New L88?

[Shannen Durphey]

GM said almost 8 years ago that they would stick with pushrod technology, and
prove that multiple cams/valves/whizzymadoodads aren't necessary to make a good
engine.  

There have been plenty of multiple valve heads and multiple cam engines produced
from GM castings in the quest for more power.  If you're embarrassed by 60's
technology, you'll absolutely die when you remember that petroleum burning
internal combustion engines were used to power road vehicles before the turn of
the century.  If you want something really new, switch to solar power, or
electric cars, or maybe
something even more extravagant.

Hmm.. did we stumble across another meaning for 'fossil fuel'? : )

GM's _production_ cylinder heads (vortec) for the smallblock are among the best
parts
available in the aftermarket.  Look to see who's got aluminum look alikes.  Not
GM...  Good sign that a part of the company is innovative.  

And when you think of GM, and say they are this and they aren't that, remember
that it's a company that employs enough people to need it's own newspaper.  And
that's just at one location!

Before you look to the "good old days" of GM innovation, you should remember
that most of the 70's and early 80's there was little innovation coming out of
GM.  Try to pick a race with a stock 80 Vette.  You'd win if you were riding a
bicycle!  Innovation, hmmph!  Chevrolet is the company that in the late 20's
decided to offer their cars with an ignition switch instead of a key, and to
sell them in only one color.  Ya, seems innovative there. "So, Martha, which
green Chevy is ours?"   How 'bout seatbelts.  Who was first big US carmaker to
offer them?  Ford, in 1955.  GM played it cool and hung back while thousands of
Americans suddenly decided that Fords must be unsafe because they needed these
newfangled belts.  Doesn't sound very innovative to me.  How about in the '50s. 
The all new smallblock v-8 was such a weak piece of scrap iron that the new
"factory sponsored" race effort couldn't finish a race without a crankshaft or
bottom end failing.  The innovation came when Smokey Yunick started demanding
better parts.

Think Innovation.  Think Tucker.

For those of us who like the "I can do more with less" approach, Chevy is on the
right track.
I love GM. I just thought it might be good to put some perspective on things.

Shannen


Gonyou, Jeremy (.) wrote:
> 
> Ok, I see your point.  And I can fully symphathize with the fact that DOHC motors take up space (I currently have a 3.4 DOHC crowding the bay of a cavalier).  However, low-tech solutions from the 60's *are* embarassing because they show zero engineering novelty.  Although Ford may be lacking with their DOHC engines, the imports have shown time and time again that they can get more for less.  The LS6 may be the king of the hill right now, but it's only a matter of time before some honda V8 blows it out of the water (new NSX?).
> 
> So, I will continue to attack GM for using pushrods, because it shows that they are no longer the innovative company that they were in the past.  In a somewhat inderect way, GM represents the engineering prowess of our country.  The LS6 says that we haven't learned a DAMN thing since Ed Cole first designed the small block.  So *that* is why I'm shamefaced when I admit to people that I drive a Pontiac with a pushrod motor.  I'm American, I recognize sound engineering when I see it, and I should know better.
> 
> I don't mean to speak for ECMnut, but this is why GM is embarrassing...
> 
> Jeremy
>
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe from gmecm, send "unsubscribe gmecm" (without the quotes)
in the body of a message (not the subject) to majordomo at lists.diy-efi.org