction, etc). But when I'm driving on the street (which is what I do with my cars 363-364 days / year), I want an engine with some grunt down low where I can use it!

 

Ok - fair enough.

And FWIW, I don't want an 8000 rpm motor either. I've got one in my Cobra, and while it moves pretty good, finding a tranny that will shift that high under full power (I'm kind of rough on trannies) negates any chance of a truly street-friendly setup at anything coming close to resembling a reasonable cost.

 

http://wot.motortrend.com/6475908/au...014/index.html

Doesn't it make sense that the Corvette would be the first GM car to get this transmission?

The 453hp 3600# Ferrari California uses a rear mounted, 7 speed dual clutch transaxle.

 

I trust that if GM built an 8000 rpm motor, they'd pair it with a transmission that could handle the workload (and/or cripple it with torque management ).

 

Hey - it might be the cat's meow. So long as it is efficient, and can handle full-throttle, high-rpm powershifts like my face-toothed G-Force T5....while being street friendly at the same time....I'm in like Flynn!

 

I want to see the 4.7L engine. I've always wondered what happened if GM say, took a target, like 5.0L, and made the smallest pushrod engine possible around that target. Instead of seemingly doing it the other way around, they started with the 5.7L LS1, and figured out how to punch it to 7.0L LS7.


Also, about this 8000 rpm redline rumor/hope floating around, assuming this is a 2 valve pushrod head with about the same valve sizes we see today, it would be interesting if GM has figured out how to make a valvespring (let alone the rest of the pushrod valvetrain) survive 8000 rpms while maintaining the usual OE reliability of a stock street engine. I'd be impressed enough if GM outfits the base pushrod V8's with a 7000 rpm redline from what they learned from the LS7.


Now, if GM was able to design a smallest max-punched out clean sheet design 5.0L pushrod small block, better head designs, a LS7-like 7000 rpm redline, cam phasing tech, direct injection, a better intake and exhaust manifolds, and sprinkle in some new materials and manufacturing tech...... that could be an interesting small block!

But would it be worth doing if you can do the same on the existing LSx family base scale?


EDIT: Oh, and while I'm still in la-la land, it should be dry sump with a ultra compact integrated custom oil pump/scavenger, same with the water pump, and also a never seen before ultra compact and efficient alternator based on the latest electric generator tech. Add electric steering.. and imagine how low and tight you can pack such an engine with a thin dry sump pan without any huge external accessory pulleys and belts hanging off.

 

Then we'd be right back to when we had the SBC and BBC.

I'm a fan of technology as much as anyone, but given DOHC hasn't really solved a lot of the efficiency problems with smaller capacity engines, I'm not entirely convinced that DI, VVT etc... will give us any gains over what we're accustomed to seeing from the current GM V8 powertrains. It's worth exploring however...

 

What??? you have see the DI gains on other engines. DI is the best new tech in a while. Gen V is almost garanteed to make 10% more power and get better fuel economy than an equal displacement Gen III/IV.

2.8L CTS V6 was 210HP now the DI 3.0L is 270HP.

 

DI has been around since diesels were invented. not new, just recently affordable to use.

i just want the most fuel efficient V8 i can get with enough power to equal LS1s. not an extra 100-150hp with the same gas mileage.

 

Yes I have, but I think you miss my point. Is the GM 5.3L any more economical than the 6.2L? Probably not but it sure does produce way less power/torque. Somehow, i don't think a DI 5.3L will be a direct substitute for either the current L76/LS3.

Personally, I'd love a DI version of the L76/LS3. There is nothing exciting about the notion of a smaller capacity 4.7/5.3L Gen V (to me), not when the size and weight is most probably comparable to the 6.0/6.2L versions of the same generation engines.

 

Lighter too.

 

I see what you are saying, yeah a 5.3L is going to have trouble matching the power of the current 6.2L. It might not need to though if the C7 is a little lighter and as long as that DI 5.3L is over 400HP.

 

.............apparently not.

 

I think there's some confusion out there (as well as internet myth) about the new "illegality" of pop-up headlights. If you do a Google search you find plenty of references to it, but no links to the "law" itself that I can see.

FWIW, Wikipedia has a discussion that does not mention any law which makes pop-ups and hideaways illegal, simply that they have "fallen out of favor" with manufacturers. There seems to be a new international standard for pedestrian protection (part of something called ECE) which has made pop-ups more expensive and difficult to design in order to meet the standard. However, the United States and Canada do not participate in this.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hidden_headlamps