The 100-millionth GM small-block engine sits completed at the end of the assembly line.
General Motors is getting ready to roll out an all-new version of its small block V-8 and the maker promises to deliver a mix of both better performance and improved mileage.
The fifth-generation V-8 is due out within 24 months and GM engineers are confirming the Gen-V small-block engine will deliver greater fuel efficiency compared with the current generation without sacrificing performance demanded for products like the Corvette ZR-1.
“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, the program’s chief engineer. “For customers, that will mean cars and trucks that deliver more performance while using less gas to do it.”
To enhance both fuel efficiency and performance the new small block will migrate to an all-new direct injection combustion system permitting the use of a higher compression ratio and other technologies.
GM announced the new direct-injection fuel system for the small block as the final fasteners on the 100-millionth production small-block engine – a 638-hp supercharged LS9 engine for the Corvette ZR1 – were tightened at the Performance Build Center, in Wixom, Mich.
The original small block was introduced in 1955 and became a driving force behind GM’s performance push in the muscle car era.
David Cole, director emeritus of Center For Automotive Research and the son of former GM President Ed Cole — who led the development of the original small block — said the key reasons the engine has been such a success is the simplicity of its basic design. The entire team that worked on the original small block stressed simplicity. The team also had access to technology from all of GM’s various divisions during an era when each GM division designed and built their own engines.
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. The engines will also move to a new, lightweight aluminum block.
Overall, General Motors is investing more than $1 billion in manufacturing facilities associated with producing Gen-V small-block engines, which is expected to result in the creation or retention of 1,711 jobs.