Turbo Sky/Solstice with bad to the bone 4-cyl??

[2QUIK6]

On my my to a business trip I had a chance to read the entire article on the new turbo Saturn Sky and am very impressed with the technology being incorporated into the engine. It will be the first of its kind for GM appearently.
SIDI direct fuel injection into the cylinder, 2,250 psi fuel pressure
which will serve to remove heat.
Specially shaped piston crowns that direct air/fuel to the spark plug.
Oil jets which spray oil directly at the piston which help cool the pistons and further cool the cylinders.
20psi of boost on pump gas.
Dual scroll turbo to eliminate lag and each pair of exhaust ports are fully separated all the way thru the exhaust housing.
260hp / 260tq rating.
Said to expect much more hp/tq in the following years with this same platform.
Digital crank and cam sensors.
New designed PCM.
DOHC
Wideband O2 sensors.
Clam the engine can handle much higher hp/tq #s reliably than the 260/260 for this year.
Strongest bottom end of any 4 cylinder on the market today.
And heavy chassis upgrades as well.
and will even run on 85 octane safely with the advanced computer controlls but 93 is recommended for max hp.

4-cyl motors never got my blood pumping...but neither did turbo V6s till I drove one But with the price of gas these days it makes me want to go buy one now...but I think I'll wait another few years and see how much more the hp/tq#s go up.
Bill Hahn of Hahn Racecraft is very excited about it as well.

 

[madhat]

well, other companies have been using stuff like this for a while - I think even Opel has used it before(owned by GM). But, they sure are cool cars regardless

 

[UNGN]

If GM knew what they were doing, they would have it make 300 HP running E85 and drop back down to 260 on 93 octane.

Nothing would lead to Americans embracing alternative fuels faster than 40 more HP.

Having your SUV get 15% less mpg aint gonna do it. Go yellow

 

[Sweet6]

There is a guy with a turbo Solstice in IL. I saw him twice at RT66 in Joliet. I saw the car run 12.80s. Not sure what his best time is. Hahn racecraft is at RT66 quite a bit too. I wonder who did the work on this car.

 

[turbofish38]

Stock block Ecotec's are running in the low 8's high 7's.And I did say STOCK BLOCK. They are more than capable of handling 1000+ HP. These current turbos are just the beginning. I would think in the next year or two you should be seeing numbers in the 300-350HP range. These are more or less to test the market to see what problems the real world is going to have. You have to figure in cost and emissions into the equation. Driveline components have to be engineered. You cant just stuff a T-56 into a car that was designed for something smaller. The Solstice/Sky already uses a version of the CTS rear axle and differential. Than there is the problem of putting all of this in a FWD/AWD platform. I've always liked 4 cylinder cars. Put one in a light enough car and its the same power to weight ratio as a V-8. One of the reasons I've hung onto my Cosworth Vega. Its no speed demon but it is faster than a V-6 Camaro and faster than 90% of the imports out there. With its 50/50 weight distribution it handles like its on rails too. I've been thinking about swapping in a turbo'd Ecotec into my parts car only because it would be a lot easier to replace parts when it breaks. GM needs to stuff 300HP into those sports cars. Only because that would make them the leaders in that class.

 

[2QUIK6]

Hahn racecraft is at RT66 quite a bit too. I wonder who did the work on this car.

Hahn already makes a turbo kit for the current Solstice/Sky so it is probably one of his kits since he's right there in the area.

 

[turbo2nr]

I like the engine and the RWD factor. I read the article in GM high-tech recently about the engine. Cool stuff.

 

[BandAid]

ther Solstice is just simply GAY
the Sky is a sweet looking car.......go figure GM to FCK up another wet dream...

 

[madhat]

Almost every one I have talked to would disagree with your comment on the Pontiac
You know, these cars have a bother over in Europe....

 

[22lbChevelle]

I love em both, I also agree strongly with the E85 comment..

 

[turbofish38]

I love em both, I also agree strongly with the E85 comment..

I would agree on E85 too but the bigger problem is you cant buy E85 everywhere. I can count the number of places you can get E85 here in FL on one hand. The E85 marketing needs to be sorted out by the petroluem industry not GM or Detroit. Right now its a stop-gap measure to reduce the need for importing crude. IMO GM could care less about using E85 for performance cars.

 

[UNGN]

I would agree on E85 too but the bigger problem is you cant buy E85 everywhere. I can count the number of places you can get E85 here in FL on one hand. The E85 marketing needs to be sorted out by the petroluem industry not GM or Detroit. Right now its a stop-gap measure to reduce the need for importing crude. IMO GM could care less about using E85 for performance cars.

That is going to change in the next couple years. There are 40 Ethanol Plants being built/expanded in Nebraska alone (currently there is about 10) that will have a yearly output of about 2 billion gallons of ethanol.

When the SUV drivers realize it causes there fuel mileage to fall off a cliff, we will be swimming in the stuff.

 

[Little6pack]

That is going to change in the next couple years. There are 40 Ethanol Plants being built/expanded in Nebraska alone (currently there is about 10) that will have a yearly output of about 2 billion gallons of ethanol.

When the SUV drivers realize it causes there fuel mileage to fall off a cliff, we will be swimming in the stuff.

Wal-Mart is the only one at this point to possibly sell E-85 countrywide.
I don't see the FAT CAT EXXON/MOB or others pushing to carry it.

 

[Quiky One]

Wal-Mart is the only one at this point to possibly sell E-85 countrywide.
I don't see the FAT CAT EXXON/MOB or others pushing to carry it.

My walmart doesnt have it.

Jason

 

[Little6pack]

My walmart doesnt have it.

Jason

Well GIT OVER there & SLAM SAM & HIS KIN. Tell him you want it!

 

[UNGN]

Wal-Mart is the only one at this point to possibly sell E-85 countrywide.
I don't see the FAT CAT EXXON/MOB or others pushing to carry it.

If we can get GM on board, The oil compaines will follow. The oil companies are building the infrastucture to deliver it, but a lack of supply has made the price too volatile. Oil companies aren't keen on paying $4/gallon for something when they can make something better for $2/gallon.

As I said, in the next 2-4 years, we will be swimming in ethanol. Since it sucks as an SUV fuel, turbo's are the ideal market. If GM doesn't realize this, they are dumber than we thought.

 

[HellOnWheels]

Some of the other +'s of ethanol is far less pollutants, much cleaner burning, and it's 105 +/- octane which can be mixed to any portions ie E85= 85% ethanol, 15% gasoline. In some foreign(sp) you can "mix" your own as they as they have one storage of gasoline and one ethanol. Brazil practically gasoline free and 100% ethanol. Lotsa sugar/cane grown there.

I have finished building my still and soon as weather and time permits I'll be brewing my own fuel. I found a source for powder sugar for $30.00 a ton. Most anyone can get a permit from the ATF for making up to 10,000 gallons anually.

All of GM's 2005 1/2 ton trucks were set to use the E85 fuel. If you have a good source for feedstock you can easily make all the ethanol you can burn. I'm going to be in contact with local police, school bus, city and county as a possible buyers from me. Its also a plus that the Feds will pay you .50-60 cents per gallon that you sell.

Anything that has sugar in it ie, cane, sugar beets, molasses, stale donuts, cakes, twinkies, and on and on will speed up the process big time, generally the fermentition time with sugars is 3-7 days, then it's ready to start making ethanol.

There are several site on the internet that you can buy a ready to go still to a DIY one like I build. One such site is www.moonshinestills.com, they are pretty much the top of line stills as they are built use 100% copper. They are a little pricey but ready to use immediately. There are also several other sites that sell kits, plans/specs, used ones can sometime be found on the internet.

One big bonus, if you have any left over from filling your tank......you can drink it:>).

Methanol can be made using sawdust, wood chips, grass clippings, corn stalks, cotton shirts-clothes, and just about anything God created that grows and is or was green, but it is very, very lethal to humans if drank....I'm gonna stay with ethanol.

HOW

 

[Pablo]

I agree with the turbo solstice and e85 comment

if they really want to put a spotlight on that fuel they oughta show what its capable of. A properly prepared flex fuel ecotec turbo motor oughta easily do 300 hp on e85 if it does 260 on gasoline.

I can just imagine all the fuss in the car mags and forums online people clamoring to fill up their cars with "the good stuff" with it being substantially cheaper than premium its going to take on an almost mythical quality.

 

[2QUIK6]

In order for GM to make a E85 performance vehicle that will wow the public, you first have to get GM out of bed with big oil.

 

[UNGN]

They aren't so much in bed with big oil, but they have been in bed with cheap oil.

In two years, GM will be making Yukons and Tahoes that get 28 mpg on the highway. If oil was still $40/barrell, they and us would be content with Yukons and Tahoes that get 16 mpg on the highway.

The ramifications of 28 mpg SUV's are huge. Many alternative sources of energy are coming on line that are profitable in the equivalent of $40-50/barrell. This means that gas will eventually drop back to $1.75/gallon and we will be using much less of it.

Everyone points to the Toyota and the Prius as a company "doing something" about high gas prices and tight oil supplies. This is flawed logic, however.

The Prius driven 12,000 mile/year only saves less than 100 gallons of gas over a similar All gasoline car. Big deal.

Raising a yukon's fuel economy from 16 to 28 mpg would save 330 gallons of gasoline/year (3.5 times as much).