Posted on 10/13/2005 3:08:18 PM PDT by 45Auto
The number is magic, recalling the era when Detroit dominated the world with its big, powerful, swaggering V-8s. The Chevrolet 427 V-8 first appeared as an experimental engine that powered Junior Johnson to a then-amazing 166-mph lap at Daytona in 1963. It went into production soon afterward, known variously as the Mark IV, the Chevy big-block, or simply the rat motor.
Now the 427 is back, powering the fire-breathing 2006 Z06 Corvette. Okay, so the engine actually displaces 427.6 cubic inches (7008cc), about one more cubic inch than the original. That's because this new 427 is not a reincarnation of the old rat motor. Instead, it's yet another variant of the versatile mouse motor, the small-block Chevy V-8 that is celebrating its 50th birthday this year. Even so, it's rated at 500 horsepower-more than any of the bygone 427s and 454s-and these are SAE net horses, not the bogus gross ponies from the '60s.
This V-8, dubbed the LS7, is based on the latest incarnation of the small-block architecture, which GM calls Gen IV. However, virtually every component has been reengineered to achieve the greater displacement and higher output.
(Excerpt) Read more at caranddriver.com ...
do you maintain a Vette or GM pinglist?
(Camaro owner myself.....WILL have a Corvette someday.....)
I;ll be interested in test driving this new offering. Thanks for posting.
No. I'm just an old hotrodder with grandiose ideas. The last project I did was to install a 410 C.I. big block in my son's 1972 Camaro. Fed through a 650 Holley double pumper that thing puts out a lot of power. The new GM Z06 engine is a marvel of power and technology. I can't afford one, however.
The GM big block was a marvel in its day; it still isn't too bad even fed through carburetors. This new Z06 427 is a small block design. I would like to see the 454-502 really set up with electronic fuel injection in a rear wheel drive Monte Carlo. I figure GM will never do it. They may not survive. I fear the trend will be to smaller and smaller cars/engines/hybrids. I spit on hybrids.
I dig it.
Ideally, I'm going to get a '69-'73 Stingray, but I'll have to wait until I'm out of college and can afford financing a fixer-upper!
Don't know if it interests you any, but I'm soon going to start working on the Solar Car project. (Mechanical Engineering, University of Texas). Solar power has always fascinated me. But nothing beats raw gas-guzzling power from Detroit!
A very fast and powerful taxicab. Yellow cars are always taxicabs to me. Color association, pure and simple.
Good for you!
From the article:
"Due to rising costs, those mufflers are steel instead of titanium, as they were on the previous Z06, but they are sophisticated in a different way. At low revs, all the exhaust goes through a single well-muffled tailpipe in each muffler. When you stomp on the throttle and exceed 3500 rpm, however, vacuum-powered bypasses open up a second, virtually straight-through tailpipe in each muffler. That sound will be worth the wait."
Yowsa.
I have been blessed with 3 in my life time. 1975, 1977(unleded fuel) and 1985, I keep thinking, just one more.
Hubby got a '68 Vette in May. It currently fills our garage as it's in seven gazillion pieces. He's the happiest guy I know!
If you want to buy me a Christmas present...
I hate to be a stickler, but the only big block Corvette available in 1965 was a 396/425 HP with a single four-barrel. The 427 Tri-Power was introduced in 1967.
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