Shot Peening of C5 Z06 ring gears
08-16-2017, 10:27 PM
#1
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Shot Peening of C5 Z06 ring gears
Was the decision to shot peen C5 Z06 ring gears made because of actual failures that occurred during development or was it purely a preemptive measure? Was the additional 35HP of the 2001 Z06 model really the dividing line between a gear that would live in the base model and a non-peened gear that would die in the Z06?
Has Corvette continued with shot peening on the ever higher HP models or do you pursue different measures now to improve gear durability?
Has Corvette continued with shot peening on the ever higher HP models or do you pursue different measures now to improve gear durability?
08-20-2017, 01:01 PM
#2
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The development of the C5 Z06 was essentially the "ZR1" successor, with pretty specific targets of performance. They also first did validation and testing at the Nurburgring on that car. It was somewhat of a mentality shift that occurred on C5.
With engineering you generally design for loads that are intended, but with a safety factor added. Given the increase hp/tq of the Z06, coupled with the bigger tire, and intended use, I think it'd be a somewhat natural progression to increase the strength of main driveline components to meet durability and reliability standards. C5Z also received the closer ratio MN12 transmission, and a transmission is simply a torque multiplier.
Driveline components can often survive much higher hp/tq output, depending on the tire used and how you treat it. Due to the cut of a ring and pinion, it spreads load across the face of the gear teeth. It's really shock loads that break things. I don't think it's a matter of the non Z06 being incapable of handling the Z06 level of power, I just think when they built the car, you have to do a systemic upgrade, not just add power and put on a for sale sign...know what I mean.
With engineering you generally design for loads that are intended, but with a safety factor added. Given the increase hp/tq of the Z06, coupled with the bigger tire, and intended use, I think it'd be a somewhat natural progression to increase the strength of main driveline components to meet durability and reliability standards. C5Z also received the closer ratio MN12 transmission, and a transmission is simply a torque multiplier.
Driveline components can often survive much higher hp/tq output, depending on the tire used and how you treat it. Due to the cut of a ring and pinion, it spreads load across the face of the gear teeth. It's really shock loads that break things. I don't think it's a matter of the non Z06 being incapable of handling the Z06 level of power, I just think when they built the car, you have to do a systemic upgrade, not just add power and put on a for sale sign...know what I mean.