Tom400CFI

This question is for older 'Vette owners... C4, specifically. I know Tadge didn't design the C4...but I also know that he was in the 'Vette program when the C4 was still in production, he was deeply involved in C5 program...you'd have to be pretty familiar w/the C4 in order to have a strategy for the C5, I'd think. Plus contact w/others who had been in the program previously...

I realize this it isn't supporting current product...but it is supporting the Corvette brand and it IS very tech/engineering oriented -more so than questions about HD radio options!

I have a few questions; I'll lay them all out, hopefully Tadge could answer one, if not all of them, as a group. Here they are:

1. (This one goes WAY back!) The intake runners on the '82/'84 CFI engine -why where they so small? LORE says it's a conspiracy; it was done to make the upcoming L98 look better. Indeed, if you port the CFI intake, it ends up producing about the same power as an L98. The other statement made is that the small runner was necessary for emissions, drivability, fuel distribution, etc. Though again, ported intake CFI engines don't seem to suffer in any of those areas. Any clarity on the 2/3 sized runner?

2. LT5, why the 4.4 bore center? This was a hotly debated topic in at least ONE THREAD. Some say it claim it was for potential assembly line sharing?...but the engine was never planned to be used in other vehicles, or even assembled by GM. There are intermittent comments in "Heart of the Beast" about it, but Roy Midgley's decision is never explained.

3. Discuss the weakness of the C4 frame structure, and give opinions as to how to augment the thing. Dave Hill has mentioned a "hinge point" in the frame...what/where is that? What does it mean?

4. Why the 50* operating range in the LT1/4? T-stat is a 180, so it can run as cool as 180...but fans come on at 230 -a 50* range. People claim the "high temp" is for emissions...but if so, why the low stat...which ends up determining operating temp at cruising speeds, frequently. Why the large range?



And a few "General tech" (not generation related);
1. People say that circulating coolant too fast causes an engine to over heat. That's LORE. Can you explain the engineering behind that?

2. Free revving (no load) engines, "lugging" engines. People have all kinds of personal beliefs about that too. Can you talk about those and the specific detriments?

3. "Running your engine too cool will wear it out". Can you talk about the real world effects of engine "destruction" from a T-stat change?


^These legends persist. It would be awesome to have a truly qualified engineer comment on these persistent old wives tales.

Thanks for reading!

jvp

I can appreciate your enthusiasm for the previous gen Vettes, but I'm not going to even put this up for vote or consideration. What a lot of people don't see is that Tadge taps help behind the scenes to get a lot of the answers we see here. So much time has passed between those previous gen cars and now that people who were working on them probably aren't around within GM.

Tom400CFI

No they aren't...but Tadge is, and as I stated above, he was in the Y body program during a good portion of the 4th gen run. He can always say that he doesn't know.

I figured getting an older car question answered wouldn't fly in these parts. Thanks for the reply, at least.

EDIT: What about the non-gen related questions?? We see these "lore's" repeated endlessly on these forums. Don't you think people might like a solid explanation for them?


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93Rubie

Even if the older questions cannot be brought up I think the general lore is around enough on this forum to merit a actual experts statement on. My 2 cents.

Dt86

C4, forgotten but not gone lol.

TorchTarga94

pologreen1

Maybe have Tadge put someone with the technical information and answers respond to the questions of previous generations? That is what a "facillitator" does.