UAW Finds Reassurance In GM 6.6L V8 Engine Production At Tonawanda
4
Sponsored Links
With General Motors shifting its North American production around, workers at the automaker’s Tonawanda Engine plant in Buffalo are happy to have been allocated production of the automaker’s new 6.6-liter V8 gasoline engine.
The 6.6-liter engine, dubbed the L8T, will serve in the 2020 Chevrolet Silverado HD and 2020 GMC Sierra HD. Heavy duty trucks are an important part of GM’s business and the 6.6-liter engine will be the more popular engine choice in the HD trucks, so naturally, the local United Auto Workers union is grateful to have been selected to produce the engine.
“This is probably one of GM’s most important engines. All the truck engines are,” United Auto Workers Local 774 shop chariman Chuck Herr told The Buffalo News. “That’s what GM’s making all their money on right now. For them to have the confidence in Tonawanda, it’s an honor.”
“There’s a lot of pride when you see a truck going down the road and it’s got your engine in it,” Herr added.
GM Tonawanda in New York
The future of Tonawanda, which currently has 1,500 hourly and salaried employees, looks bright. While production of GM’s 2.5-liter and 2.0-liter engines will slow down at the plant due to the death of cars like the Chevrolet Cruze and Chevrolet Impala, it also has the 4.3-liter V6 and 5.3-liter and 6.2-liter V8 engines for the Silverado, Tahoe and Suburban to lean on.
“We do supply engines to both cars and the smaller SUVs,” Ram Ramanujam, Tonawanda plant director, told The Buffalo News. “So at this point we’ve seen some impact, but nothing of great significance.We’ll continue to monitor that.”
2020 Chevrolet Silverado HD
The 6.6-liter V8 engine for the Silverado HD and Sierra HD is rated at an SAE-certified 401 horsepower at 5,200 RPM and 464 pound-feet of torque at 4,000 RPM. It will be paired with GM’s six-speed automatic transmission (6L90) in both of the trucks, with two-wheel drive standard and four-wheel drive available at cost.
(source: The Buffalo News)
Sponsored Links
Why didn’t they just up the HP on the 6.0 ?
Because that would mean keeping around a very old engine design that doesn’t share any of the improvements that the Gen V received. It would also require either using a more aggressive cam, higher compression, or modifying a very outdated engine platform to accept a DI fuel system. It would likely need all of the above. All those things combined create a risk that the engine will bee less durable for heavy work loads required in HD trucks. So instead, GM created an iron block version of the LT1, and built it from the ground up to be a detuned and very durable engine for work truck requirements.
No replacement for displacement! ?
Try an find or order the 6.6 in the Express van,,,ZIP,, Not ONE dealer has ever seen one…Why is it an option then? Mines been 6 months now an been told Chevy isnt even accepting build orders for them The V-6 wont cut the mustard