Short Stroke LS2?
One of the crate engines in our new lineup is a short stroke LS7 5.7L revving to 8000rpm. You could continue that concept with the LS2 and L92 heads, but I think it would get a little pricey and more effective to just do an LS7.
I ran a solid roller, aluminum rodded, iron block 402ci into 8300rpm many times. I later
pulled it out running perfectly. It was a 4inch stroked 6.0L motor.
I had a Glide behind it, each gear pulled and lasted FOREVER!
People in the stands would come up to me and tell me that the way it sounded, they
would tell me that it sounded like a attack fighter plane, rocket, and some would tell
me they thought it was going to blow up
It just kept climbing. My car had a major vanishing point effect on the top end with the Glide and high rpm
capabilities. It pulled hard on the big end. The Glide would even out the accelleration
the whole way.
You may not have to destroke to run reasonably safe into 8000rpm.
Jay Johnson
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I like the idea of a large bore short stroke setup. There are some cylinder heads on the horizon that will help these setups make the rpm reliably.
Richard
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I like the idea of a large bore short stroke setup. There are some cylinder heads on the horizon that will help these setups make the rpm reliably.
Richard

If you are choosing an arbitrary rpm limit then destroking will take a little wear out of the engine for sure and it will also take the same amount of power out as well. Why do that? Many have built destroked LS1s on this board with the same results. They go slower at a higher rpm but there is nothing special about that!
There's a good reason the LS7 comes with a 4 inch crank. RPM tears stuff up WAY faster than stroke ever will. I'm not saying that you believe all that Richard I was just quoting you on the wear part.
1. The rotating assembly. Here, we are primarily interested in peak forces on the weak points: wrist pins, piston bosses, connecting rods, but primarily the rod bolts. The forces are higher with a shorter stroke (same bore) adding revs to gain displacement.
2. The valvetrain. With the same swept displacement, basically the the same size components. Here, the shorter stroke is providing a higher load without benefit. Also note, when you move from 6500-7000 to 7500-8500rpm, you move out of the range of hydraulic roller cams to solid roller cams, that can have lifter issues in street use. Schubeck lifters, at $920/set, may be the only fix.
3. Low speed operation. Simply, a street car needs to operate in traffic at under 20, and sometimes under 10mph. Modern multiple cam engines use variable cam timing and lift and variable intake length to provide a wide range operation. Barring that, which to the best of my knowledge is not done in the pushrod OHV world, the low speed operation of the smaller displacement engine is worse. It is my understanding that forced induction can minimize this.
The advantages of smaller displacement/higher revs can come in several ways:
1. So countries have high taxes on larger engines.
2. Many racing classes restrict engine displacement, although increasingly they are also restricting engine speed.
3. It produces the same power (torque at the wheels) with lower forces in the engine and driveline. 400hp at 8200 rpm is 263 lbf-ft of torque, at 7000 it is 300. That is the difference between a 7 L and a 6.2. This can allow lighter components and may fall within the operating range of the only components available.
Factor 3 may make that sort of engine a good choice for a FFR GTM or Ultima, especially using a G50 transaxle. Using a Quaife, ZF, or Mendeola may mitigate that a bit.
P.S.
It seems most modern engines have 82-87mm bores. Does that have something to do with combustion efficency? Hondas with those bores have piston speeds and G-forces exceeding anything we are talking about here. However, the small bores result in relatively light pistons, they use smaller, lighter pins, and short rods with small journals and less weight minimizing the negative rotating assembly issues, an overhead cam 4valve setup minimizing valvetrain speed issues, and a variable cam timing/lift setup minimizing low speed operation issues.
Last edited by DavidNJ; Apr 9, 2006 at 10:13 PM.
LS7 rotating assembly with custom crank/pistons and other upgrades to suit 8000 rpm.
The only thing I have to add is that stroking an engine will allow for more TQ and keeping the RPM's down to save the life of the engine, but there is a point of diminishing returns when it comes to stroke. Where that is varies based on the motor.
Practically the only reason that F1 motors rev to 16k+ rpm is because they have to. They have a 3.0L max on displacement. They even have 3.0L V10's. In order to compete they have to. If they could run any displacement, I can gaurantee you that they would balance engine and transaxle integrity instead of spinning to the moon.
I do think it is a good idea for a GTM like previously stated because of the G50 transaxle. They are definately have a much weaker TQ rating than a T56.
In this situation, it would probably be more cost effective to build a high spinning de-stroker than to get a G50 build to handle 500+ ft-lbf tq. You are probably looking at a $15k+ transaxle :-0
Large bore/short stroke engines are dependant on efficient flowing intake and exhaust systems to maintain torque beyond the peak. These engines do have their place in the racing world.
The bore vs. stroke debate will go on for ever, but my experience says it's application dependent.
Richard
thanbks Chris.
Last edited by slt200mph; Apr 10, 2006 at 03:48 PM.
De-stroking a motor allows you to run longer rods, and while this can hurt low-end power, I can't for the life of me think of a short stroke motor built for low-end. The whole big-bore short-stroke long-rod combo is part of why the ol' 426 Hemi was hard to beat in NASCAR. 4.25" bore, 3.75" stroke, and up to 7" long rods, resulting in a 1.87:1 rod/stroke ratio, which is on the extreme high end of the spectrum. for most engines, 1.6:1 to 1.8:1 is an acceptable range, with 1.7:1 giving the best of both worlds.
Oh, and longer rods will allow for higher compression. Years ago, Hot Rod built a GM 352 out of a 400 block, a 327 crank, and Ford 300-6 cyl. rods. At 11:1 CR, it made 412 hp... on 87-octane, 36* total timing, with no pinging at all.



