Z/28 moniker to reappear

… in late 2013.

It'll be powered with the 7L engine, include fender flares, and shall be "… 3,800 pounds, about 100 pounds lighter than a standard Camaro." 3,800 pounds may be acceptable or light by today's standards but I'd love to see the new Z (and other pony cars for that matter) get down to 3,300 pounds.

Yahoo Z/28 article.

Car and Driver has more, plus pictures. I dig the way they brought back the "zee slash" appearance.

Aethetics: Not a fan of the new tail lights. I liked the old ones better. I think I like the new front fascia. Need to see it in person to tell for sure. Not a fan of the new wheels.

I'm not totally surprised by this. The C6 Z is out of production which means a surplus capacity for making LS7's.... Step in Z/28 to take over surplus capacity. I dig it but I'll bet you all the old farts on the vette forums are groaning about how the 428 (it's not actually a 427) isn't unique to the Z06... who cares it's a bad @ss engine in another awesome looking car.

Oh snap!! I just read the article... this thing is hard core!!! No A/C, no radio, no sound deadening (or maybe just reduced). I don't think I've ever seen GM do that before.

Sorta05 wrote:…I'm not totally surprised by this. The C6 Z is out of production which means a surplus capacity for making LS7's.... Step in Z/28 to take over surplus capacity. I dig it but I'll bet you all the old farts on the vette forums are groaning about how the 428 (it's not actually a 427) isn't unique to the Z06 …

General Motors has always done this.
1992 Corvette went to LT1, the rest of the GM lineup lagged behind.
1996 Corvette had LT4 optional, F-body lagged behind.
1997 Corvette went to LS1, the rest of the GM lineup lagged behind.

Corvette has always been the flagship model for GM. Corvette has nearly always been the first GM vehicle to get the "latest and greatest" while the rest of the GM lineup waits for a model year or two. Also, whenever Corvette shares an equal engine, the non-Corvette platforms experience asthma (constricted breathing). I fail to understand why people would be complaining now. Keeping to this context, how is 2014 going to be different than years past?

We’re splitting hairs here but-
LS7 is 4.125” squared × 4.000” × 8 × (pi ÷ 4) for 427.649 cubic inches. 427? 428? Toe-may-toe, toe-mah-toe. LS7 is “in the 427’s” the same way a 12.86 second qtr. mi. time is “in the twelves.”
GM’s first gen. 427 big block was 4.25” × 3.76” for 426.723 cubic inches. 426? 427? Toe-may-toe, toe-mah-toe.
Manufacturers can build what they desire and they inevitably overlap each other [I know this] but to me a 426 is a Chrysler, a 427 is a GM, and a 428 (also 429) is a Ford. A factory GM engine could equate 429 but I’d call it a 427 just for that reason.

Sorta05 wrote:… this thing is hard core!!! No A/C, no radio, no sound deadening (or maybe just reduced). I don't think I've ever seen GM do that before.

GM definitely hasn’t done this in recent history. Early ZL-1, ZR-2 and COPO monsters were stripped though. The only modern GM cars I can think of are Camaro SSX and Corvette ZO6X but those weren’t designed for street use.

Yahoo News wrote:To shed weight, it forgoes some standard comforts, coming with a one-speaker radio, stiffer seats and manual transmission only.

"We really wanted to try to get rid of some of the mass and make it a real enthusiasts' car to be able to use for spirited driving on the street and open track days," said Mark Stielow, performance engineering manager for the Z/28.

Air conditioning is optional and there's less sound insulation. Brake rotors are made of carbon and ceramics instead of heavier steel. It's more aerodynamic than a standard Camaro, and the suspension is even stiffer than the ZL1, another high-performance version.

Car And Driver wrote:Weight is said to be down by some 300 pounds versus the ZL1 and 100 versus the SS … Besides the A/C delete, … thinner rear glass, … manual front sport seats, deleting the tire-inflation kit (except where required by law), removing the interior sound deadening, tossing the trunk carpet, adopting a lighter battery, and removing HID headlamps and fog lights from consideration. There’s also no stereo. Chevy says it wanted to delete the audio system entirely, but that federal regulations required one speaker be left in the car for the seatbelt chime. The team also stripped out the unused wiring for the fog lamps, speakers, and A/C. … the C7 Corvette fills its two-seat obligation, and so the rear seats stay. But the pass-through is gone and high-density foam has been subbed in for some of the weightier innards, so they’re nine pounds lighter.

… The wheels measure 19 inches and weigh a total of 42 pound less than the 20s on the SS and ZL1, and all four of them are wrapped in 305/30 Pirelli P Zero Trofeo R rubber. … The carbon brake rotors, which saved 28 pounds themselves, measure roughly 15.4 inches at each corner, although the rears are slightly smaller. …

W00t! for the smaller 19” wheels. I really dislike this trend of ever-increasing wheel diameter.

For the last couple of gens though the camaro's get the vette engines a year or two afterwards. The LS7 has been around for the better part of a decade now and is just now finding it's way into a camaro.

Ass is ugly. It looks like it has weird fender flares.

I like the drivetrain/engine, etc. stuff but it looks ugly to me. I prefer they keep a stock SS body and then do all the power/suspension stuff to it.

Ah! I see your angle there, Sorta. Lately Corvette has enjoyed a few engines specific to it, hasn't it? Only recently have other GM platforms been adorned with the LS9 and now the LS7.

That, I would say, is the General making sure the Corvette remains their flagship model. GM screwed up in '70 when the LS6 equipped Chevelle SS beat the highest powered Corvette, and again in '87 when the Buick Grand National did the same. I noticed the LS7 in the new Z/28 is advertised at the same rating (505 HP) as it made in the Corvette. If GM sold an LS7 Camaro concurrently with an LS7 Corvette, the Camaro version would have been choked to 485ish HP.

Stalker, I like what's going on with the tail light section and in areas north of the tail lights, it's a bit '67/'68-retro. I also like the rear spoiler application.
The split that occurs midway through the license plate … Oh yeah, that's ugly. I'm not a big fan of visible seams and, well, that seam is very visible. Visible seams make a finished product appear not-so finished.

I see and understand the need for the aerodynamic enhancements on the car, pieces like the front splitter, elongated side skirts, and the rear diffuser, but there has to be a better way to apply the rear diffuser which better disguises that lower seam.

Click thumbs for wallpaper sized images:

So far my favorite versions of the camaro are the current ZL1 and Jay leno's one off twin turbo v-6 maro:



Love the wheels on Leno's maro!!!

C&D talks more about the '14 Z/28. Story linked to picture.

I have to quote Garfield and say, "Argh!" It's a Z/28 and it gets the outgoing ZO6's 7L engine. Z/28 is the 5L trim level! Leave the bigger engines to SS.

Funny thing is the 7 is no bigger or heavier really and revs plenty... The distinction of a 302 Z/28 isnt necessary anymore if you ask me.

It's just the principle in my eyes. I liked the 5L LS1 (with LS6 heads) that Westech Automotive made with Chevrolet for the 2000 SEMA show. It was a naturally aspirated 302 which could be raped to 7500 RPM. She put out 450 horsepower and had a heavy duty diff. with 4.10:1 gears.

Yeah and squid likes 12 yearold boys from bangkok....
but some things are just not rite in this day and age...Drops mic and walks off

Camaro laps Nürburgring in 7' 37.47" [with a skoosh left on the table]. I wonder if the driver was Jim Mero.