Why does everyone rave about the northstar engine. Seems like alot of people on here like it. What makes it a good engine.

8/2/2005 12:11:23 PM

its magic

8/2/2005 12:23:13 PM

It was made for FWD and isn't reliable.

That seems like what people like on here.

8/2/2005 12:25:02 PM

Quote :

"its magic"

8/2/2005 12:38:11 PM

any serious responses?

8/2/2005 1:00:43 PM

nothing super special about it this day in age. it was a pretty advanced engine for it's time when it first came out. i think that reputation has just kind of stuck with it, even though there haven't been any really major changes since then.

8/2/2005 1:02:00 PM

so no great power, dependibility, superior gains from FI or N/A mods?

8/2/2005 1:15:15 PM

^ What I think that you're thinking is a bad idea. Don't do it.

But, on the whole, they're reliable. They can be expensive to maintain, but so can any other vehicle. As Ivan said, when they came out they were renowned as one of the most "technologically advanced" engines of the time, and they were known moreso as refined and powerful. However, I fail to see a lot of the aforementioned characteristics; I think we're just spoled now, what, like a decade later.

Mike

8/2/2005 2:12:57 PM

You didn't have many DOHC v8's back when the Northstar came out. It was much more high tech than an LT1 for sure, and made similar power with a liter less displacement. I believe it's also all-aluminum.

8/2/2005 2:17:44 PM

worthless.... @least the similar lincoln motors don't have gay frontwheel drive things put on them.
and you can get them with more power.

8/2/2005 2:17:52 PM

they're relatively compact/low displacement for a domestic v8 (4.6 in the cadillacs and 4.0 in oldsmobile auroras), they got decent power and torque, weighed less, got better mileage, ran much more smoothly and quietly (important in a caddy, not so much in a fiero) than the smallblocks of the same time period although I'm not sure they weigh less than the newer aluminum smallblocks, and the reason why I like them: transverse fwd setup makes for a factory setup that can be dropped wholesale into the middle of a much smaller car... like a fiero. Although then you're stuck with an auto, which may upset some people. If you bother swapping the tranny then it doesn't really have any advantage in that dept though. Smallblocks are cheaper, the newer ones get as good or better gas mileage... so the advantage really gets trimmed back to the fact that there are a ton of devilles out there just falling apart around their northstars that continue to run... making them great donors....it's a cheap and plentiful 250hp/275hp/300hp v8





[Edited on August 2, 2005 at 2:22 PM. Reason : .]

8/2/2005 2:19:52 PM

^it's not hard to mate a manaul to them. they carry the standard 60 degree gm bellhousing pattern. the motor was really just a large step forward for the domestic market to get away from the crap in the 80's, and start competing with the rest of the world in the terms of technology, performance, etc. if you want to compare it to other brands, it wasn't such a revolution. for example, nissan brought their all aluminum, 32valve, vvt motor out in 1990. a solid 300hp as well. unfortunately, the northstar has always been packaged into crappy luxo barge platforms with very little emphasis on overall performance. they were made to go down the highway very nicely, but that's about it. things are changing though, it's going into some decent rwd platforms now.

[Edited on August 2, 2005 at 2:39 PM. Reason : :]

8/2/2005 2:38:52 PM

n/m

[Edited on August 2, 2005 at 3:04 PM. Reason : .]

8/2/2005 3:01:35 PM

They had a badass roundhouse kick?

8/2/2005 3:49:27 PM