Short lived GM Engines

[Sixty8panther]

Balthy:

I think a 215-turbo would be a very cool way to make a ONE of a kind B-59 custom.

Yes, I know you wouldn't be making the car faster/quicker but how exotic would that be!?

Edited April 3, 2008 by Sixty8panther

[chevelle454]

lest we forget the hemi-slaying L79's in the 66 nova's?

Those were real strong running cars!

[gm4life]

4.1L HT V8 82-87 *stinker of a motor lots of problems and only 125 break HP in the early years!*

4.5L V8 (in Caddy's) 88-92 (great motor not like the stinker HT 4100 it was based off of)

4.9L V8 (in Caddy's) (300ci) 91-96 (even better motor than the 4.5, loved mine in my old Deville, that car ran like hell of the line)

3.1L ASC Turbo V6 89-90

6.0L LS2 V8 05-08

4.2L Atlas L6 02-08

3.5L L5 04-06

3.5L Twin Cam V6 99-02 (Olds motor that was gem)

4.0L Shortstar V8 95-03

8.1 Vortec 8100 Big Block V8 01-07 (still use in Marine and 4500 and up Medium Duty Trucks) **wish they still had this one but updated it and gave it closer to 400hp**

4.1L V6 *(80's) Buick/Chevrolet/Pontiac/Cadillac maybe?

Transverse Diesel V6 in 6000/Cutlass? (late 80's maybe) (4.3L of displacement?)

3.4 Twin Cam in GP/Cutlass/Lumina Euro techincally ahead of its time but had LOTS of problems!

4.9L Pontiac 301 (77-81ish)

4.9L Pontiac Turbo 301 (80-81ish)

215ci. Buick V8 *early 60's?*

3800 Series III (04-08 god maybe 2010 at this rate)

3800 Series III Supercharged (04-07)

That is about all I can think off, sad to think out of this list how many amazing motors they got rid of. Those morons!

Edited April 5, 2008 by gm4life

[XP715]

How about all of the all-iron OHV Cadillac V8's

Cadillac 331: 1949-1955

Cadillac 365: 1956-1958

Cadillac 390: 1959-1963

Cadillac 429: 1964-1967 (I gots two!)

Cadillac 472: 1968-1974

Cadillac 500: 1970-1976

Cadillac 425: 1977-1979

Cadillac 368: 1980-1984

[Lloyd-TX]

Being a die-hard Pontiac enthusiast (see sig), here are some short-lived but truly amazing Pontiac performance engines . . .

1968 1/2 400 Ram Air II

1969-1970 400 Ram Air IV

1971-1972 455HO

1973-1974 455SD

1977-1979 400 W72 (TA 6.6)

Edited April 28, 2008 by Lloyd-TX

[NeonLX]

A little trivia--the Chevy 265 V8 was still available during the 1957 model year. I remember popping the hood on a '57 sedan and seeing a YELLOW small block under the hood. It was the 265. The 283s were painted the normal orangey-red color.

Pontiac had a quickly evolving V8 during the 1950s, right? From memory, it seems like it was 287, 316, 347, 370 and 389 CID during the years 1955-'59...

[C.H.U.D.]

Balthy:

I think a 215-turbo would be a very cool way to make a ONE of a kind B-59 custom.

Yes, I know you wouldn't be making the car faster/quicker but how exotic would that be!?

Haha you could probably fit two of those engines under that massive hood.

[67impss]

The 215 is the same externaly as the 300/340/350 Buick small block

Chevy 151 i4 Nova

1961 Pontiac Tempest slant i4 was 1/2 of a 389cid

mid 60's Tempest 230 OHC including sprints 4bbl

180 HP Corvair turbos 65-66

Olds 425 66-67

Thanx for remembering my 90 G/P STE Turbo one of 1000

[Aura XR]

What about the Cosworth Vega Twin Cam 4?

That was truly an engine before its time.

Also, can probably add the 3.5L 60degree V6 VVT

[Croc]

4.0L Shortstar V8 95-03

I believe you're referring to the Aurora V8, or L47 engine. The Shortstar was a V6 available in the Intrigue and 2nd-gen Aurora from 1999-2002. It got its name due to being like a Northstar with 2 cylinders chopped off (gross oversimplification). GM referred to it as the Short-North internally, but the enthusiast press came up with "Shortstar" and the name stuck. The Shortstar is the LX5 engine, and is 3.5L.

[67impss]

Two important engines have been missed here so far.

The very first Chevy smallblock: the 1955/56 265

and

The 1970 450 HP LS6 454 (a detuned LS6 was available in the '71 Vette)

Sorry Camino but the 1st Chevy V8 was the Model D 1917-1919 less than 2000 made total US & Canada production.

Advanced in design, the 1917 V-8 had a central camshaft operating vertical overhead valves in each bank, a counterweighted crankshaft, and detachable crossflow cylinder heads. Displacing 288 cubic inches and breathing through two Zenith one barrel carburetor, it developed 55 horsepower at 2,700 rpm, running on 4.75:1 compression.

1917 Model D

[Lamar]

LS4 (05-09). I always wondered what the engine could do if turned north-south.

[Camino LS6]

Sorry Camino but the 1st Chevy V8 was the Model D 1917-1919 less than 2000 made total US & Canada production.

Advanced in design, the 1917 V-8 had a central camshaft operating vertical overhead valves in each bank, a counterweighted crankshaft, and detachable crossflow cylinder heads. Displacing 288 cubic inches and breathing through two Zenith one barrel carburetor, it developed 55 horsepower at 2,700 rpm, running on 4.75:1 compression.

1917 Model D

Interesting, but it isn't a smallblock.

The 265 was indeed the first smallblock, and began the legend.

[@dmin]

do they stil use the 3.9L that was in the previous generation malibu SS/maxx SS?

that was short lived. It wasn't that bad of a engine but not a vast improvement over a tuned 3.8L

[Lamar]

do they stil use the 3.9L that was in the previous generation malibu SS/maxx SS?

that was short lived. It wasn't that bad of a engine but not a vast improvement over a tuned 3.8L

Currently base engine in the Lucerne, top engine in the Impala.

[NeonLX]

I just had a weird memory come bubbling up through all of the sludge my mind has accumulated over the decades--GMC used a 336 CID version of the Pontiac V8, circa 1957 or '58. Far as I know, this 336 CID version was not used in any Pontiac cars ('56 Poncho had a 316.6 CID V8, '57 used a 347 CID variant).

Here's another weird one: there was a 400 CID V8 available in the '75 or '76 Olds 98, in place of the standard Olds 455 V8 (they may have been aiming for slightly better fuel economy, ha-ha). I think it may have been a Pontiac 400, rather than a resurrection of the small bore/long stroke Olds 400 from the late 1960s. Anyone else remember it?

[Drew Dowdell]

The HF2.8 liter V6 non-turbo. As far as I can recall, it was a 3 year engine used in the 2005, 2006, and 2007 CTS as a base model. I don't think it was used in anything else without a turbocharger also attached.

[SAmadei]

I just had a weird memory come bubbling up through all of the sludge my mind has accumulated over the decades--GMC used a 336 CID version of the Pontiac V8, circa 1957 or '58. Far as I know, this 336 CID version was not used in any Pontiac cars ('56 Poncho had a 316.6 CID V8, '57 used a 347 CID variant).

Actually, it WAS used in a car... in 1963... a 336 would have violated GM's cubic inch-body weight rules, so the engine was marketed as a 326. GM got wind of this and in 1964 326s actually were 326s.

Not sure if these were the same bore/stroke as the Pontiac engines used in GMCs or not.