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Westy

the teste
Nov 22, 2002
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Sleazattle
'Merican engineering.

OHC engines are taller. Chevy claims that the reduced height allows for a lower more streamlined hood.

Reality is that they are cheaper to manufacture and they are getting some impressive power output.

By the same logic, Ford should be putting flatheads in Mustangs.

Was talking to a friend about some projects I worked on back in the late 90's that made me think of this. GM's 3.8L v-6 was basically the same old small block v-8 with a couple of cylinders chopped off. In the late 90's they wanted to replace it with a DOHC model. My company sold GM a bunch of machines to make the new engines. Before the project was finished the new engine was scrapped. The dohc model couldn't match the power efficiency or cost they were able to get out of the pushrod v-6 with a few tweaks. What customer wouldn't want a cheaper, more powerful, more efficient simpler engine. Goes to show that evolution can beat out intelligent design.