Chevrolet Colorado Path Boss, Z71 Make ZR2 Energy, Engine Tune

Now that the brand new Chevy Colorado has been introduced, it’s clear that the mid-size truck phase is having a second. The 2023 Chevy Colorado goes to bask within the glow for a bit, earlier than the highlight returns to the full-size Chevy Silverado. However the brand new Colorado has the Silverado to thank for its four-cylinder engine, initially developed for the full-size truck and now tailored for the mid-sizer.

The powerplant has confirmed versatile; the brand new Colorado lineup will probably be powered by one engine with three variants. However the claimed output of the engines has such a variety of energy that it acquired us questioning: what’s setting the output aside? And, extra importantly, if the engine is similar, what’s stopping a base Colorado WT from making the identical energy as a Colorado ZR2?

For reference, the bottom engine will probably be commonplace on the Colorado WT and LT. Chevy calls it the two.7-liter Turbo, and it makes 237 HP, 259 lb-ft. of torque. The Colorado Z71 and Path Boss will get the two.7-liter Turbo Plus that makes 310 HP, 390 lb-ft. of torque. And the Colorado ZR2 may have the two.7-liter Turbo Excessive-Output, which makes 310 HP, and 430 lb-ft. of torque. That’s full-size energy!

Within the mid-size Chevy Colorado, that energy ought to be all the higher. Chevy needs a stability of efficiency and effectivity, so all three engine variants function two-cylinder deactivation. Certainly, the engines share options and far of the identical {hardware}. The facility variations come from tuning and engine administration through software program.

However it seems the engine {hardware} is similar solely on 2.7-liter Turbo Plus and Turbo Excessive-Output engines. Not the bottom 2.7-liter Turbo, because the assistant chief engineer at Chevy, Kevin Luchansky, defined.

You is perhaps stunned — like I used to be — that the engine is just not solely within the outgoing Chevy Silverado, however within the present Cadillac CT4-V as nicely.

The drivetrain workforce at Chevy wished increased output than that of the CT4-V, which makes 325 HP and 380 lb-ft of torque. However the aim was for the Colorado to provide extra energy utilizing common gasoline. The CT4-V makes extra HP than the Colorado, however the automotive takes premium gasoline; the truck’s 2.7-liter Turbo Plus is proud of the inexpensive flamable, decreasing the price of possession.

The workforce then pushed the two.7-liter Turbo Plus additional. Although the two.7-liter Excessive-Output makes the identical HP and the identical tow ranking of seven,700 kilos, the torque jumped to 430 lb-ft. This tow ranking is increased than the bottom engine’s 3,500 kilos, and the large bump comes from a 3rd fan, which produces higher “airflow via the cost air cooler.” Total, this was essentially the most efficiency the workforce might wring out of the engine whereas assembly sturdiness requirements.

Because the engineer defined, not everybody needs the performance of the higher-spec engines. In order that they eliminated elements and optimized others for the Colorado WT’s decrease curb weight. They eliminated the piston cooling jets, for the reason that 2.7-liter Turbo engine has a a lot decrease energy density. They usually optimized the catalytic converter for the decrease weight of decrease trims.

That signifies that the bottom Colorado WT engine gained’t deal with the facility density of the Colorado ZR2 engine. So, it’s not only a matter of tuning or growing energy via software program on the WT to get ZR2 efficiency. However for the reason that two increased engines share {hardware}, a Z71 or Path Boss might make ZR2 energy via a chip/tune, and Chevy will promote house owners an “entryory calibration” to take the two.7-liter Turbo Plus to a 2.7-liter Excessive-Output. Like the brand new Colorado itself, the worth of the upgraded engine calibration remains to be unknown for now.