I was making my way through the latest 'Car and Driver' mag and came across one of the articles about the some of the newest/upcoming way to meet the CAFE fuel efficiency standards in 2016...blah blah blah.

There was the VVT, variable displacement, etc, but the of them I was interested in was Direct Injection, and DI w/ Turbo's,. My car is a long term(read: life-long) project and I'm saving minimum wage money now for a GMPP crate engine, but was curious if there was any members who were looking at DI even though it's still pretty new on the scene but is betterfasterstronger than TPI, minus probably the cost.

Are you turned off by the fact that the displacement of the engine are smaller and all to similar to your fill-up-once-a-month smug-prius driving next door neighbor?

Are the visceral insanity taking place on the other side of your firewall that comes from big cubic inches(compared to future ci) what make our (and previous gen) cars' a camaro?

Or does the across-the-board efficiency outweigh the changes to all we've happily become complacent with?

Can we have both?

Does it even matter?

Not bashing anything or anyone, just very curious what other people think. Let me know if you care.

 

DI isn't really tech you can fit aftermarket. It requires a fuel system capable of extremely high pressure, extremely high flow injectors with cylinder event timing, and all new cylinder heads. Anything is possible with enough money, but there are far easier ways to improve your power and fuel economy.

 

..but since it's fairly new technology the cost is inherently gonna be higher, but in the next 7-8yrs cars'll be rolling of the lot with it and eventually performance parts'll infiltrate the aftermarket heavily and prices'll decline. right? So why not start now?

 

the new camaro v6 engine has VVT and DI and achieves 300 hp
you could start by transplanting that into a camaro

 

I was thinking along the same lines as Red Dragon 85, if you can get hold of a totalled '10 camaro v6, then take the engine, trans, computer, gauges, harness, and fuel system.
But it has way too much compression for adding boost, and don't even think of calling JE for custom forged dished pistons. The shape of the piston crown is super critical for the direct injection.
GM has announced that they are considering a boosted D.I.3.6L, and they already offer a 321 hp turbo 2.8L version of the same engine, but the block was designed to be capable of 4.0L, so it might be best to wait for a factory boosted 4.0L D.I. version.

 

International trucks has come up with some new diesel engines in the last few years. Their MaxForce series uses extremely high fuel pressure (25,000+ psi) to inject the diesel. With the use of variable geometry turbos and EGR systems, the diesels are much more efficient and produce little if any smoke. They are also very expensive to fix as the electronics and many of the components fail regularly. EGRs are constantly plugging up with carbon or the coolers leak. They produce a lot more power and have much lower emissions than older engine designs but they sure don't last as long or run as long between repairs.

The gas engines can't be far behind.

As something of TV this morning about how SEMA is helping the hot rodders in California get past the tough emission laws by allowing them to install new high efficient crate engines into the older hot rods and home built cars. I saw that more as there's no way you can make an old school hot rod or custom with an old engine any more. You need to buy a $$$ new modern engine to do it. An old carbed engine with a basic HEI ignition will run forever and not have to rely on sensors to tell it if it should run or not. Fuel mileage may not be as quite as high and emissions will be slightly worse but it still takes very little effort to make it and keep it running.

Trying to remove a new modern engine from a wrecked car and transplant it into an older vehicle isn't as easy as it sounds. It's not impossible but generally it's beyond the ability of most people. With computers controlling so much of the car, it's hard to know what stays and what can go, if anything.