AlHewitt
Well-known member
I've been lurking on this site for a while and I'm not seeing any new postings so I thought I'd weigh in on a couple of things. I'm new to C6's and really like the GS. I have a couple of C4's that I will need to sell before I can step up to a 2010 GS. If I can put the deal together I will have one of these great Corvettes soon.
I'm aware that engine and transmission development go hand in hand. The days of a Warner and Muncie M20 or M21 (I believe they were known as) where they were fitted to any number of V8's, are probably all but gone. Today a transmission undergoes extensive testing with the engine it is connected to before a manufacture offers it to you and I. I have no direct knowledge of what the testing of this engine/transmission combination might involve but I can imagine it is extensive.
Recently I learned about a test fixture that auto manufactures use that has an electrical motor connected to the transmissions being evaluated. This electrical motor is controlled by a variable frequency drive - this is a controller of sorts - that is capable of simulating the signature pulses of the engine. All automobile engines have impulse signatures based on many things, i.e. the number of cylinders, cu. in., compression ratios, etc... and the transmission needs to be able to withstand all of these variables. To this, there is a specialty controls manufacture here in Seattle that makes the test fixture used by GM, among others, for testing new transmissions. I was talking to this company this week and learned a little about the set-up that Chev used to develop the transmission for the new ZR1. It was reported to me that the electrical motor used was rated at 1,000HP! So if the transmissions used on the new ZR1's were tested with a 1,000HP test fixture, I'm wondering if this is the same transmission used on the Z06, GS and C6? I believe the testing would involve both the transmission and differential, the transaxle as it is.
So does anyone else out there have info on what type of testing a new design might go through before it is offer for sale?
Cheers... Al
I'm aware that engine and transmission development go hand in hand. The days of a Warner and Muncie M20 or M21 (I believe they were known as) where they were fitted to any number of V8's, are probably all but gone. Today a transmission undergoes extensive testing with the engine it is connected to before a manufacture offers it to you and I. I have no direct knowledge of what the testing of this engine/transmission combination might involve but I can imagine it is extensive.
Recently I learned about a test fixture that auto manufactures use that has an electrical motor connected to the transmissions being evaluated. This electrical motor is controlled by a variable frequency drive - this is a controller of sorts - that is capable of simulating the signature pulses of the engine. All automobile engines have impulse signatures based on many things, i.e. the number of cylinders, cu. in., compression ratios, etc... and the transmission needs to be able to withstand all of these variables. To this, there is a specialty controls manufacture here in Seattle that makes the test fixture used by GM, among others, for testing new transmissions. I was talking to this company this week and learned a little about the set-up that Chev used to develop the transmission for the new ZR1. It was reported to me that the electrical motor used was rated at 1,000HP! So if the transmissions used on the new ZR1's were tested with a 1,000HP test fixture, I'm wondering if this is the same transmission used on the Z06, GS and C6? I believe the testing would involve both the transmission and differential, the transaxle as it is.
So does anyone else out there have info on what type of testing a new design might go through before it is offer for sale?
Cheers... Al
