During the beginning of the New Year, we think of all our customers and residents of St Louis, and genuinely hope that you had some very quality time to share with your own. As 2018 gets off to an exciting and wonderful beginning, it's important to make note of such awesome progress: Chevrolet trucks have now been pulling their weight for an entire century. It's absolutely true that “no one does torque like Chevy”, and innovation along with technology has made for some very major changes over the years. The original 1918 One-Ton model featured a meek 2.8-Liter 4-cylinder engine, with an estimated 45 lb-ft of torque. The closest relative to this engine is the standard 2.5-Liter 4-cylinder engine found in the Colorado, which is rated at 191 lb-ft of torque.
Advances such as turbocharging and direct injection have helped Chevy engines deliver more torque than ever before, and this means that customers are able to haul and get more done than ever. The increase in Chevy truck capability has been well-stoked over the decades by the long-standing performance of several landmark engine families, that all share an elegant, overhead valve-architecture. This is what contributes to low-rpm torque production, packaging that is more complex in the long run, and reduced complexity. As we celebrate 100 years of awesome and durable trucks, here's a brief overview of some very monumental milestones in torque production.
1929: The First Stovebelt Six: Chevrolet's first overhead-valve inline-six engine brought big torque to the masses. Displacing 194 cubic inches, 3.2-L, it had a design that was all-new at the time, and was a 3.2-Liter. Its brand new design helped to generate torque at a healthily low rpm: approximately 120 lb-ft at only 800 rpm. One of the reasons why this truck was so monumental is that its work-truck load rating was increased from 1 ton to 1.5 tons, a stellar advancement at the time. Several generations of Chevrolet's overhead-valve straight-six engine were developed from the original design and, and were placed in Chevy Trucks up through the late 1980's.
1955: The First Small-block V-8. 1955 is when Chevrolet introduced its
revolutionary overhead-valve V-8 engine, in the impressive and iconic “Second series” truck lineup. The original 265-cubic-inch 4.3-Liter engine cranked out 238 lb-ft of torque, at just 2,000 rpm, and grew perfectly into the role of one of the most enduring architectures in the entire industry. Ten years after the Small-block's introduction, the Big Block engine family made its debut, and torque-production was excitedly elevated to an unprecedented level for all gas-powered trucks. It still has a perfect home in its fifth generation in 2018 Chevy Trucks, while the original Small Block and Big Block families are kicking butt on a daily basis in performance crate engines.
1987: Technology Helps Build Torque and Up Efficiency: Up until the early 1970's, higher compression and increased displacement were two of the main ingredients needed to gradually build more torque and horsepower. Then there were mandates in the industry that seriously affected traditional power-building techniques. Trading high compression for a high level of technology, Chevy then perfected the formula to develop electronic fuel injection, helping to restore the torque seen in years past, with positive boosts in the efficiency department.
In 1987, torque in the Small-block engine returned to 300 lb-ft, and was increased by 10 percent in the years to come by means of the 5.7-Liter Vortec Small Block. Still today, the available 6.2-Liter Small Block in the 2018 Silverado 1500 is rated at 460 lb-ft of torque. This is made possible with technologies such as variable valve timing and direct injection, which boost it to the highest torque rating of any light duty pickup V-8.
The Modern Diesel Era + Duramax: First coming around in 2001 for Chevy's HD trucks, the Duramax 6.6 -Liter turbo-diesel was made up of overhead valves and 520 lb-ft of torque. It was an all-new design that firmly established new era of output and ability. Due to technological advances output was pushed higher, and this is still the second-generation iteration that is found in the 2018 Silverado HD lineup. It provides a 75% surge in torque from the same 6.6-Liter displacement as the original did, and thereby really upped the stakes on performance and expectations for HD trucks. The good folks on staff at Car and Driver recorded a startling 6.2 second 0-60 mph run in a Duramax-powered Silverado, which is the quickest time currently on record for an HD truck! These were 100 very great years, and all of us at Jim Butler are excited to show you just how awesome the coming years are going to be with a brand this great generating the torque for performance!
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