Literally as we type this, Chevrolet is rolling out the newest version of the venerable small block. Dubbed the LT1, this engine displaces 6.2L, will make 450hp in the Corvette, has the cam in the block, uses pushrods, active fuel management, variable valve timing, an 11.5:1 compression ratio and an aluminum block with iron liners. The whole weight of the package is listed as 465lbs ad the torque output matches the horsepower at 450 lb/ft in stock form. The factory rev limiter is said to be set at 6,600RPM. Connecting rods are forged powdered metal pieces and the firing order is – 1, 8, 7, 2, 6, 5, 4, 3.
We’ll have more info in the coming days but this at least gives you something to chew on. Scroll down to see the GM press photos of the engine!
Looks compact…nice!
Looks antique. What a POS. Enjoy it Luddites (as the rest of the world uses DOHC)
Antique 2013 “Government Motors” LESS: 72.5 h.p./liter
Modern Boss 302: 88 h.p./liter
If you can already make more horsepower than should be legal on the street with a pushrod engine, while at the same time save some fuel with DoD and variable valve timing, and at the same time make it compact enough for the aftermarket to embrace it because it fits in everything and it’s cheaper to re-cam one cam than a half dozen cams, why wouldn’t you stick with what does work?
1. There should be no limits to the amount of horsepower on the street . .. free markets should set the “limits.”
2. DoD is not limited to antique OHVs.
3. Variable valve timing and cam phasing cannot be optimized with a cam-in-block design
4. Half-dozen equals six . .. there’s no V8 that uses six cams.
5. Aftermarket love for the “Less” is based on prior investment, not an objective assessment of which technology is superior.
6. Unless one is building a ’60s Falcon/Mustang/Fairlane or something related, the “compactness” argument is a red herring.
7. 26 m.p.g. is weak tea in a vehicle as cramped, light, and impractical as a Corvette. 55 m.p.g. CAFE will require a lot more than that. (Turbos, multi-valves start-stop electrics are the only way the mossbackers will ever get there without diesel)
8. If OHV is “the answer”, why is virtually everything else in the GM line-up DOHC?
Equipping a supposedly “world class” sports car with an undervalved, obsolete, built-for-cheap Kettering engine ought to make GM a laughing stock.everywhere but among the closed-minded, technophobic traditionalists around here. But it will be popular on the lawnchair bangshifting circuit.
just me or is this guy a douchebag?
Those who can’t win on logic and facts resort to personal attacks.
I have a question. If I wanted a cam upgrade on LT-1 and the Boss 302, which will be cheaper?
And DOHC engines really paid off in the 2011 24 Hours of LeMans, where a Corvette C6-R finished first in their LMGTE Pro class, followed by a Ferrari 458.
Of course the restrictor rules “balanced” the competition, crutching the antique Corvette engine. Cube-for-cube multivalve DOHC engines will beat two-valve OHVs hands down. When was the last time you saw a pushrod engine at Indy or in Formula One?
I think a pushrod engine won Indy in 1994. Team Penske worked with Ilmor Engineering and
Mercedes-Benz to produce the 500I.
This engine was a cam-in-block, OHV. Peak horsepower was 965-970 at 9800 rpm and torque was 557 lb./ft. at 8000, both numbers exceeding design estimates. Red line was 10,000.
In fact Al Unser Jr.’s margin of victory over second place Jacques Villeneuve was 8 seconds.
Read about it in Karl Ludvigsen’s book, Mercedes-Benz Quicksilver Century.
As for formula one; who cares. It sucks.
Ilmor’s now 18-year-old pushrod lump only worked because the Indy rules then in effect allowed more CID and more turbo boost for OHV engines. Cube-for-cube, OHV 2-valve engines are simply not competitive with modern multi-valve OHC designs.
Remember that Roger Penske and Mercedes won the Indy 500 with a pushrod engine – and then the snobs ruled it out. For the same, equal power and torque, there is not an overhead quad cam four valve engine that can match the LS or new LT1 in fuel mileage – name one: Why? – too much mechanical friction driving the cams and valves.
Ha! I thought it would be some awful ohc motor. Looks like its gonna haul ass!
The mossbacked pushrodders at GM must be getting a huge discount on ugly black plastic.
It’s sad when a KIA has a more advanced engine than a Corvette.
Man, I’m as big a Chevy boy as the next, but I was hoping for OHC on the next gen, I feel that the small block war would end if an LS came dohc, all others would be put to bed ….. and why would they call it the LT1?… do we really have to talk about that 90’s bag of sh!t again? It looks like a nice piece, but It just seems like it should be badged a continued LS motor.
LOL – the LT1 debuted in 1970. 350 CI, 370HP in the Corvette and 360 HP in the Z/28
Even the simps, beancounters and bureaucrats at “Government Motors” can figure out that LS sounds like “LESS” . . . of course LT really means LOW TECH. At least there’s some truth in advertising by the Luddites.
All the 90’s lt1 f-bodies I’ve driven def were not making anything near those numbers. I’m aware of the 70’s version…But i’m talking about the boat anchor tpi motors from the 80’s / 90’s…. there is no defending them…
Neither was the muscle car era “LOW TECH ONE” . . . SAE power ratings were “gross” back then (chilly air, no accessories, tailpipes or mufflers, test r.p.m. stabilized) . . . not “net” (net is basically “as installed”)
Odd that all the accessories are on one side . . . hummm? Perfect for a turbo or a Pro Charger on the left side ! Planning or Coincidence ?
Interesting.
Awesome observation!
Hmmm! I don’t see direct injection
If you look closely at the combustion chambers, there’s a small boss on the intake side… which lines up perfectly with an opening underneath the intake ports… my guess is that’s where the injectors will go.
AND it comes stock with a rev kit on the roller lifters. NICE.
That’s not a rev kit. It’s the DOD lifter. It’s necessary to control all that heavy, Rube Goldburg valve train when the oil is cut off to collapse the lifter.
Looks like room for a PS pump on the drivers side. As to what they will do down under with the Holden, they probably ought to convert to manual steering, huh?
Not mentioned are things like direct injection, canted valves, and a really short overall height. Who needs the complexity of DOHC when this thing will get 26 mpg in the city in the new Corvette? The bore spacing and crankcase volume will allow these engines to be built to upwards of 427 cubic inces – try that with the puny coyote. And don’t forget the cost of camming-up one of those Ford engines – $$$. This new engine is destined to continue Chevy’s complete dominance of the aftermarket hot rodding world. By the way, no power steering pump is most likely because most everyone is going to electric steering assist – no hydraulic pump needed.
Of course what the Chevy faithful forget is the cost of all the pushrods, lifters and shaft rockers necessary for enough cam to compete on a horsepower-per-liter basis.
And as Drag Week repeatedly proved this year, “cammed up” OHVs aren’t very reliable (many, many lifter and rocker failures). Whereas a DOHC turning the same RPM as the hot OHVs is a 100,000+ mile engine.
Most certainly, the first American OEM to mass-market with a wide-bore center DOHC will destroy the “LESS” myth among all but the most faithful of the “Government Motors” pushrodders.
It will fit in my SN197 Mustang. Thank you Chevrolet.
Sell your pony car to someone who will appreciate it and buy a Camaro.
Push rods and rocker arms! Ya know they could get rid of that stuff if they just moved the valves down into the block! 🙂
Unless I’m seeing it wrong, that is going to be IMO one of the most expensive water pumps I’ve ever seen! looks like the alternator mount is integrated into the pump casting.
Speedy, less talk more listen. The LT1 has direct injection so tweaking the ECM is a no-no. Obviously they do not want people installing power adders at this time. The LT1 will require an aftermarket ECM and maybe a DPI delete approach. Once again the electronics will have to be defeated to hotrod this deal. The heads look like Big Victor III BB heads. Gone is the rectangular port. Ports are more central on both sides of the head. 2.5 degree cant per valve. Total race tech dripping from this new piece. Wish it had a 4.5″ bore space though. It will, fit in my 2012 Mustang. The twin turbo V6 is coming, along with the 5.5 version. LT2 ?
Now that GDI is in a cheap lump that the aftermarket cares about, there will be hacks for it in record time. While the initial ones will likely be poorly thought out and too expensive, the price will come down and the quality will quickly rise.
The diesel guys have been hopping-up direct injected ‘plants for some time now. Sure there’s a learning curve and some hardware investment that will be necessary. But all the adverse predictions about GDI (as was the handwringing about MPFI decades before) are totally overblown.
As for dripping with “race tech” . . . maybe circa 1965 “race tech.” That really doesn’t make up for the fact that even weak DOHCs in economy cars make more power-per-cube than this obsolete heap. The only fig leaves for the pushrodders are NASCAR’s insistence on antique engine designs and the fact that nobody has yet mass-marketed a wide-bore multivalve DOHC.
The LOW TECH ONE is simply this generation’s flathead. It’s past it’s prime from an objective standpoint. It’s lipstick on a pig.
OOPs, I left out the NHRA’s crutiching of pushrod antiques in its pro classes by banning all overhead cam engines. That also supports the “failth” of the antediluvians.
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Attack of the spammers . . . .
On the other hand, the “new” “LOW TECH ONE” is basically spam-in-aluminum . . . .
I’d rather have a DOHC “prime rib,” thank you very much.
still. a douchebag.
At this point, given he feels compelled to reply to EVERY post proclaiming how awful it it, he’s graduated into troll douchebag territory.
amen. f.o. anonymous..
Yes, nxpress62 still is. ROTFL
Why GM calls this new SB the LT1:
http://www.streetlegaltv.com/news/the-inside-scoop-why-is-gm-calling-the-new-small-block-an-lt1/