INQUISITR.COM / Science & Tech

Chevrolet Corvette Promises Big Surprise On Horsepower, Solution To Cooling Problems

By Jinger Jarrett
Published on: 11:19 PST, Jul 24, 2016

Although few details are available, the Chevrolet Corvette promises some big changes. GM is planning to upgrade the powertrain, and a faster, 700 horsepower (HP) engine is in the works. Chevrolet is coming out with a new model soon, but the faster engine won’t be available until 2018 or 2019. The latest rumors say that the upgraded powertrain is necessary to push the higher powered engine.

Motoring Crunch reported that the new Chevrolet Corvette engine will go above 700 HP. GM is possibly working on a new engine for the Corvette, and it may go as high as 750 HP. The horsepower on the Camaro will see a reduction. The current Chevrolet Corvette offers about 650 HP with a torque of 650 lbs. per foot in an LT4 V8 engine. The Hellcat models have about 707 HP with a torque of 650 lbs. per foot.

Motor Authority reported that the Chevrolet Corvette might just have been outed. The evidence for the mid-engine 2018 C8 Corvette was outed by the engineers at Katech, and it included details about the powertrain, as well as the name of the engine and other details.

Katech put up a landing page for the 2018+ Corvette ZR1/Zora LT5, which has since been taken down. So far, GM has also dumped $290 million into upgrades for the Corvette plant, and they’ve trademarked the ZR1 and Zora names again. Since the Corvette C7 has reached its limit on what is possible with a rear wheel drive car with a high powered engine, GM won’t be wasting any more time or money trying to squeeze more power out of it. The 2018 C8 Corvette is set to premier at the Detroit Auto Show five years after the release of the C7 Stingray.

Car Buzz reported that GM is finally getting around to fixing the issues that the Corvette had. These include the engine cooling problems. In addition, the chassis and suspension also needed some tuning to bring it up to spec.

One of the problems with the Corvette Z06 was that it was prematurely dying even though the mileage was low and components were overheating. This requires extensive engineering solutions to fix. Currently, only about five percent of Corvette owners are experiencing the overheating problem as some measures have already been applied to solve the problem.

One of the changes that Chevrolet is implementing is new cooling vents to the engine. Additional vents that are larger will be added to help further cool the engine. The vents will become part of a new and improved hood. Engineers are working to find solutions to fix each of the issues discovered with the Corvette.

Jalopnik reported that Chevrolet is finally working to fix the problems the Corvette Z06 had with its cooling system. It runs a 650 HP engine that is supercharged, and Chevrolet has had difficulty in finding a way to keep the engine cool in the high track environments it was designed for. The 2017 model of the Corvette Z06 will offer improvements to prevent the overheating that occurs on the track.

When the Corvette Z06 first debuted, it often had total engine failure when it was being tested by journalists. Customers took to the forums to complain about the performance failures. Only about one percent of the 9,000 Z06s sold last fall had engine failures. Currently, the Z06 is on hiatus from production so that GM can produce more of the Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport model.

[Photo by Harold Cunningham/Getty Images]

Share this article: Chevrolet Corvette Promises Big Surprise On Horsepower, Solution To Cooling Problems
More from Inquisitr