Jay Leno’s Special Chevy Camaro Hints At Future Powertrain
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When Jay Leno accepts a car into his Big Dog Garage, it’s a routine affair. The celebrity car afficionado will probably drive it once on camera, and then park his new addition next to similar models, where it will wait out for the end of days. Leno’s latest car is most likely no different, but it does grab our attention due to the fact that it’s a unique Chevrolet Camaro.
Yes, another one-off Camaro. This one happened to be donated by General Motors to Leno, and features unique exterior styling. However, that’s not why this story is being written. Nor is it due to the Camaro’s unique cooling system, Brembo brakes on all four corners or the Pedders coil-over suspension kit. According to Leno, this vehicle is a modern interpretation of yesteryear’s Z28. And powering it is a twin-turbocharged 3.6L V6 engine, producing 420 horsepower in this application. Both of which are said to be future projects in development right now. It’s also fairly easy to imagine the 3.6TT engine cranked up to somewhere between 470 and 485 horsepower, making it the ideal candidate for the Cadillac ATS-V — which will not be using a V8.
You can have at Jay Leno’s Z28 interpretation in the video just below. Turns out, this bad boy was revealed at SEMA back in 2009:
I heard they are working on both the 3 liter and 3.6 liter TT v6 but the 3 liter is set to debut on the xts and ATS and ATSv using the 3,6
I like the Idea, and this is coming from a die-hard V8 guy. I love the sounds the car produces and it seems to be pretty responsive. I think they should have a V8 twin turbo version of the ZL1.
I wonder why the V-6 isn’t like a 4.65 liter. You would think GM would take the 6.2 and wack off the front two cylinders and you have 4.65.
Because if GM did that, they would be laughed out of existance for a marking an unbalanced heap of garbage.
Lopping off 2 cylinders is easier said than done. The firing order would be wonky, the crank would have to go and a new one designed for 120degrees rather than 90 put in it’s stead. Don’t forget the cam too
Also, a 4.65L V6 is too big and unweildly when the superiour 3.6 is at hand.
Intrestingly enough, the largest production V6 is actually the bronze age 4.3 GM still makes.
I wasn’t talking literally cutting off the two front cylinders, and the same firing order of the 3.6.would work fine.You ever heard of no replacement for displacement.I think the GMC cyclone had a 4.3 turbo v6.The larger displacement twin turbo would kick ass.and i doubt anybody would be laughing.They could use the same pistons, rings and rods. The 4.3 was basically the v8 without two cylinders,bro.I’m not sure if the 3.6 in a narrower vee or not
All Vortec 4300s use a cast iron block and heads with a 4 in (101.60 mm) bore and 3.48 in (88.39 mm) stroke, both of which are the same as a 350, which gives them a displacement of 262.39 cubic inches (4,299.8 cc). Connecting rods still measure 5.7 in (144.78 mm) although the rod journal diameter is 2.25 in (57.15 mm). 1992 and later cylinder blocks used a different timing cover since these engines used a balance shaft (some 1992 production cylinder blocks for the LB4 with TBI induction used the ‘traditional’ front timing chain cover from the small block Chevrolet). This change created a situation where most aftermarket timing chain alternatives do not fit. This is true of gear drives and double roller chains. They are pushrod (center camshaft) engines with two valves per cylinder and are produced in Tonawanda, I was talking this same concept with the LS motor,most of the hardware is there,since they want to continue to use the LS motor and not upgrade to 32 valve V8
Very good idea on Jay’s side. If and when GM bring back the Z28 with a twin turbo V6 engine I’m pretty sure they’ll modify or improve the turbos so they produce less NVH so the driver can hear more of the engine note or a melodious note. Either way you can’t get enough of that boost.