The Last GM Big-Block V-8 Rolls Off the Line 525
DesScorp writes "It's the end of an era in auto technology, as the very last big block V-8 engine from GM has rolled off the production line. The L18 engine was the last variant of an engine that had been in continuous production for over 50 years. The big blocks powered everything from the classic muscle cars of the '60s and '70s to heavy-duty trucks today. From the Buffalo News: 'When GM said last June the L18 would be eliminated by year's end, the announcement triggered another show of devotion to the product. Some customers ordered two years' worth of L18s, to put on the shelf for future use.' More than 5 million big blocks have been produced over the engine's history. The final big block engine to come off the line in Tonawanda, NY is headed for the GM Heritage Center in Sterling Heights, MI."
Innovation! (Score:3, Insightful)
It sounds like this is the result of innovation? I imagine that these "big-block" engines will be replaced by smaller-block V8s or perhaps more powerful V6s that have similar performance?
The only bad part of this is some people are going to lose their jobs (according to the AP [google.com]).
Re:Innovation! (Score:3, Insightful)
Screw V-6's. Inline 6's have more power and better reliability. Inline engines always do.
Re:Innovation! (Score:5, Insightful)
Screw V-6's. Inline 6's have more power and better reliability. Inline engines always do.
Shoehorn anyone? Inline V-8(or God forbid I-10 or 12) tends to be a bit of a reach for real estate under the hood.
Regardless of "better" designs, we're witnessing an end of an era here, considering this format has survived for 50 out of the last 100 years of the automobile. A sad day indeed.
You want an IT analogy? Fine. Sometimes it's about the finesse and raw power coming from a 1000W system with dual graphics cards and 15K RPM drives, and not always about "green" designs or overall reliability. Sometimes you want your machine to haul ass and look good no matter the cost.
Re:Innovation! (Score:5, Insightful)
"It sounds like this is the result of innovation?"
More like the rise in fuel costs coupled with the recession.
The big block Chevrolet is a simple, tough engine that produces excellent torque, is durable, very easy to work on and inexpensive to repair. Aftermarket support is excellent and one can build complete engines without using a single GM part.
The powerplant of choice that replaced big block gas engines is the diesel, which is vastly more complex, brutally expensive to repair, difficult to work on even for well-equipped shops, and burdened with complex emission systems. Diesel fuel quality is always a concern, especially with low-sulfur diesel. They make great power, but you pay dearly for it.
I'll be hunting more of them for spares (I just rebuilt a 366 for my C30 wrecker). Like the small block Chevrolet, these adaptable engines will be working for many decades to come.
Re:Good Riddance (Score:4, Insightful)
"Now they can finally join the 80's and work on getting rid of leaf springs next."
Leaves are versatile, easily stacked to suit intended use, and tough.
If you want an F1 car by all means buy one, but leaf springs work very well on trucks and other applications where coil spring towers would be awkward (and coils risk coil bind when overloaded).
Re:Innovation! (Score:4, Insightful)
V-8's rock (Score:3, Insightful)
It's fine if these engines are being killed because something better (as powerful with better efficiency) has come along. If not, it sucks.
To see which it is, just take a look at Ford Motor Company - you know, the one that ISN'T owned by the government! ;-)
BTW, regardless diesel engines rock! :-)
Once again, FUBO! =:-D
Re:diesel (Score:3, Insightful)
Big block v. Small block. The will continue to have V8s, just smaller ones. The classic GM big block was the 454 ci. They will continue to have the 350 ci.
Re:Innovation! (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Innovation! (Score:2, Insightful)
Sure, but a V8 can't touch a straight six turbo in the "looks good and hauls ass" department.
we're witnessing an end of an era here
Not really. Don't get me wrong - I like classic muscle as much as the next guy - but that era ended a long time ago. Nothing to get sentimental about here.
Re:Innovation! (Score:1, Insightful)
If you're pulling 1000W system with dual graphics cards and 15K RPM drives, You've left finesse WAY behind. Also, you'll get the same performance for a heck of a lot more stability with one graphic card in just a year down the road, but that's neither here or there.
It's not like GM is killing this line because the engine isn't green enough. It just isn't selling enough. It's sad that there isn't the market for V8s, like there was long ago. But that doesn't make it a travesty. It's just a marker for an end of an era.
turn the page (Score:4, Insightful)
I'm old enough to appreciate the value of a piece of tech that has served so well for so long. Likewise, I have a soft spot for the land-line and the command line. But there are pleasurable vices that we simply can't afford to cling to, and the big petrol-burning engine is one of them.
Re:Innovation! (Score:4, Insightful)
So obsolete that people went on a buying frenzy when they announced they were stopping production, because there was such a demand for them...
Comment removed (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Innovation! (Score:5, Insightful)
Consumers kept buying them.
car analogies (Score:3, Insightful)
The big block V8 is like the Itanium. Big and power hungry and a real commercial workhorse.
It think people are sad because it would be like if Intel stopped making Core 2 Quads and decided all you needed was an Atom chip.
8.1L (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:Innovation! (Score:3, Insightful)
That happens with anything nowadays that they discontinue, or people THINK will be discontinued. See, there's this idea that's been driven into people's heads over the past 20 years or so that getting your hands on anything that's scarce will be an easy road to riches. The old "money for nothing" ploy.
If it's even remotely rare, some greedy, bottom feeding, unethical scumbag will buy the last of them, then put them back on sale at an inflated price, demanding huge profits while adding zero value.
It's all part of today's get-rich-quick society. Nobody wants to work anymore, they want a scheme that extracts money from others and puts it into their pockets with no effort at all. The housing bubble was a result of this and also reinforced this notion.
Re:I just pictured an oil sheik... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:8.1L (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Innovation! (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:car analogies (Score:2, Insightful)
At least 10 years too late. (Score:4, Insightful)
The reason GM needed to get bailed out by the government is because they ignored the evidence of every other country on earth and presumed US gas prices would always stay the same. If they'd produced the last of these ten years ago and started making cars which actually have something remotely resembling fuel efficiency, good design, or low carbon emissions, then American cars might not be a global joke, the government might be a couple of billion dollars less in debt, and a whole lot of Americans who used to work in the auto industry would still have their jobs.
It took near bankruptcy to finally get GM to acknowledge that they had to actually innovate(or at least copy everyone else) rather than continuing with a technology which is 50 years old.
Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Innovation! (Score:2, Insightful)
The handwriting's been on the wall since 19 ****ing 74 [wikipedia.org], for crisakes.
Yeah, but it was written in Japanese.
Re:the joy's of running a big block (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Innovation! (Score:4, Insightful)
much like a line can't be straight and curved at the same time.
The Equator is both straight and curved.
Re:Innovation! (Score:3, Insightful)
End of an era (Score:4, Insightful)
This is a big sign of the end of the era of user-maintainable cars.
Almost as sad as when the last VW Beetle rolled off the line in 2003 (after more than 60 years).
Who cares about lifetime? (Score:4, Insightful)
If a diesel makes it to 500k it will have saved you so much in fuel costs compared to gasoline that you can afford to throw it away and still make a massive profit.
Plus I'm not so sure the difference "complexity" is anything like you claim. Modern diesels are computer controlled so they're a lot cleaner then the old ones and don't need anywhere near as much extra hardware to meet smog standards.
Diesels are perfect for American SUVs. American drivers are conditioned to expect grunt at low revs, which gasoline engines are terrible at delivering (you need a big thirsty V8 to do it). Diesel engines are much more suited to American expectations so you can have a smaller engine ans get double the savings in economy.
If you start extracting diesel from Algae then it will be much cleaner and more consistent than petroleum-diesel and you can probably get rid of all the emissions-control junk which is needed for diesel engines today.
Re:Innovation! (Score:3, Insightful)
Oh, right, because almost everybody likes to work on their own car.
fm6 does not like to work on his own car; therefore, powerful, easily-serviceable engines should not exist. You can't argue with logic like that.
Re:Good Riddance (Score:3, Insightful)
leaf springs work very well on trucks
like Corvette
Do you understand that the Hotchkiss rear suspension (which is what you're thinking of) involves a solid rear axle and is completely different from the transverse single composite monospring used by the Corvette (which uses IRS)? The Corvette has had fully independent suspension since 1963.
I'm a fan of Jeremy Clarkson and his wacky antics too, but when he talks about American cars he's often quite wrong.
Re:Innovation! (Score:3, Insightful)
I like the guys at the hardware store. Management? Not so much.
Re:Innovation! (Score:3, Insightful)
Not everyone likes to work on their own cars, but, for those who do, having a standard engine design like the GM big block (or the GM small block, for that matter) has been a boon. The fact that the basic mechanics of the engine have changed little since the '70s means that the engine is great for learning the basic principles of engine mechanics. Put another way, the GM big block was the Unix of V-8 engines.