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List of GM engines
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This is a list of GM engines, or more specifically a list of engine designs that General Motors has used in its various products.
its founding in 1908, GM allowed each of its divisions (including overseas units like Opel and Holden) almost complete autonomy in the design and engineering of their various vehicle lines, so long as they fit within the GM hierarchy.
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Encyclopedia
This is a list of GM engines, or more specifically a list of engine designs that General Motors has used in its various products.
Divisions
From its founding in 1908, GM allowed each of its divisions (including overseas units like Opel and Holden) almost complete autonomy in the design and engineering of their various vehicle lines, so long as they fit within the GM hierarchy. Thus, each division (with only a few exceptions) maintained separate and distinct engine designs for many decades.
By the 1970s, GM began to see problems with this approach. For instance, four different North American divisions (Chevrolet, Pontiac, Oldsmobile and Buick) offered four completely different versions of a 350 cu in V8 engine - very few parts would interchange between the four designs despite their visual similarities, resulting in confusion for owners who (quite naturally) assumed that replacement parts would be usable across the board. In addition to these issues and the obvious overlap in production costs, the cost of certifying so many different engines for tightening worldwide emissions regulations threatened to become very expensive.
Thus, by the early 1980s, GM had consolidated its powertrain engineering efforts into a few distinct lines. Generally, North American and European (GM Europe) engineering units remained separate, with Australia's Holden and other global divisions borrowing designs from one or the other as needed. GM also worked out sharing agreements with other manufacturers like Isuzu and Nissan to fill certain gaps in engineering. Similarly, the company also purchased other automotive firms (like Saab Automobile and Daewoo Motor), eventually folding their engine designs into the corporate portfolio as well.
Besides GM's core business of automobiles and trucks, the company also maintained several divisions specializing in heavy-duty or industrial engines. These included Detroit Diesel, Allison, and Electro-Motive. All three produced high-capacity powerplants in a wide variety of types and sizes, most totally unrelated to the automotive divisions. GM eventually spun these divisions off to focus solely on its core business, but the engines they designed while under GM's control are included in this list to illustrate the company's level of engineering ability.
Names
In recent years, GM (like many other auto manufacturers) has begun to use specific brand names to market their engines. As a consequence of this, many different families of GM engines use names such as EcoTec and Vortec, even though they may have little or nothing to do with each other from an engineering perspective. (For example, the Vortec 2200 and Vortec 2800 are both inline four-cylinder engines, but they share no parts with each other; additionally, the 2200's basic design predates that of the 2800 by over two decades.)
On the other hand, some of GM's earliest engine designs (from the company's 1908 founding through the 1930s) have gained colloquial nicknames over the years that have reached a level of common usage. The most famous of these may be Chevrolet's "Stovebolt" six-cylinder engine. Other names were used in a semi-formal context, like Pontiac's Silver Streak eight-cylinder (Pontiac models carrying this engine often had "Silver Streak" badges or decorations on their bodies, but the engine itself was never officially referred to as such).
Coding
Within its regional units around the world, GM has traditionally used two different coding methods to identify their engines. Specific codes will not be discussed here, but a breakdown of how they work may be useful for research within individual engine family articles linked to this list.
North America
Since the 1970s, GM's North American divisions have used three-digit RPO (Regular Production Option) codes to identify specific equipment on their various lines of vehicles. RPO codes relating to engines generally begin with an "L"; hence many GM engines have become commonly associated with a particular RPO code - the "L88" V8, "LSJ" inline-4, "LX5" V6, etc.
There is no specific rationale for which combination of letters or numbers are used after the initial "L" digit, and it should be noted that (despite thousands of possible combinations) GM has reused many different codes over the years. This can sometimes lead to confusion, especially when engines of similar design use the same codes. (For instance, "LS6" can refer to two totally different Chevrolet V8 engines in both the older Chevrolet "big-block" family and the newer LS family.)
Worldwide (outside North America)
Led by GM Europe, the company's units outside of North America began using a more organized SKU-style coding system during the 1980s to classify engines used within their own set of divisions. Though there are some differences, it is a similar style to that used by manufacturers like Honda or Nissan and easily indicates several different criteria of a given engine for quick identification. Depending on the engine's particular level of tuning or complexity, codes may range from four to six digits in length.
An example code for a specific gasoline (petrol) engine is "C20LET". In this case, "C" indicates use of a catalytic converter, "20" indicates displacement of 2.0 liters, "L" indicates a compression ratio of 8.5:1 to 9.0:1, "E" indicates use of electronic multi-point fuel injection, and "T" indicates use of a turbocharger. Codes for diesel engines are largely similar.
Gasoline piston engines
Two-cylinder engines
Straight (inline) two
- 1903-1911 Buick twin (acquired during the founding of GM)
- 1909 Oakland twin (acquired via GM's purchase of Oakland Motor Car)
Three-cylinder engines
Straight (inline) three
External (non-GM) designs
Four-cylinder engines
Straight (inline) four
- 1905-1914 Cadillac four (acquired as part of the founding of GM)
- 1905-1923 Oldsmobile four (acquired as part of the founding of GM)
- 1906-1918 Buick four (acquired as part of the founding of GM)
- 1906-1916 Oakland four (acquired as part of the founding of GM)
- 1913-1928 Chevrolet four (acquired as part of Chevrolet's takeover of, and merger into, GM)
- 1923 Chevrolet Copper-Cooled four
- 1930s-1965 Opel four (as used in large Opels like the Olympia; acquired via GM's purchase of Adam Opel)
- 1960-1963 Pontiac Indy Four (derived from the Pontiac V8)
- 1961-1970 Chevrolet 153 (derived from the Chevrolet six)
- 1962-1993 Opel OHV four (as used in small Opels like the Kadett)
- 1970-1977 GM 2300
- 1976-1993 GM Iron Duke
- 1981-2003 GM OHV four (marketed as Vortec in truck models)
- 1979-present GM Family II (marketed as EcoTec, D-TEC or E-TEC depending on brand)
- 1981-present Saab H (acquired via GM's 1990 purchase of Saab Automobile)
- 1987-2001 GM Quad-4 ("Twin Cam")
- 1990-2002 Saturn four(1.9L DOHC or SOHC)
- 1991-present Daewoo S-TEC four (acquired via GM's 2002 purchase of Daewoo Motor)
- 1996-present GM Family 1 four (marketed as D-TEC or E-TEC depending on brand)
- 1996-present GM Family 0 four
- 2003-present GM Atlas four (marketed as Vortec)
External (non-GM) designs
Five-cylinder engines
Straight (inline) five
* 2003-present GM Atlas five (marketed as Vortec)
Six-cylinder engines
Straight (inline) six
Holden in Australia used straight-6 engines for a number of years in their family sedan models, with local engines ranging in size from 2.15L (132ci) in the original Holden 48-215 of 1948, to the 3.3L (202ci) six used in the 1970s and 80s, up until 1985 with the VK Commodore. These engines were color-coded, often being referred to by the color of their engine block (grey, red, blue, black). These home-grown engines were replaced in the 1986 VL Commodore to coincide with new unleaded fuel requirements in Australia. Since the old engine was considered unsuitable, and a new engine hadn't been developed, the VL Commodore sported Nissan's RB30 engine, the last straight six ever used in a Commodore.
Horizontally-opposed (flat) six
* 1959-1969 Chevrolet Corvair six (marketed as Turbo-Air)
V6
General Motors was the pioneer of V6 engines in the United States, with both the first V6 engine in an American truck (GMC models of 1960) and an American car (the Buick Special of 1961). The company later lost interest in the V6 concept, and sold the Buick design to Kaiser-Jeep in 1967. In the midst of the fuel crisis of the 1970s, GM realized that a V6 engine would be an excellent alternative to bulky inline six and V8 engines, so the company bought the design back and launched what would eventually become the familiar 3800 V6 line. From that point on, the company has continued to introduce ever more advanced designs around the world, culminating in the most recent High Feature engines.
External (non-GM) designs
Eight-cylinder engines
Straight (inline) eight
* 1930-1936 Buick eight
V8
From the 1950s through the 1970s, each GM division had its own V8 engine family. Many were shared among other divisions, but each design is most closely associated with its own division. Today, there are only two types of V8 engines still produced by GM for use in road vehicles: the Generation IV small-block and Cadillac's advanced DOHC V8, the Northstar.
Multi-cylinder engines
V12
Several other V12 engines, designed for use in Cadillac models, have been proposed by GM over the years but have not yet managed to reach series production.
V16
As with the V12, Cadillac has recently considered production of a modern V16 as well, but has not gotten beyond production of prototypes and one well-regarded concept vehicle supporting the idea.
W24
Diesel piston engines
This list may be incomplete.
GM designs
GM diesels stem from the acquisition of Winton Engine Corporation in 1930. Winton was based in Cleveland, and initial production continued in that city. These were mid-sized engines. The main customer of Winton was the Electro Motive Corporation, the pioneering producer of diesel-electic locomotives. GM acquired Electro Motive at roughly the same time as Winton. These two companies were merged to became the Electro Motive Division (EMD) of GM in 1941, which was responsible for locomotive production and engine design. A further division, the Cleveland Diesel Engine Division, was responsible for submarine, marine and stationary versions of the EMD engines. Finally, in 1937 GM set up a third diesel division in Detroit, the Detroit Diesel Engine Division. The Electro Motive Division was responsible for mid- and large-displacement engines (over 150 cubic inches per cylinder) while the Detroit Diesel Division was responsible for small-displacement engines (50 through 149 cubic inches displacement). The Canadian market was served by a single company, General Motors Diesel, which produced versions of the EMD and Detroit engines.
- 1920s-1939 Winton 201-A (industrial engine; acquired via GM's 1930 purchase of Winton Engine and Electro-Motive)
- 1938-1966 EMD 567 (industrial engine)
- 1938-1980s GM Diesel Series 71 (now better known as a Detroit Diesel product)
- 1945-1965 GM Diesel Series 110
- 1950-1955 GM Diesel Series 51
- 1957-1990s GM Diesel Series 53
- 1960s-1970s GMC Toro-Flow (derived from the GMC V6)
- 1960s-1980s GM Diesel Series 149 (now better known as a Detroit Diesel product)
- 1965-1980s EMD 645 (industrial engine)
- 1974-present Detroit Diesel Series 92
- 1977-1985 Oldsmobile Diesel
- 1981-2000 Detroit Diesel V8
- 1984-present EMD 710 (industrial engine)
- 1980s-present Detroit Diesel Series 60
- 1988-present Isuzu Circle L (marketed as EcoTec DTi; acquired via GM's 2003 takeover of DMAX)
- 1998-present EMD 265 (industrial engine)
- 2000-present DMAX Duramax V8 (acquired via GM's 2003 takeover of DMAX)
- 2002-present DMAX V6 (acquired via GM's 2003 takeover of DMAX)
External (non-GM) designs
- 1997-present Fiat JTD (marketed as EcoTec CDTi or TiD depending on brand; used via a sharing agreement between Fiat and GM)
- 2000s-present VM Motori RA 420 (marketed as EcoTec CDTi or VCDi depending on brand)
Jet engines
This list may be incomplete.
Propfan
Turboprop
Turboshaft
- 1954-present Allison T56 or 501-D (now better known as a Rolls-Royce product)
- 1960s-present Allison 250 (now better known as a Rolls-Royce product)
Turbojet
See also
External links
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