You know....... To make the most power out of our cars youll need to modify and modify. Doesnt that get you thinking though? Like for instance, ported heads...... They cost alot of money to port the excess material when GM could have given us an engine that had a perfect amount of airflow to the heads and intake, and not make us have to do this ourselves.... Actually it would have been cheaper for GM to give us pre-ported heads becuase it requires leass aluminum or iron to make. Another thing would be likea cold air intake... why in the hell would they restict airflow to the engine??? Instead of putting all those restrictions on the airflow, they could have had an air intake that can suck in more air, and that would have cost them no more to make instead of having their stock one...... And the manifold, why did they have to restrict all those exhuast gases, when they could have went slightly bigger for better flow and still pass emissions.There are SO many things GM could have done to the engine that would have cost them NOTHING, and it could easily have been one of the fastest v8's on the planet.. But why!? Why do they restrict their engines like this? Dont they want a high performance sports car for sale?

 

It is simple EPA

 

No, its not so much the EPA, but its a $$$ factor.

Bugatti has a California certified car that makes well over 1000hp stock, it was a show car, but it was completely California smog legal.

 

I dont understand how this would be a money factor, when it would actually be cheaper for gm to have it already done like that for us

 

It takes more $$$ to research it, they already have had a majority of the castings from previous vehicles over the years. It takes a lot less money to stamp a rocker arm, than it does to assemble a CNC machined one with needle bearings. There is a lot of money in it, especially when you talk about producing several hundred thousand of these each year. Power goes up... so does fuel consumption, so does the vehicles EPA category, and thus it is taxed accordingly = higher vehicle price.

This is why LS1's are better.

I'm putting my flame suit on.

 

I agree with youre thinking... BUT can you please tell me how it would require more research? I mean come on... only a dumbass would make the airflow going from the filter to the intake restrictive... I mean come on! Have you seen a stock air box? Damn, they could have easily took all the restrictants out and made it free flow. As for the heads..... It would not have required more research to make them more "hollow" inside for better flow, I mean, HECK, I can port thr heads myself with some tools and I can remove the excess material.

 

That and the carmakers want to appeal to the widest audience ($$$-again) so thinking not everyone likes to hear the air rushing into their engines, they designed in the restrictive silencers.

A few ounces of extra cast aluminum is a lot cheaper than the time/labor/expence of porting heads and intake.

The Vette has better flowing manifolds than the Camaro from the factory. But look how much more the little things that make the Vette fast cost.

 

I agree that some people dont like the added noise and possible not as good street manners that come from a modded car. plus if they did all of the work for us, what would we have to do? nothing the one thing I wish GM would have done better was put a beefier rear end under the car. I have a 12 bolt so its not an issue for me anymore, but I broke my 10 bolt 5 times, and rebuilt it 4.. on the 5th breakage I decided to screw the 10 bolt and throw down the cash for the 12 bolt.

 

and they don't want these cars comming so close to the performance of their baby (vette)

 

Anyone ever just took the center section of an ABS 8.5" 10 bolt rear end? They have the exciter ring on them.

 

Consider also the more HP a car has the more accidents and thusly the insurance rates go up which keeps buyers away. Also, as the HP increases you have to increase the strength of all the other components. This will cost money. The biggest expensive in designing a car is probably developement. As they increase the HP more things break. Each time this happens it goes back to the drawing board. This than costs more money.

Look at the Lamborghini. Total performance, looks, and suspension but it has a $250,000 pricetag!!!! The Camaro was designed and marketed as a cheap sporty musclecar so there is a limit to the amount of developement they can put into the car.

It would be cool is they introduced a 600HP car under $25,000 but fat chance of that happening.

 

it is very hard to cast "ported heads" for a multitude of reasons.
when heads are ported propperly, they are VERY close to the coolant lines.

the air box was done like that to keep power ratings down for insurance/vette threats while giving enthusiasts an easy way to add some ponies

 

See fast burn heads.