DETROIT – Deck plate honing a cylinder block, a precision-machining process typically reserved for high-performance engines, will be used on the Camaro ZL1 6.2L supercharged V8, helping maximize engine life, reduce friction between engine parts and increase horsepower.

Deck plate honing refers to a machining process in which aluminum plates, sometimes called torque plates, are clamped to the block, simulating the cylinder heads, before the final bore and hone of the cylinders takes place. The clamp load of 10 bolts per head creates normal, minute distortions in the block and thus makes the bore slightly out-of-perfect shape or cylindricity.

While the simulated cylinder heads, or deck plates, are attached to the block, a boring machine does its work boring, and then honing each cylinder. Later, when the actual cylinder heads are assembled to the block under identical torque loads, the cylinder bores are near perfect for the engine’s lifetime of piston travel up and down in the bore up to 6,200 times a minute.