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If it was going to have a traditional manual or automatic shift lever there should be a hole in the tunnel (console) for the shifter, or at least a pass through for cables in the general area I've circled. May be paddle shift only.
I m thinking you are not far enough forward yet. If you look you are in the center of the door which is where the seat would be. I think the shifter would be further up not in the picture, but that's just my guess.
Reminds me of the time in the late 1960's when I had a company in Michigan building an automated induction heater for me. I went to their facility at the completion on my equipment to do some trial runs and when I walked into the manufacturing area there were pallets of cast iron heads(Ford) all over the place.
I asked the owner what they were doing for Ford, and he told me they were doing some research work for Ford on induction hardening of the valve seats, because of upcoming government regulations to do away with lead in our gasoline. That was he first time I had heard about getting rid of the lead in our gasoline.
I also saw something similar when I had another company in Michigan building some automated welding equipment for me and they had a bunch of equipment they were building for Oldsmobile to weld their torque convertors.
Surprising how others can see what is going on since many companies do business with companies that also supply the auto industry. At that time, the company I worked for was a supplier to Chrysler(but the equipment I was buying had nothing to do with the components we supplied to Chrysler.)
The company I worked for did work for competing companies often. When we brought customers on to the manufacturing floor, there were blinders/walls/curtains put in place so no one could "take notes"
If it was going to have a traditional manual or automatic shift lever there should be a hole in the tunnel (console) for the shifter, or at least a pass through for cables in the general area I've circled. May be paddle shift only.
Early on I was told by my sources that it was an automatic only (shift by wire). But then there were some rumblings of the LT5 being added to the mix and having a manual for that (And the traditional automatic, not the fancy new one for the DOHC).
There is a lot going on with these CAD drawings that say things have changed one way or another.
Those two gold colored flanges sticking off either side of the tunnel forward of my circle are where the IP lower brace connects. C5-C7 are basically the same in that area.
Also that rise and bolt you can see sticking out of the floor are for the front mounting points of the seat track, and the shifter would be located in roughly the same spot front to back.
That center spine “box” is clearly tall in the back; yet when we next see it in another drawing around the seat area, it appears perhaps not as tall as the C7’s, with that combo maybe insuring that the chassis does not have any twist nor flex. The C7’s chassis is so rigid, doubt that they would want to sacrifice any of that. And if the tunnel is lower in the front starting roughly with the center console, that would open up the “cabin spaciousness feeling.”
The more we see, the more questions we have, and the more we need additional CAD drawings.
Or maybe, as suggested, it is AWD with a traditional torque tube connection?
Looks like it stays the same height for the entire length that we can see (and this image shows a pretty good portion of the cabin space based on the door opening and the seat mount):
I’ll never forget the sound of the C7.R. My dad and I were on the way home from Mecum Kissimmee a few years back, and there were 400 Corvettes at the auction that year. We were heading down the interstate, passing the Daytona exit, and we heard a deep but faint noise. We remembered that it was the night of the Rolex 24 and I knew what car made that noise. We got off the interstate and pulled into the parking lot, and sure enough it was the C7.Rs. I could tell because it was twice as loud and twice as deep as anything else there, and I only heard it once every two minutes or so. I hope the C8 sounds like that. It would really make up for the whole non-pushrod thing.
Last edited by Quinten33; Dec 21, 2017 at 10:23 PM.
Agreed, the sound of our Corvettes is something we do not want to give up for the ME. I would not buy a ME if it sounds like the Ford GT, and would instead by a 2020 ZR1.
Why does it have such a high tunnel in the cockpit if it is a mid-rear? AWD Possibly?
The front structure doesn’t look like it has an axle or anything to drive the front wheels so I’m doubting it’s AWD. I wonder if that 4th accessory drive on the engine is for a hydraulic pump for an active suspension/active aero. That would mean they’d need some space in the tunnel to fit the plumbing, but that’s just a wild guess.
Agreed, the sound of our Corvettes is something we do not want to give up for the ME. I would not buy a ME if it sounds like the Ford GT, and would instead by a 2020 ZR1.
But if it sounds like the 2005/2006 GT nobody would ever complain about the ME car after a year.
Agreed, the sound of our Corvettes is something we do not want to give up for the ME. I would not buy a ME if it sounds like the Ford GT, and would instead by a 2020 ZR1.
I think if the powerplant is DOHC and TT, it will certainly sound different.
HOW different?
I dunno...probably similar to one of the big AMG turbos?
Why does it have such a high tunnel in the cockpit if it is a mid-rear? AWD Possibly?
The high tunnel maybe to keep the current esthetic we expect in our sports cars. Personally, i’m turned off by a lack of that tunnel in European rear engine autos. Another reason that if the engine radiators are in the front the thickly insulated coolant lines in the tunnel need a lot of space to coincide with drive by wire cables. GMs previous rear engine auto ran them down each side just between the rails and not insulated.
