GM may have just given us the details on the new Gen-V V8 [1], but that doesn’t mean that the speculation about the new GM powerplants is over. After we posted the new Gen V videos from GM [2], a keen-eyed Facebook fan named Michael Booth pointed out that the tech in the “Tilt Stand” test is actually working on the compressor side of a turbo.
[3]After painstakingly analyzing the video frame by frame, we have to agree with Booth’s conclusion. The first engine shown on the dyno looks essentially just like the naturally aspirated LT1 we got a look at earlier today [1]. However, when the video shifts to the “Tilt Stand Tec Setup” it seems that we are looking at a different engine all-together. The technician is clearly working on an aluminum housing with a bead-rolled outlet, which is used on most turbos to keep charge piping secured under boost. Also note the vacuum canister for the wastgate actuator, the water and oil lines running to the center section, the heat shield, and the exhaust downpipe running out the opposite side of the center section. It’s either a turbo, or the world’s most invasive EGR system/smog pump.
[4]Best of all there doesn’t appear to be just one turbo. Pay attention to the black air box on top of the engine, you can see that there are two inlets, with one coming from each bank of the engine. It would be a safe assumption that there is another turbo hanging off the other side feeding atmosphere into the air box.
[5]But what does this mean? Could this be a leak of one of the other performance engines that GM has coming down the pipe (twin-turbo V6, perhaps)? Let us know what you think!