Goodbye V6 Engines

new v8 engines are unreal. one reason they are so expensive is because a run of the mill v8 mass produced now easily mimics an early, very high performance engine. i know gm stuff very well, since the dawn of the ls1.

fast forward to my 2018 camaro. the LT1 engines are advertised 455 crank hp, the manual trans cars routinely put down 410+ on a chassis dyno through a 2 pc driveshaft, tr6060 trans, 9+" rear dif, 20" wheels, huge brakes etc. with just bolt on parts they are seeing over 500 whp. add heads & camshaft and they're making over 600 whp. the basic ##### v8s are 11.5:1 compression, have factory forged cranks, 6 bolt mains, roller camshafts etc all from the factory. the long block in a 6.2 silverado is identical to that of a 6.2 corvette & camaro engine pre 2020. stock short blocks are frequently seeing 7500+ rpm and surviving several seasons doing such. the basic engines now are race engines of the past. my car made 494 whp & 490 wtq on a chassis dyno with off the shelf bolt on parts. it was making over 450 wtq @ 2200 rpm. did someone say big block?

if you do the math, that is 570+ hp & tq at the crank. the car gets over 30 mpg on the highway on 93 octane and over 23 mpg on e85. drives like grandmas station wagon, has the tq of a 454, fuel mileage of an engine 3/4 its size and still has room to grow. there's no comparison for new engines vs old engines in 99% of real world applications. the new ones are stronger, faster, more durable etc. they have a lot more parts which inherently increases the risk of failure. i've dealt with sbc my entire life and id never go back to a carb and points/hei unless i was doing a period correct resto.

dialing in the fuel injection is the largest contributor to increasing engine life, imho. followed closely by rigid fluid temperature control; ie oil, coolant etc being easily controlled and less reliant on weather. with efi 100% on point you aren't washing cylinders or detonating. the maf is telling the ecu everything it needs to know in order to command the perfect af and timing, at all times - in all weather conditions.

 

Just took GM/Ford/Chrysler 50 years to figure out what us gearheads already knew lol.

 

more new gm v8 info: the 6.2L engines come equipped with vvt (variable valve timing). its one reason they make the power they do. the cam phaser is able to advance and retard the camshaft timing, just like an old cam button, but at any rpm and any amount desired up to 22*. that's one reason these engines make so much tq. i believe my factory tune file showed 12* of advance down low and it ultimately leveled out to 0 around 5700 rpm.

i shift my stock camshaft car @ 6800 rpm. i believe the factory cam specs @ 50 are around 200/209 500/500 116 lsa (tiny camshaft). bear in mind this is the exact same long block you'll find in a pickup truck. same heads, cam, rods, pistons, crank etc. the trucks have different (much better) intake manifolds and different cam timing curves, more toward towing.

if you are a gearhead and you start digging into these new v8s, you will be blown away. don't even get me started on fords gen 3 5.0L (2018+) coyote motors.

 

Jeep? Datsun/Nissan Z? Or was it a big diesel, and I'm out in left field?

Edit: Nevermind. You're a trucker. Your dd is a semi....duh.

 

I'm a gearhead/racer from a while back and it's amazing to see what has been happening the last handful of years and what you can get, easy-peasy, right off the showroom floor... even appliancemobiles.

I'm also a huge fan of F1 and MotoGP and it's astounding the amount of power they're extracting from engines. In the case of F1:

1.6 l, V-6, 1050 hp (MB), 87 octane
Formula 1 Fuel: What Fuel Do F1 Cars Use? - F1 Chronicle​

Yes, F1 engines include a hybrid component (~180 hp), but that's power they're harvesting from the engine and chassis during the course of a lap.

Oh, and although I've been an avowed SB/BBC guy forever, two of the best cars I've ever had were 4 cyl. MB, one n.a., one turbo.

 

I agree, that’s why I’m keeping my old 65 383. It’s nothing rare, but it runs. Might rebuild it someday. Put it in a b body.

 

its a jeep. i use it daily to and from work, at minimum.

 

The 4.0 Torquemonster. Probably the best inline 6 ever made.

 

+1 on that. Had one in a '95 XJ...that motor would pull the world if it could get traction.

 

Dad bought mom a Cherokee with that 4.0 just because he liked that engine so much.