From a message on OEC2 Yahoo! Group by alby10bond
editorial.carsales.com.au
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"Holden joins the DOHC 24-valve crowd with the Commodore's new Alloytec engine
By MARTON PETTENDY 14 July 2004
HOLDEN'S all-new Global V6 finally puts Commodore on an equal footing with the 24-valve, overhead camshaft six-cylinder engines available in the other locally-built large cars from Ford, Toyota and Mitsubishi.
Banishing cast-iron, pushrods and just two valves per cylinder to history, the new engine also goes one better than that offered by its most direct rival Falcon by being all-aluminium, and also betters Magna by featuring twin overhead camshafts."
... "A 32-bit Bosch Motronic ME 9.0 engine management system supplies the returnless sequential-port fuel-injection system via an electronically controlled 68mm single-bore throttle, while individual coil-on-plug technology (with dual platinum-electrode sparkplugs with a service life of 120,000km) is used and each cylinder also gets individual knock control."........
"Global V6 just the beginning
GLOBAL V6 has been a long time coming, but it’s just the beginning of a new era in both domestic and export engine production for Holden.
The product of a $400 million investment program that will see up to 240,000 Global V6 variants built at Fishermens Bend for consumption in General Motors products worldwide including Cadillac, Saab and Alfa Romeo models, Global V6 is part of a $2 billion, five-year capital expenditure program to raise production from 750 to 820 vehicles per day before the all-new VE Commodore in 2006.
Underlining the importance within the Asia-Pacific region of Port Melbourne – the only factory outside GM’s St Catherines plant in Canada to produce the Global V6 - Holden engineers were involved in the project since the development of specifications and design began in 1999.
But even with the help of computer-aided analysis, Holden says the development and localisation of Alloytec and its variants took more than 200,000 hours, 143 experimental engines and 60 specific tests. Each engine takes about 3.5 hours to build.
Holden, however, is quick to point out that engines displacing 2.8 and 3.2 litres are also part of the Global V6 family, and that as a result direct-injection spark-ignition (SIDI) equipped versions of the V6 in these capacities are further potential variants.
Officially, other possibilities include turbocharged versions of both the 2.8 and 3.2, but Holden says Alloytec is also suitable for transverse, front-wheel drive applications as well as Commodore’s longitudinal, rear-drive layout – and all-wheel drive in either front or rear-drive.
This means Holden V6s will eventually power everything from the rear-drive VE Commodore to Alfa’s next generation AWD Spider coupe-convertible and Holden’s next generation Adventra cross-overs."
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Interesting they point out the 2.8 and 3.2 as "potential" variants. No mention of the type of Direct Injection
(air-assist or high pressure)..... no time frame for beginning production ..... and no mention of Orbital.
But.... since Orbital has been mentioned as the system that all others are compared to (so far still the best)....... and with the GM and Honda patents for use of air-assist direct injection (apparently Orbital's system)..... and low-sulfur gasoline becoming available in 2007 (allowing DI even better fuel economy)....and the mention of these GM engines as being designed for air-assist DI.... it seems that it is only a matter of time before we see some action by the auto industry to adopt OCP. |
