Is This the C7 Corvette Z07’s Supercharged LT4 V8 Engine?

Our friends over at CorvetteOnline.com revealed a picture yesterday of what is most likely to be the engine that will be going into the successor of the C6 Z06, the C7 Corvette Z07.

There is a lot of debating going on as to what exactly the next the Corvette model will be, as well as how it will be powered. Like they did with the C6 models, we believe Chevrolet will release the Corvette Z07 in 2015, a year following the initial rollout of the base C7 model, the Corvette Stingray.

After we saw this photo which definitely shows a supercharged variation of the LT1, we went back and read some of the posts on the Corvette Forum about the subject from a poster named Keeks2915, who was mostly correct with his information about the Corvette Stingray and who was behind the leak of this CAD photo in the fall of 2012.

If you compare the engine in the picture to that CAD photo, you’ll see that it’s nearly spot on. The red supercharger cover has 4 center bolts on the top and the curved areas at the back are exactly the same. The other item that makes us think this will be the LT4 are the raised white stripes running down the middle. Those same stripes were on the C4’s 1996 Grand Sport and Collector Edition LT4s as well:

According to the Corvette Forum’s Keeks, the C7 Z06 model (which we are calling Z07) will be a supercharged 6.2L V8 called the LT4 and its expected to make 586 hp. Keeks did fall short when he said the LT1s initial horsepower would be 430 hp as it came in at 455/460 hp depending on the exhaust system. Assuming the same increase in the LT4s horsepower, that puts it right around 600-620hp which is in line with some of the other rumors we’ve read.

Keeks also claimed that this engine would be shared with the sixth generation 2015 Camaro ZL1. That car already has 580 hp from the supercharged GEN 4 6.2L LSA engine, so equipping the Camaro ZL1 with the superchared GEN 5 LT variant makes a lot of sense. The ZL1 may see a rise slight rise horsepower, but it will definitely benefit from the fuel savings that the direct injection engine provides.

So is this the LT4? We probably won’t know until we get closer to the Detroit Auto Show in January, but it does seem to be another part of the puzzle coming together as the C7 Corvette’s future performance models start to reveal themselves.

Source:
CorvetteOnline.com
CorvetteForum.com

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