168 replies to this topic

[Bob Riebe]

Fibreglass rots too. Vettes don't need rust to look dilapidated and neglected.

NOT even close to the way steel does on its WORST day.

[Canuck]

Agreed - steel on it's worst day is hard to match ;-)

[bigleagueslider]

I might find the car more appealing if it's entire body were made from high strength steel...a prejudice not supported by anything technical. Though I do wonder if Chevrolet could save weight by using all steel...

The Corvette chassis structure and suspension is mostly made from aluminum. Only the body panels and a few parts like the rear leaf spring are made from composites. Of course the Corvette's primitive 500hp pushrod, 2-valve, V8 engine also has a block and heads made from aluminum castings. But I won't harp on the fact that this primitive engine is also smaller, lighter and cheaper than any other engine of similar output.

If you prefer your cars made from steel, then you would also not like any products from Audi, Ferrari, Lotus, Aston-Martin, Lamborghini, etc. Since they have an aluminum unibody structure and body panels.

[Bob Riebe]

Agreed - steel on it's worst day is hard to match ;-)

You sir, are a stinky fart, smelly pants.

[Powersteer]

I see, a perception argument and not an mpg argument but maybe my response was for others who brought in the mpg or efficiency social responsibility tool where we all should live in a box without technology but with full efficiency killing the very reason to live and taste what intelligence has brought to life, responsibly of course though some might think those two dont go hand in hand.

[MatsNorway]

There is a new thread for boring mpg talk. its called boring mpg talk thread..
just kidding.. http://forums.autosp...howtopic=180426

Edited by MatsNorway, 03 February 2013 - 18:18.

[mariner]

Thanks that makes sense of some of the pro and anti arguments. If they could blow the sta bar away that is a HUGE packaging (10 l), weight (2-5kg) and cost ($40-60)advantage for a typical car.

Well, Greg, GM did indeed ditch the stabiliser bar by using a transverse leaf clamped at two points - way back in 1963 or 64.

It was the first HA Vauxhall Viva.That had a single bottom transverse leaf spring made of steel.

http://i223.photobuc...er/IMG_0005.jpg


The car was not , how should w say, a tight handling car. I guess that with th composit Vette spring you can tune its bump deflecton vs roll flex charactertics by the shape. The Viva just had asimple single width/thickness bit of steel.

I suppose some clever presing of curved plates as part of teh frame just outboard of the clamps would enable rising bump rate.

I bet it was cheap though!

[Nathan]

And the tuning marked should be considered when designing a car. The japanese manufacturers knows this.

Maybe 10 years ago. Tuning is dying. The Civic was the most tuned Japanese car by a margin, and Honda has made numerous design changes (McPhearson strut comes first to mind) that have now made the Civic nothing better than a body kit candidate. I don't think half of the Japanese tuning magazines I use to flip through 10-15 years exist anymore.

[Greg Locock]

And the tuning marked should be considered when designing a car. The japanese manufacturers knows this.

Um, no. Cars are designed for the people who buy them new. There is some attention paid to getting them to ten years without aggravating the subsequent owners too much, but that's more to do with residual values and reputation via servicing and repairs than tunability.

Edited by Greg Locock, 04 February 2013 - 06:07.

[Lee Nicolle]

Well, Greg, GM did indeed ditch the stabiliser bar by using a transverse leaf clamped at two points - way back in 1963 or 64.

It was the first HA Vauxhall Viva.That had a single bottom transverse leaf spring made of steel.

http://i223.photobuc...er/IMG_0005.jpg


The car was not , how should w say, a tight handling car. I guess that with th composit Vette spring you can tune its bump deflecton vs roll flex charactertics by the shape. The Viva just had asimple single width/thickness bit of steel.

I suppose some clever presing of curved plates as part of teh frame just outboard of the clamps would enable rising bump rate.

I bet it was cheap though!

HA Viva would have to be about the worlds worst car of the period.
Its far superior [very loosley] Japanese cousin had transverse rear suspension. The Isuzu Bellett.

[MatsNorway]

I don't think half of the Japanese tuning magazines I use to flip through 10-15 years exist anymore.

Mags are replaced with internet now. check out speedhunters.com they bring news daily. Minus the weekends i think.
I was reading a ton of a mag named bilsport that was from sweden when i was younger but internet has taken over. Great mag for following the skandiavian scene.

Did i mention that the GT 86 is buildt to be tuned? the Corvette might be too high on the price range and buildt for different customers, but considerations towards that is never a bad thing. In the engine and gearbox area they are allready doing good.. as previously mentioned..

“We visited with car enthusiasts in Japan, America and Europe. The feedback we received was almost always the same. They said there are a lot of sports cars with high horsepower that are very fast, but these are not the sports cars that they want to have. They want small compact cars that are controllable, that they can tune themselves. However, that kind of sports car is not on the market. Therefore, these sports car enthusiasts are forced to continue to use older cars from a long time ago, because there is no new alterative on the market.”

http://www.tune86.co...ew-tetsuya-tada

Picking your components is the new thing. I picked every single component to my computer. And im not even into computer that much i just wanted to tailer it to my needs.. ex: double disks in mirror to get automatic backup. In addition i got a external.

With largely automated and computerised assembly lines i expect this to be the future. online customisation.

"Do you want sat nav": nope.. i have a phone that takes care of that...
"but you get a bigger screen" nope. i got that covered too.
"You dont want a radio?" nope i got spotify, internet and radio on my phone, if you got a 3.5mm stereo phone input i can go into im fine.
"you dont want front light wipers?" nope that **** just freezes and breaks, and it looks bad too.

And this is only some moderate possible options..

http://en.wikipedia...._...(marketing)

If corvettes are considered crap cars to modify/maintain X years from now that will give Corvette a bad name then. or some sort of reputation in x area.

About McPherson.. and tuning.
Another radical change with this DS3 has been a shift in which suspension methodology is used: there has been a back and forward between double-wishbone and McPherson struts over the years.

"Pat: “It’s funny how it all goes around. My old RS200 is double-wishbone all round, but then everyone followed the WRC and moved to McPherson in the mid-’90s. Then everyone shifted back to double-wishbone in the modern era as that technology improved. But like with the gearbox, new developments have meant that McPhersons are coming back. Reiger are now able to do more with the McPhersons with adjustments and stability, and we used them on Liam’s DS3 during 2012. My DS3 stayed inline and double-wishbone, but on Liam’s we’ve tried transverse and McPherson.”

http://www.speedhunt...troen-supercar/

Edited by MatsNorway, 04 February 2013 - 20:02.

[gruntguru]

HA Viva would have to be about the worlds worst car of the period.

Pretty close - although Australia was spared Trabant, Wartburg, Reliant . . . . . .

My girlfriend's first car was the above-mentioned Viva. She bought it while I was away for three months and couldn't understand my horror when I first discovered her "bargain purchase". It was actually reasonably reliable barring one burned exhaust valve and the breakage of the pivot bolt at one end of the cursed transverse leaf. Very lucky that happened at low speed (not that the Viva had many speeds other than low.)

[MatsNorway]

And just as i say that i get notified about this event:

Mens gårsdagens fabrikker produserte millioner av identiske produkter fra samlebåndet – har digital prototyping og digital manufacturing gjort det mulig å gjøre mass customisation i stedet for mass production.
translated:
While yesterday's factories produced millions of identical products from the conveyor belt - with digital prototyping and digital manufacturing it has been possible to do mass customization rather than mass production.

http://forskning.tek...al-prototyping/

[MatsNorway]

Whats the total weight of this car? i cant find it.

[Bob Riebe]

Now the MOST important item on this new Corvette IS: is the engine bay big enough that one can remove the small-block and install a proper BIG-BLOCK.

[Magoo]

Now the MOST important item on this new Corvette IS: is the engine bay big enough that one can remove the small-block and install a proper BIG-BLOCK.

Who needs a big block? It's slower.

[Powersteer]

Whats the total weight of this car? i cant find it.

No idea but I did read somewhere it is lower, longer, wider and lighter.

[Bob Riebe]

Who needs a big block? It's slower.

Yeah but if the hair=dryers on that car go pfft, it will not run so well.

I like big lazy engines that will produce that sort of horse power at a little over idle.
Now Sonny Leonard's mountain motors....

[MatsNorway]

No idea but I did read somewhere it is lower, longer, wider and lighter.

A magazine claimed 1550kg.. thats a lot.