0Navy Blue

http://www.metric-conversions.org/vo...bic-inches.htm

Above is a link to a metric conversion site.


Here are some conversions:

5.70 liters = 347.83 cubic inches (C5)
6.00 liters = 366.14 cubic inches (C6)
6.40 liters = 390.55 cubic inches (Z06?)
6.50 liters = 396.54 cubic inches (Z06?)
7.00 liters = 427.17 cubic inches (Blue Devil?)
7.45 liters = 454.63 cubic inches (?????)

My questions:

1) If Chevy is as American as apple pie and it's the new "American Revolution", why are we referring to our engines in liters, yet we still buy our gasoline by the gallon?

2) If 5.7 liters is 347.83 cubic inches, why do many enthusiasts refer to the C5 LS1 as a 346?

3) Why are some people referring to the C6 engine as a 364 and not a 366?

4) With Chevy's great history with numbers like 283, 327, 350, 396, 427, and 454 why is the C5 a 5.7 liter and the C6 a 6.0 liter?

5) For marketing purposes why didn't GM make the base engine in the C5 a 350 cubic inch instead of a 348 cubic inch?

6) For marketing purposes why didn't GM make the base engine in the C6 a 396 cubic inch instead of a 366 cubic inch?

7) As a red-blooded American would you be more excited about owning a new Corvette with a 427 or a 7.0?

8) I have a career in high-end sales and marketing and for the life of me I cannot understand why we going down this path with the Corvette (America's Sports Car) - Am I the only one that is confused?

jaggeedfire

1) The world over is changing to metric. Check your nuts and bolts in your Vette and tell me you dont have at least one metric!!!!

2)First off its all about buid specs. If you take the bore (4 in) x stroke (3.48) x 8 cylinders you actually get 349.84775~ ci. Taking that and converting to cubic cent. you get 5732.9776~.

1000 cc = 1L

5732.9776 = approx 5.7 liters.

The LS1 is actually only a 5.665 L which rounded is 346!!

3) As above most of these are rounded to sound good.

4) Bigger is better........most of the time! With better valve train timing and better engineering they can achieve better fuel consumption and keep the epa happy. So they can make a bigger motor that only burns max fuel 30% of the time burn cleaner than the engine that burns less fuel but at all ranges of the performance spectrum.

5) GM isnt playing on the nostalgia as much as mopar is with old engine numbers. Its the hey..were new attitude..Moving forward instead of backward kinda thing although the LS cars are still pushrod powered...go figure

6) Not every American can afford the insurance on a factory 427 sports car!!!!
If thats what you want, go with the Gulstrand Vette- in the price range of a Ferrari. Again thats why they limit it to a smaller size. Sales volume!! The original ideal of Chevy was the Corvette is the sports car all Americans can own. The exotic is coming ...By Caddy!

:flag

Willis

Still Pushrod Powered? The pushrod design is more recent than the overhead cam design. It was used because of the compact engine size as compared to overhead cam engines. Sure, they may rev higher, but the engineering and refining of these later generation engines is anything but "old" technology.

Paul L

Canada has been metric since the 1970s so I am somewhat used to the conversions. But I will take a stab at the marketing side motivation. International racing classes are normally defined by engine displacement. And that is expressed in liters. You may recall the late 1960s when Chevrolet crossed a 283 with a 327 to produce a 302. The 302 is 5.0 liters, the maximum displacement in one racing class at that time. Just by coincidence (?) Ford upped its 289 to 302 as well. So the marketing angle may have an international and racing dimension.

As well, many countries into which GM sells have no concept of imperial measure: a cubic inch has no meaning.

Also think of your tires. When was the last time you saw a 7.75-15 (215-70R/15). The width is in mm.


[Modified by paul67, 12:42 PM 4/6/2004]

redwingvette

Talk to any automotive engineer about any part of car and you will find that everything is done in "metric". If you talk to them about a part being 10 inches long you get a real funny look while they try to convert it to millimeters in their head. :lol: All parts are dimensioned in millimeters. Right or wrong, it’s the way of the world.

427V8

Also remember that every other car is spec in Liters of displacement.
If Chevy called the new Vette a 427 cubic inch they would be;

A. looked upon with confusion, since the compareable car is speced in Liters.
B. Looked upon as old fashioned ( in a bad way)

People ask me all the time why my engine is so small. They think it's 4.27 liters, I have to explain to them it's 427 cubic INCHES which equals 7 liters. Only then do they understand.

tonyk72

For your answer to #5, (no offense, my wife in marketing too) I would sure hope that the marketing depratment has absolutly NO SAY in what GM engineers do...I can just imagine this scenario...
The GM engine design team had just finished their ultra new secret 900 HP twin turbo 502 BB which gets 50 mpg to put in the new C7 ZR-1...Bob, who happens to be the VP of marketing doesn't think the public would react well to this because VTEC is all the rage...He tells them the new 'vette must have VTEC logos! "Dispose of that ugly monster!" he shouts "and design a VTEC motor! I spent all day working on my VTEC stickers and that is whats going on the C7!!" corVetTeC

:jester

stpman

Engine size in litres has been around for a while
remember the 6.6l Trans am in the late 70's

Here's another conversion my Silverado has a 5.3l = 325 C.I.

Steve :steering:

VETDRMS

I believe a 406 is: 6.66L :eek: :reddevil

:cheers:

The Dude

"Liters" sounds really Eurotrashy. And prople are buying into that right now.

Twin_Turbo

actually the f-body 6,6 labelled engine was the 403 Olds, yours is about 6,7 liters :) :thumbs:





[Modified by Twin_Turbo, 5:35 AM 4/7/2004]

442olds

Remember the 402, yeah the redheaded stepchild of the 396. Someone scewed up there, but hey it was still labled at a 396 on the outside of the car. Go figure. 396 just sounded better. Same with 427, 454, 455, 350....They never really go by what the actual displacment is, but rather a close approximation to something that rolls off the tounge.

Liters just simplified this even more. You can come up with shorter numbers and confuse everyone, that and most non gear head people nowadays see numbers like 2.0 and 3.0 and 5.0 and they can relate to a simplified number that they can relate to thier pop bottle sitting in the fridge.

My motor works out to 438. Just last weekend a kid walks up and asks what's in it. So I spit out its a 438...dumb look ensues...so I spit out its a 427 bored out, then he's like hey cool. if I would have said 7.1L's he probably woulnd't have required any more info. But hey I don't like liters so any engine I have is getting a cubic number!

norvalwilhelm

We have been metric since about 1973 and working in a university all testing is done in metric but I still think inches, machine in inches, calculate strength of material is PSI. Motor sizes in inches etc, etc. Ask my students about imperial and they think metric. Ask any of them how tall they are, any of them and they reply feet and inches??? How heavy are you??? Answer is in pounds.

Figure that one out. My wife is a nurse and temperature is charted in metric, weight in pounds and height in feet.
Figure that out??
The world is screwed up.

Pounds is a force, I applied 500 pounds= force.
Kilograms is not a force. I applied 225 kg does not equal force. I have to convert to neutons or muliply by 9.8 or 2,200 neutons = Force.
How about my new car 4576mm long.

Give me the old feet/inches/ pounds. :thumbs:

Glensgages

Marck;
in the late-'70s, the 403 CID Olds-powered T/A had 6.6 Litre on their shaker air-intakes, while the 'true' Pontiac 400" cars had T/A 6.6 on theirs.

Either-way, as stated earlier, I doubt Chevrolet is really marketing the Corvette towards the 'typical' American hot-rodder, but at the up-scale buyer, contemplating a high-dollar import sports-type car.
As far as the Corvette marque is concerned, I believe this began with the C4 introduction in early '84, hence the 'metric'-designations.

Anyway, ain't nobody gonna write a song with the chorus being "Giddiyup, giddiyup, giddiyup 6.7049....."

VETDRMS

Twin_Turbo 406: 1 L = 61.0237 in^3

406.76 C.I. (4.155x3.75) / 61.0237 = 6.66L (truncated at 2 decimals)

:reddevil :reddevil

Let 'er eat!

Sweet! 6.66 L :cheers:

munday

before my time..you know the 70's....the automotive industry was supposed to go completly metric...never made it all the way but the tried... GOOO BEER!!!!

sidepipes79

It is starting to sound like my strenghts class

Paul L

Norval,
I never converted successfully. But it keeps my mind active converting from metric to imperial. And I do that all the time particularly with temperature. And despite some 30 years having gone by we are still in a hybrid system as you have noted. Ever notice that when you buy butter it comes in a 454 gram package?

Twin_Turbo

406CID = 6.6039868 Liters

6,66Liters is more than 6,6 right?? still is in my book, so 403 is the actual 6,6 if you do proper rounding off of the numbers 6,66 = 6,7 when you consider the whole deal in 2 significant numbers.



[Modified by Twin_Turbo, 5:36 AM 4/7/2004]