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Old 07-11-2012, 09:11 AM   #15
4wdwrx
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Join Date: Oct 2004
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Quote:
Originally Posted by HipToBeSquare View Post
@Scrappydo,
I addressed all three possibilities of increasing the number of valves in the SBC engine.

1: more pushrods.
2: pushrods pushing more valves per rod.
3: overhead cam arrangments.

After decades of crowing the praises of pushrod compactness and small block size... and not accepting DOHC versions previously en-masse, (C4 ZR1 and XLR Northstar), I don't think DOHC is going to be hugely popular for SBC fans. After C4 ZR1, there wasn't a corvette fan outcry for the C5 to have wider application of a multi-valve engine, and XLR was a sales dud for more than one reason, but nobody really swaps XLR-V supercharged Northstars into Corvettes to get the DOHC engine specs.

I am not an SBC devotee... and frankly I think SBCs are overplayed and ubiquitous... I prefer DOHC engines. But I know how SBC fans can be about their beloved pushrod engines.

Corvette is the SBC home field sports car. A technical upgrade to DOHC could do more image damage in the loyalist's eyes, than it's technical benefits. Corvette already has three levels of power, all of which are more than public roads readily allow use of. Power isn't really Corvette's problem.

@ptclaus98
Even just the front fascia looks derivative of the C6, if you disregard the rest of the Jalopnik render, which the fascia is consistent with. It has a similarly boring front end as the C6's rectangular intake and rectangular fog lights. About as boring as the Gen2 Prius. I hope it ends up being more compelling than Jalopnik's render suggests... I said that on Jalopnik, when they first put forward that rendering.

@gpshumway
Evolutionary changes are fine... but I am not sure what GM could have up it's sleeve that wouldn't piss off corvette loyalists. Maybe they'll have something compelling... I am wondering what that will be. That is why I asked.

And Porsche is good about actually TECHNICALLY improving it's cars, and steadily growing horsepower ratings, and improving handling, feedback, and design details, in an evolutionary sense. There was a jarring effect from 993 to 996... and perhaps a bit of one again for the new 991 being longer and more Grand Touring oriented, but by and large, there have been steady upgrades like turbocharging... better suspensions... more recently the replacement of tiptronic with superior PDK... there have been improvements that get people to trade up, and to make newer cars qualitatively better than their predecessors. Porsche is the master at incremental improvements, not just periodic changes with little functional difference.
How all these conclusions come up just from renderings.

There are a big difference between the 911 and the Corvette, not even talking about technical, but the company, image, and market. The 911 has major fan base worldwide, while the Corvette mostly just North America.

The renders may look like "just a facelift", but they are evolutions of Corvette designs, just like from C5 to C6 and past versions. Like the 911. The new Viper looks much like a face lifted original GTS, and I'm glad they chose with the design than some of those early renders that look like Alfas, and Ferraris.

I agree with you on DOHC, it could do more damage than good. the Corvette does not need it and it has plenty power and efficiency.

The pushrod is tradition and unique to the all American sports car.
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