Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Common Interests Good article about pushrod engines...

Anyone else notice how the honda owners never have a solid argument?

There ain't NOTHING "regular" about the powerplant and tranny in the CTS-V...

I will freely admit that the plain-jane CTS makes me queasy and close to hurling as the looks are extraordinarily questionable on it, but GM dressed the CTS-V up nicely and it shows that.

I really find it not much different than what Ford did for the Contour as compared with the Contour SVT in terms of "dressing up" for that fact. I never looked at the Contour as a mode of transportation; that is until the SVT came out. I just never found the non-SVT Contours that "inspiring" of a view. IMHO, of course.

Then comes the aftermarket discussion...

I've talked to one of the reps at Lingenfelter and from the discussions I've had, their current S/C application for the LS6 is close to a bolt-on as it is (only a few packaging issues to take care of).

Headers, a better exhaust, S/C kit (intercooled) and a beefed-up clutch for, say something around $9-12K and you are looking at a luxury sports sedan putting something in the neighborhood of 550-600 HP down (depending on the extras)...

All backed up by a 3-year warranty from the aftermarket provider, I might add and it's STILL cheaper than any other comparable 4-door sedan on the market.

Their discussion of valve area is somewhat misleading IMO. On a NA motor, total valve area is important but air velocity is at least if not more important. You engineer types feel free to chime in with swirl characteristics, etc. I am by no means the person to be accurate arguing this point, however, it should've at least been mentioned.

Weight distribution, specifically CofG is a big hindrance for OHC engines. IIRC, in the press material for the current Mach 1 there was a discussion of the extra weight (and it's placement) hurting lateral performance.

The point about value-for-the-money for the Z06 is spot on, but turning this into a pushrod lovefest is a bit much.

AH! Lo Comprendo.

My bad. I haven't seen any local Caddy dealers pull that one yet with a "poser package", or have any pseudo CTS-V sitting on the lot.

Yuck.

Each engine has it's own purpose. IN my opnion(prepares to get flamed),neither engine is "better" just different.

for those haters of the pushrod, consider this: the c5r has done extremely well.

phat sacks is spot on......the engines are simply different, which is right for you depends on what you want. for compact size and weight you want a properly prepped pushrod. for the ability to make as much power as possible with as little displacement as possible you want multiple cams on top.

for chemguru: while stock cars no longer mechanically resemble production cars nascar was started on the basis of prodution cars modded to be raced, hence the nascar rule that a stock car must physically resemble a production car from a given manufacturer.

My cavalier has a 2.2 OHV, it ain't on the road anymore since I got the 240, but it has well over 300,000K on the origional engine and it still ran hard. last time I drove it was like a couple weeks ago