fatbillybob

Does anyone know if the drysump Z51 motor is really lower in the chassis than the wet sump C7 base car?

Has anyone heard of base C7 blowing motors on track like the old C6 with LS3 motors?

PeteC7

That is an interesting question. I think the centerline of the crankshaft would have to be kept the same to line up with the rest of the drive train. I was recently looking up the oil fill amount and did notice the wet sump cars took almost 3 quarts less oil so that would lead me to believe the engines are mounted in the same location but the dry sump gets extra oil capacity in the external reservoir.

mustclime

A guy in a car show told me the motor mounts are different (taller),but I have never taken the time to look it up..... so no idea.

mdiiulio

This was alluded to by Tadge in early marketing for the Z51 package. I don't have the source, but it rings a bell. The point was that the dry-sump allows for lower mounting, thus lower CG, and better balance/handling as a result. It was never mentioned just HOW much lower it was, but the limitation would be the height/depth of the wet-sump pan itself, which is already shallower than your every-day sedan's.

Still can't find a source though, theres probably a reason for that...

village idiot

Couldn't someone just look up the part numbers for the motor mounts?

I'm guessing the dry sump is all around worse if you don't track. More weight (tank, more fluid), the fluid sits up higher (bottom of pan) and it costs way more to get an oil change done.

JNess

All models use the same motor mount and mount bracket.

village idiot

That's what I figured. There is a lot more to making an engine sit 3" lowers. Trans is lower, torque tube, driveshaft (torque tube) angles, shifter linkage, etc.

I'd also imagine that the trans was the limiting item, and they got that as low as possible, then mounted the engine to it.

Kent1999

Same question came up with the C6. Same answer is 'no, the two motors are both mounted at the same height.'

The misconception comes from a truthful generic statement: "dry sump allows the motor to be mounted lower"

"Allows"--yes. But the C6/C7 doesn't take advantage of that ability, because it shares all chassis parts between the dry sump and the wet sump Corvettes, and many of those parts would need to be changed if the engine height was different between the two. Remember that the engine is rigidly mounted to the trans and axle via the torque tube -- change the engine height and ALL those other parts change attitude, changing clearances, changing angles...$$$

Socko

Though i assume everyone is right and gm doesn't lower the engine on the drysump cars. It is pretty normal to get shorter mounts for a c5 engine and leaving everything else in place. So it is possible to lower the motor without lowering the trans/diff. There is no reason they couldn't do it. The shifter still works fine as one of my buddies has the short hinston 3/8" lower mounts.