Originally Posted by Maxwell
I also remember way back with the 4 cam corvette came out, GM had to detune the engines because the motor was making so much torque that they where snapping crankshafts. so I'll let you decide how reliable the chevy motors are when you start bumping up the power output. They designed thier engines around the production v8s used in every day cars and trucks, they where never purposly designed for flat out perfomance, even though they can produce big hp numbers, my question is what lasts longer?
German motors are designed to run flat out for longer periods of time, that's why they have an Autobahn.
Chevy motors are very reliable when you start bumping up power when compared to some of the other manufacturers out there. A v6 3.8l (that's found in everything from base camaro's, minivan's to buicks) can even in its NA fit handle 21psi on stock bottom end (buick grand national technology). There are several guys running in the 13's with boosted 13psi+ production 3.8's for dd. A stock v6 with a wet nitrous kit, upgraded fuel pump (stock injectors) and timing can run 12's (and its been done).
LS1's especially can handle huge ammounts of increases, effectively making them 9/10 sec cars with a stronger rear end (the stock 10 bolt is a weak point in anything over about 400rwp) and been done many times over.
The corvette is a whole another platform of its own and doesn't revolve around any other "every day" specifications. There are technologies taken from it, such as the LS2 put in the GTO and the Cadillac CTS-V (who's suspension was by the way designed on the autobahn) but its main purpose is to be a production street racecar, which it undoubtedly succeeds at.
It seems pretty illogical to base one's belief of the reliability of chevrolet engines on a single model issue more than 30 years ago
I also don't recall these snapping crankshafts but i'd be happy to look into that if you let me know which year/model corvette you're talking about. As far as I know detuning was taken on Chevy's part after drastic anti-pollution measures were taken by the US administration and there was a need to comply to the standards with the current engine platform at hand.