515 hp 253

[Taily]

400hp with a simple tune, that makes 515 out of a stroked 253 even more amazing! Almost 2 hp/ cubic inch is unbelievable. You need to be at 700hp with the LS1 to be on par! I realise its possible but 2hp/cubic inch is good for any motor. It's only revving to 7500 and normally aspirated.

The difference is that one would be easier to live with in traffic then the other and then return 10-11lt/100 on the highway, not to mention hanging together for upwards to 300,000km. The same money that was spent on the 253 would get the LS engine well into the 450-500KW range (on 98 pump fuel and you watch that extra 150+kw just magically appear when tuned on E85), which is as you say: 2hp/ci (or better).

The age old adage, how fast do you want to go? How fast/much do you want to spend. Rocket science it isn't but there is some serious ingenuity in some headwork some guys are capable of. Heads, displacement and compression increases in the mechanicals get any engine moving. A sodding expensive cam and ignition/intake system to meld all the changes into a result and dependant upon just how wild you went with the design you might crack some big numbers.

The power numbers that everyday tuning houses are achieving out of NA LS, blown Miami and turbo'd Barra engines these days is staggering. Most with only minor external mods such as intercoolers or exhausts/pumps/injectors. Now just how "safe" some of those tunes are is debatable, but good tuners will only take things so far to keep good margins over detonation etc.

Good on them for getting some great numbers out of a 253. I just don't think it would be a nice thing to live with.

[prophecyaudio]

I agree with Byron. It's a GM powertrain engine, used in Chev, Buick, Pontiac, GMC, Hummer, Holden etc.

[HK1837]

I always thought a Statesman was a Holden. I must have missed the explaination of why it isn't. If I was to ask why it isn't a Holden I feel that would start the war again so I won't be doing that.

It is an easy but long winded one. Prior to company name changes and blurring of the lines in the 80's, a Holden was what GMH built, eg FJ Holden, EH Holden etc. Alongside this the sold their locally assembled CKD Chevrolet and Pontiac cars (and whatever else they assembled). When GMH first branched out into other car lines they had the HK Holden, the HB Torana and the Impala and Parisienne offerings. Once HQ came around they had the Holden car, the Torana line and they created a separate car line to replace the Impala/ Parisienne, the Statesman. All marketing, technical and parts catalogues refer to HQ as "HQ Holden and Statesman". Other than the odd error even the ADR plates show the HQ Holden as for example "Holden HQ Sedan" where a Statesman won't show Holden it is like "Statesman HQ Sedan". It is just how they are. Torana are the same, they aren't a Holden either. Yes they are all built by a company called GENERAL MOTORS - HOLDEN'S PTY. LTD. and wear the GMH Lion badge or logo, but at the time GMH saw the Holden car as a cab chassis, Belmont, Kingswood, Monaro, Monaro GTS, Monaro GTS350, Premier or Monaro LS.

It wasn't unique to just Holden though. The V size car saw Commodore and Calais as separate car lines too in VK. In later years they even separated off Berlina, Monaro, Ute/crewman and Adventra from the Commodore lineup.

Today it is all history and they all tend to get lumped as Holdens, but the historically correct terminology which has to be used in some published documentation needs to see them separated. When you do a whole of GMH/Holden history like Dr Terry has done you have to group everything under the same banner for it to all fit together and make sense. But when targeting a specific era like say Monaro in the 60's and 70's or Sandman it is important to make the distinction that for example, the top lux level HQ Holden was a Monaro LS or Premier Sedan/Wagon, it wasn't a Statesman Deville.

[hqhzvans]

So where does HSV (Holden Special Vehicles) fit into the argument ?

[prophecyaudio]

The etc. Lol

[HK1837]

So where does HSV (Holden Special Vehicles) fit into the argument ?

They are part of the blurred lines!

[Valencia]

So where does HSV (Holden Special Vehicles) fit into the argument ?

Can of worms

[HK1837]

I don't think HSV is the can of worms. It is when people call HSV products Commodores or Monaro etc that the lid gets lifted.

[Innuendo]

Keeps you on your toes Byron! Maybe we need some GM badges?

[HK1837]

Well I think one of the big truck brands were putting Allison or Cummins badges on them. Might have been Doge Rams with Cummins. so why not I suppose! GMH used to use "Powered by Holden" badges on Bedfords too. Pretty sure the bigger Bedfords with Detroit 2 strokes had Detroit Diesel badging somwhere as well.