What do you mean..De-tuned?

[bellamy]

I have read that the GT engine was "De-tuned" for the US market. I assume for emissions reasons. What exactly did they do to the cars and what kind of performance drop occurred as a result? Also, can it be put back to the original specs?

[newman27]

Originally Posted by bellamy I have read that the GT engine was "De-tuned" for the US market. I assume for emissions reasons. What exactly did they do to the cars and what kind of performance drop occurred as a result? Also, can it be put back to the original specs?

You may be referring to the low compression pistons that were introduced to address emissions. My car had the low compression 1.9L engine but I had a set of high compression pistons put in many years ago. Also, I have read that the Opel GT concept car was more powerful than the production model ended up being. There is speculation Chevy didn't want it competing with the Corvette. I'm not sure that has been substantiated though.