I Bin Therbefor

WIXOM, Mich. – A new direct-injection fuel system will help GM’s Gen-V small-block engine deliver greater fuel efficiency compared with the current generation. The fifth-generation small block is an all-new engine family that builds on the architectural and technology legacy of previous generations with greater efficiency, performance and refinement.
General Motors is investing more than $1 billion in manufacturing facilities associated with producing Gen-V small-block engines, resulting in the creation or retention of 1,711 jobs.

GM announced the new direct-injection fuel system for the small block at the Performance Build Center, in Wixom, Mich., as the final fasteners on the 100-millionth production small-block engine – a 638-hp supercharged LS9 engine for the Corvette ZR1 – were tightened. The small block was introduced in 1955.

“Direct injection is a vital progression from conventional port fuel injection that enables an advanced, new level of engine management. The precise control of combustion afforded from direct injection makes it almost entirely an engineering ‘win-win’ – you get enhanced power and torque in addition to better fuel efficiency,” said Bill Visnic, analyst and senior editor at Edmunds.com.

“The evolution to direct injection should be as significant for the next-generation small-block V-8 as perhaps any single engineering upgrade in this storied engine’s nearly 60-year history,” Visnic said.

In the fifth-generation small block, the all-new direct injection combustion system will work with a higher compression ratio and other technologies to enhance efficiency. That means greater performance using less fuel than comparably sized Gen-IV engines.

“The Gen-V small block is an all-new, state-of-the-art engine family that will offer more efficiency and refinement than any other small block in its more than half-century of production,” said Jordan Lee, chief engineer. “For customers, that will mean cars and trucks that deliver more while using less gas to do it.”

The Gen-V small block will go into production in the near future and is guaranteed to have 4.4-inch bore centers – the center-to-center distance between cylinders that has been part of the small-block’s architecture from its introduction 56 years ago.

hwy1vette

Is this a push rod engine?

Almost There

^^ Facepalm

jackhall99

Reading from the announcement:

The fifth-generation small block is an all-new engine family that builds on the architectural and technology legacy of previous generations with greater efficiency, performance and refinement.

That sounds like push-rod to me, but who knows?

tuxnharley

I think we can go to the bank that it will be a push rod design! Anybody want to bet that it will not be a push rod engine? I'll take your bet at 2:1 odds!

BuckyThreadkiller

I wonder - since Nascar is moving to EFI on small blocks next year why they don't just skip conventional fuel injection completely and go to DI?

MCVetteLs6

2:1 odds taken.
Rotary engine. 100%

Z_Rocks

More efficient.
More Power.
Less fuel.
======
Total: Awesomeness!

JerriVette

I believe next April will be the release of the C7 information..

The Gen Five V8 should be sized between 4.0 liter for various applications making 400hp and will be 6.2 liters for 470hp naturally aspirated .....for the corvette C7...

Forced induction will be even more impressive. ...


April can't come soon enough..

tuxnharley

Actually, back in the 70's GM owned liscencing rights to the Wankel engine, and there were 2 rotor and 4 rotor rotary engine Corvette show cars built. The inability to meet smog regulations at the time and problems with rotor tip seal durability and premature wear killed GM's interest in the Wankel.

How much ya wanna bet? A penny, dollar, ten, or a Franklin?

I Bin Therbefor

Future Production

Tonawanda Engine Plant
Buffalo, N.Y.
Gen V engines

St. Catharines Powertrain
St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada (Historically the source of Corvette engines)
Gen V engines

Mexico Powertrain
various Gen V engines

Bedford Powertrain
Bedford, Ind.
Gen V cylinder head castings

Defiance Casting Operations
Defiance, Ohio
Gen V cylinder blocks, cylinder heads and crankshafts

Bay City Components
Bay City, Mich.
Gen V engine components

From GM media 11-29-2011

Z_Rocks

And I bet this engine could take higher compression (12.5:1) and give you a crisper response.

FI addon will be harder to add and tune on these DI cars!

OnPoint

Hope it doesn't have the auto start/stop feature the new Porsche 911 is being introduced with.

It will be fun to watch the aftermarket tuners learn to tweak this (as they no doubt will figure out how to do).

Hopefully GM figured out how to avoid the carbon build-up on valves that some DI engines have experienced to their detriment.

Jinx

Auto stop/start, displacement on demand, bring 'em on. They improve efficiency and don't hurt peak performance. It's like free fuel in your tank.

.Jinx

OnPoint

You want your car shutting off/re-starting every time you come to a standstill in traffic?

I don't any of my cars doing that, let alone my sports car.

C8forT

4.4 in. (110mm) bore spacing is awfully large for a 4.0L motor, and would unnecessarily make the engine heavier than it needs to be for that displacement. I'm thinking the new motor will be somewhere in the 6.0L range, +/- 10%.

Jinx

If I can disable that feature when I want to, and if the system is engineered for that duty, YES. At high-volume intersections, red lights can be three or four minutes long. How much fuel are all of those cars burning, sitting at all of those red lights for all those hours of rush-hour traffic, all those days of every year, doing NO work whatsoever? That fuel isn't getting anybody anywhere and it's not bringing joy to anyone, it's just WASTED.

Give me the technology to make the most of my fuel. Let me burn less of it waiting for my turn to go and more of it painting a smile on my face.

.Jinx

tuxnharley

....sort of! I think that qualifier about being "able to disable" is key, and I wonder if that will be the case. I think it is more likely that the start/stop feature would be used in calculating fuel economy and emissions requirements on the prescribed test cycle, and therefore be a mandatory full time feature.

OnPoint

^^ I agree.

Not sure I want it on my family car.

And I'm positive I don't want it on my sports car - the fuel it consumes is miniscule compared to my overall household fuel consumption.

Gadfly

Well that is A real shame.

That will drastically limit the tuning potential of the engine with out yanking out the motor and tossing the stock crap.

If the really want to make more power and be more efficient they should of gone with an overhead cam design... Not Di, but that is normal for gm, instead of modernization of the 1930's design, they take the cheap route and avoid any real engineering, then claim triumph.