1967 Chevrolet Corvette on 2040-cars

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Leno drives Ringbrothers' latest, 1966 Chevy Chevelle Recoil

Jay Leno has been checking out quite a few older rides in his garage as of late, but has mixed things up a little this week. Ringbrothers took home an award at the 2014 SEMA Show for the 1966 Chevrolet Chevelle it named Recoil, and now the car has proven it can do more than just look good on Jay Leno's Garage. While the latest guest might look vintage, underneath those classic lines is a thoroughly modern muscle car sporting a claimed 980 horsepower. The heart of this beast is a supercharged LS7 V8 from Wegner Motorsports and a six-speed Tremec manual gearbox. Even with so much power, it can still run on 91-octane pump gas, and when Jay gets on the throttle the result is a wall of sound from the wailing supercharger. Despite the muscle, the Recoil doesn't really scream about its performance aesthetically. The color is a surprisingly plain beige, but the carbon fiber touches and side exhaust certainly indicate that there's something special here. The owner's sole request for the car was to include metal seats, and Ringbrothers provided them with a few bits of leather offering a touch of comfort. After checking the Recoil out from stem to stern, Leno finally gets behind the wheel and treats our ears to pull after pull from that big, supercharged V8.

GM patent reveals new two-stage turbocharger

Modern turbochargers may be some of the best ever made, but performance is something that engineers are always trying to improve. According to GM Inside News, General Motors (GM) is hoping to alleviate some of the negative aspects of a two-stage turbocharger setup with a newly-patented design. The patent, that was filed on May 19, 2016, reveals a clever bypass system that allows the engine, a four-cylinder unit, to optimize both the low-pressure and high-pressure inlets for its respective functions. According to the filing, a conventional two-stage turbocharger setup is engineered to allow both turbines to operate simultaneously at low and mid engine speeds. At high engine speeds, only the low-pressure turbine works. The setup can't isolate either the low or high pressure side, which can impair low-end performance. GM's new two-stage turbocharger setup looks to eliminate this by linking the high-pressure turbo to the exhaust manifold through the high-pressure inlet duct. The low-pressure turbo is attached to the high-pressure turbo by a low-pressure inlet duct, which is linked to a connecting channel. A single actuator that is housed in the exhaust manifold creates a bypass that can opens the high-pressure inlet or close the connecting channel. Depending on what the engine load and speed is, the ECU guides the actuator—a single rotating spindle with discs corresponding to flanges on the high and low pressure sides—to isolate one of the two turbos. Isolating the turbos allow the respective inlets to be engineered for the best possible fluid dynamic performance. The setup should increase performance and decrease lag. There's no word on what car this setup will make an appearance on, but it will most likely be used in premium vehicles before trickling down to the rest of GM's vehicles. Related Video: News Source: GM Inside News, AutoGuide via GM Authority Cadillac Chevrolet GM Technology Sedan turbo patent engine turbocharging

GM to invest $632 million in Indiana plant for future pickup truck production

General Motors plans to invest $632 million in its Fort Wayne, Indiana, assembly facility to prepare the plant for future internal combustion engine full-size light duty trucks, it said on Monday. The investment will be used to support new conveyors, tooling and equipment for the plant that manufactures GM's Chevrolet Silverado 1500 and GMC Sierra 1500 trucks. GM has detailed more than $2.3 billion in planned investment in a series of announcements since last week as it works to retool existing North American auto plants and introduce more efficient next-generation internal-combustion full-size trucks and SUVs. Another investment announcement is planned later this week. The largest U.S. automaker is continuing to make big investments in gas-powered vehicles even as it vows to stop building them in 2035. Last week, GM said it was investing more than $500 million in its Arlington, Texas, assembly plant to prepare it for production of internal combustion engine full-size SUVs. GM faces increasingly stringent emissions requirements from California and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Last week, GM also said it plans to invest more than $1 billion to re-tool two manufacturing sites in Flint, Michigan, to prepare for a new generation of its heavy-duty trucks. The Texas announcement highlights the company's commitment to continue "providing customers with a strong portfolio of (internal combustion) vehicles for years to come," GM said last week. On Tuesday, GM said it would invest C$280 million ($210 million) in its Canadian Oshawa Assembly to produce the next-generation internal combustion engine full-size trucks. GM paid $128.2 million in fines for failing to meet Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) program requirements for 2016 and 2017, records released recently show. The EPA in April proposed requiring a 56% reduction in projected fleet average emissions over 2026 requirements. (Reporting by David Sherpardson in Washington and Shivansh Tiwary in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar and Conor Humphries) Plants/Manufacturing Chevrolet GM GMC