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[feeutfo]

What was the official reason ? To start with...

[TheBoy]

I believe it was cooling issues on high speed endurance testing

[kcl]

I think it was cooling issues when driving with full throttle on autobahns... I also somehow remember reading it was about oil pressure issue in the same situation... You must have read this, the components seem to be available...
http://www.ls1tech.com/forums/conversions-hybrids/778988-ls1-into-cadillac-catera-56k-death.html

[fiend61]

i seriously like that engine 
looks like less room than the v6 to work on though------but who cares its a v8 

[Kevin Wood]

Rumour has it the engine was not "vollgasfest" meaning "resistant to full throttle"- a German test that ensures the car can be driven flat out for a considerable period of time without damage.

The chevy V8 was built for Americans plodding around at 65 MPH, so there were engine design issues that weren't easy to overcome, allegedly.

Not sure how they got over this with the Monaro (do they sell it in Germany?) and other LS-engined cars. :-/

That's the urban legend, anyway. Could just be that the bean counters cancelled it, of course.

Kevin

[TheBoy]

Rumour has it the engine was not "vollgasfest" meaning "resistant to full throttle"- a German test that ensures the car can be driven flat out for a considerable period of time without damage.

The chevy V8 was built for Americans plodding around at 65 MPH, so there were engine design issues that weren't easy to overcome, allegedly.

Not sure how they got over this with the Monaro (do they sell it in Germany?) and other LS-engined cars. :-/

That's the urban legend, anyway. Could just be that the bean counters cancelled it, of course.

Kevin

Are the Holdens wider? Wonder if that gives more scope for getting moving air around the engine to assist with cooling?

[kcl]

I think the issue was that the water channels in the heads were "too small" so it would no tbe helped with outside cooling/more room. They have fitted powerful V8's to smaller engine compartments...

[Kevin Wood]

Are the Holdens wider? Wonder if that gives more scope for getting moving air around the engine to assist with cooling?

I think there's only an inch or two in it. If it were simply a better radiator required it strikes me that they wouldn't have canned the project. Can always fit a more efficient rad. even if space is limited. Not sure an engine loses enough heat to the engine bay for that to be an issue, other than the pipes and wires getting too hot, in which case they just need to be re-routed. A v8 in a Monaro looks much less cramped than a V6 in an Omega due to the much narrower cylinder heads on the pushrod engine.

I suspect it was either a fundamental problem with the engine they'd chosen or a convenient excuse for the bean counters.

Kevin

[kcl]

[/quote]I suspect it was either a fundamental problem with the engine they'd chosen or a convenient excuse for the bean counters.[/quote]

The bean counters are the real reason I think, remember how was the global economy in that year... But still, they were THAT far with the project; leaflets/brochures printed, TIS updated, production was just to be started etc. Even the bean counters should no thave cancelled the project in that stage, a lot of money was already invested. IF the cooling was the real issue they would have come up with the problem in an earlier stage of the project.

[mrgreen]

i think it was the bean counters because all the no limit autobahns never have a steep gradient and surely gm could have geared the car to sit at under 3500 rpm at 220kmh  (just a geuss?) which with that speed should be enough airflow in the bay!as most autobahns the speeders generally are at 200-200kmh only the rs audi'S and all the supercars generally go faster than that imo.

[feeutfo]

Personally, I think it was cooling, but not to do with the lump itself. Look at the manifolds and the exit of the rear cylinders, it's almost blocked. Exhuast gas leaving the cylinder will have to turn almost 90 degrees again to exit the exhaust port, the flat surface of the squashed manifold required to clear the chassis,or whatever, looks restrictive. Imagine that being blasted with hot exhaust gases on a flat out run, I imagine if held at wot long enough it would melt?

So say that area gets overy hot at best, what's near it? Sub frame? Or steering box? Note there is a pas fluid cooler and another larger oil cooler that is also steering box related.

I reckon there's just not enough space to keep it all from cooking in that area, and the problem lies in the heat reaction of those parts. It works on the Holdens because it's wider.

[Dishevelled Den]

convenient excuse for the bean counters.

Kevin

I tend to agree with that.

The economic/environmental climate was beginning to sour around the time that development for the proposal matured to the point where production would have been the next logical step.

There may not have been the up-take for what would have been (necessarily) a volume production run.

This is a shame, as I do like an 8 cylinder car.

[tunnie]

I'm going with cooling rather than bean counters, the Omega already had a huge amount of engines fitted, facelift in particular:

2.0 16v
2.2 16v
2.2 DTi
2.5 DTi
2.5 V6
2.6 V6
3.0 V6
3.2 V6

Cost wise putting another engine in during manufacture? Minimal really...

Cooling issues or as Kevin says serious engine flaw.

Law enforment across Europe would have bought V8 Omega by the truck load....

[kcl]

But the V8 had it's own parts: steering, brakes, transmission, suspension parts, subframe etc etc so the cost of it was to be alot higher than the other models

[Kevin Wood]

I reckon the writing was already on the wall for the Omega by the time the V8 was cancelled. They had probably already decided that the future was in FWD sh1tboxes so carried on flogging the old formula because investing in bringing a new Omega into production would have made the decision to can it look worse.

Kevin