PaulEddie

I just read an article that there will be a 6.2L DOHC engine available in the 2018 Corvette.

PaulEddie

The next year or two should be particularly interesting for Corvette fans. As far as we can tell based on spy shots and word-of-mouth, General Motors has not one but two high-performance takes on Chevy’s sports car spinning in the tubes and ready to fire: a track-attack version of the current C7-generation car likely named ZR1, and a mid-engined C8 that can best be described as “revolutionary,” insofar as it might actually inspire an armed uprising among Corvette loyalists.

And it now appears one of those two cars will be powered by a new, dual-overhead cam V-8 that dusts off one of the renowned engine codes from Corvette history.

That’s not a rumor—that’s straight from General Motors itself, albeit in a somewhat circuitous way. As a poster on reddit discovered, tucked away on the fifth page of a recent GM service department document detailing the internal codes the company will use for its 2018 model year vehicles sits a table called “Passenger Car Engines for GMNA,” and at the end of the table lies the description of an utterly alien engine: ENGINE GAS CYL, 6.2L, SIDI, DOHC, VVT, ALUM, GM, It’s listed with the book code “Y,” which in internal GM parlance means it will only be available in the Corvette. And it has its own internal name: LT5.

That name should be familiar to any Corvette fanboys—it’s the same designation GM gave to the only other DOHC V-8 in the ‘Vette’s history, the Lotus-designed aluminum-block motor found in the C4-generation ZR-1.

The current Corvette motors—the naturally-aspirated LT1 and the supercharged LT4—are both still listed as being in the Corvette lineup come model year 2018, so it seems unlikely that the new motor will be slotting into an existing model. Especially since, as we mentioned, the company has at least two new models coming, each of which could be a good fit for such a new motor.

The new ZL1 seems like the obvious choice, at first blush; after all, its forbear was the first to have a DOHC motor, and the two engines even share a name. But the more we think about it, the less likely that seems. If the new car is supposed to be the ultimate front-engined Corvette, it seems likely it would need to be the most powerful one ever—meaning it would need to outpower the 650-horsepower Z06. But the table entry makes no mention of forced induction...and we find it hard to believe even the wizards at GM’s powertrain department could pull that kind of power out of a naturally-aspirated 6.2-liter eight-pot.

The new mid-engined Corvette, on the other hand, already represents a massive break from tradition. Switching over to a DOHC layout is a small heresy compared to the idea of moving the engine behind the driver, so why not toss in an all-new engine while you’re throwing the baby out with the bathwater?

(Yes, we know that's the current Corvette motor pictured above. We obviously didn't have a picture of an engine GM hasn't officially announced yet.)

919cw313

Link?

Vette_DD

Yes, we've been hearing about it for several months now.

1bdvet

Like to see what GM has for us, in the coming years.

MisterMidlifeCrisis

Here is one:

http://www.autoblog.com/2016/12/23/2...-engine-rumor/

LowRyter

I hope chevy keeps both the front engine car when they introduce the midengine one.

I think I read that chevy builds more sportscars than any manufacturer. so they should be able to build both cars.

Zero_6

Just make the mid engine Corvette a V10 or V12.

buckmeister2

the posting above yours, by PaulEddie, is the entire article.

buckmeister2

Unfortunately, it will not happen. The market for these cars is too slim. There are not enough buyers to support two distinctly different, very costly platforms.

If the mid-engine Vette is a hit, with no issues that cannot be fixed, the front-engine Vette will be gone forever.

CadVette

Makes me wonder if it will have a flat plane crank also?

LowRyter

how does Porsche build 3 different sportscars lower volume than Corvette?

rsinor

What if all this conjecture about the new dual overhead cam motor was actually about dual overhead cam 6.2 L V12 for the mid engine car and had nothing to do with the supposed track ready upcoming ZR1. Did the announcement of the new engine indicate number of new cylinders? or just displacement? sound of the ZR1? track cars seems to be typical deep throated V8. Not sure that is what we are hearing on the mid engine versions.

BigMonkey73

Target audience has more disposable income ?

There's plenty of Vette drivers with loads of money I'm sure, but I'll bet there ones who aren't as wealthy that can still afford a Vette vs trying to own a Porsche.

One such would be me

cclive

GM did a ridiculously complicated and expensive engine in the '90 ZR1, an almost $30,000 option on a $30,000 car...funny because it produced less HP and torque than the LS2 did a few years later.

9T3VETTE

15 years later is much different than a few years. Combustion design, development and technology have come a looong way in that time.

cclive

I agree, but I would shorten the time period to ten years since the '05 LS2 did better than the '95 LT5. I guess I just appreciate the simplicity and reliability of the pushrod V8...it stands up well in comparison to most more complicated and far more expensive engines even currently.

buckmeister2

You are absolutely correct, but those 15 years in between, without a doubt, saw some of the most technologically improved cars in automobile history. And, in the 12 years, they have doubled down on their achievements. I don't think anyone foresaw what was coming in 1990, or even 2005.

I have been wondering the last couple years what automakers will achieve in the next 10-15 years, and if it would even come close to what has happened since 2000.

9T3VETTE

For sure, GM has (and still is) extracting incredible amounts of power and efficiency from pushrod motors, the LS2 being one of them.

All I wanted to get across is how innovative and significant the C4 ZR1 motor was when it was released. For that time period is was an incredible piece of machinery

23/C8Z

that kind of option (almost doubling the cost) will not fly today.. no way..