Christmas has come a couple weeks early for fans of General Motors muscle. During a conversation with Dr. Jamie Meyer, he let us know that this week the woolly LSX454R drag race engine would be available for purchase. The big mill grunts out 750hp and 680 lb/ft of torque before hitting the rev limiter at 7,100 RPM.
The retail cost of the engine is listed at $23,200 which seems like a lot until you compare to the recently released Mopar 800hp V10 drag race engine which tips the financial scales at more than $39,000! For some reason, we don’t think it would be too tough to find another 50 hp from the LSX engine and completely wipe out the slim margin that the V10 has.
Engineers flogged the hell out of the mule engines, and as you will read below the engine was run for what amounts to 600 drag strip passes while using the recommended maintenance and car schedule without incident. Knowing that these engines are 100% guaranteed to get the crap kicked out of them, the GM Performance team built this thing like an anvil.
Scroll down to get all the specs and stats on this romping stomping new drag race engine from GM Performance. Big compression, lots of cam shaft, heads that flow like the NYC sewer system and a block that seems capable of surviving anything you can throw at it makes this a BangShift approved fire breather!
Here’s the release from GM Performance —
Chevrolet
Performance LSX454R is Ready to Rock the Strip
ORLANDO, Fla. – Chevrolet Performance
announced the LSX454R crate engine – part number 19257880 – goes on sale in
December 2011, just in time for the 2012 racing season.
Rated
at 750 horsepower and 680 lb.-ft. of torque, it’s the most powerful small-block
V-8 engine ever engineered by Chevrolet and is designed expressly for the
rigors of competitive drag racing.
“The
LSX454R offers a ready-built engine that is competitive out of the crate,” said
Jim Campbell, GM U.S. vice president of Performance Vehicles and Motorsports.
“By using the latest LSX parts and factory-engineered technology, we’ve taken
LS performance to the next level that will make racers competitive the moment
they install this engine.”
Growth
in the popularity of LS-based drag racing helped drive the development of the
LSX454R. It brings together many of the specialized Chevrolet Performance LSX
parts racers are already using, including the robust LSX Bowtie block, and
matches them with a very strong, all-forged rotating assembly and specially
designed cylinder heads. The heads deliver tremendous airflow at high rpm –
right where a drag racing engine needs it the most to make horsepower.
The
LSX454R is also engineered to deliver dependable high-performance. And while
there is no warranty on this racing engine, Chevrolet Performance engineers
developed a special durability testing process that meets consumer
expectations.
“GM
engineers developed a unique schedule to validate the LSX454R to the equivalent
of 600 drag-strip passes when maintained with regular maintenance schedules and
run to Chevrolet’s prescribed operating parameters for the engine,” said Steve
Felix, development engineer. “Chevrolet Performance got its start developing
racing engines and parts, so we have a long, established legacy of developing
durable products that help our customers win.”
The
LSX454R features a high-compression (13.1:1), solid-roller combination that
uses new LSX DR 11-degree cylinder heads (part number 19166979). The heads
represent the full-race LSX head from Chevrolet Performance and are designed
for the high-rpm, full-throttle use of racing. Their cavernous, 316-cfm
rectangular intake runners flow 430 cfm at 0.800-inch lift (with 28 inches of
water restriction), providing even greater volume than the already-large LS7
intake ports. Large 2.25-inch intake valves and 1.625-inch exhaust valves
contribute to their tremendous airflow.
The
LSX DR heads boast the LSX family’s signature six-bolt-per-cylinder head bolt
design, which provides exceptional clamping strength, and they are matched on
the engine with an exclusive, all-new high-rise open-plenum intake manifold and
a Holley 1,150-cfm Dominator carburetor. The intake is designed expressly for
high-rpm, large-displacement racing engines and incorporates two rows of
cast-in injector/nitrous bosses.
Additional
specifications and features of the LSX454R include:
- Mechanical roller camshaft with
.738/.738-inch lift (intake and exhaust) and 250/270-degree duration
(intake and exhaust) - Shaft-mounted, 1.9-ratio rocker
arms with needle bearing fulcrums and tips - 7,100-rpm maximum engine speed
- 58X ignition wheel
- LSX eight-bolt crankshaft flange
- Requires LSX ignition controller
part number 19171130 - Racing gas of at least 110 octane
is recommended for the LSX454.
The
LSX DR heads, matching intake manifold and oil pan (not included) are available
separately from Chevrolet Performance.
The
LSX454R carries a suggested retail price of $23,200. More
information about the LSX45R crate engine and LSX DR components is available at
www.gmperformanceparts.com.
Once, there was a time when it took more than a fat wallet to win at the race track. More and more those days are long behind us.
If this goes to it’s logical conclusion, we’ll be buying factory made cookie cutter race-cars, hiring drivers and “winning” simply by footing the bills.
Now perhaps if we could get a few sponsors, a couple of cars, a big truck to haul it all around in, change our names to Penske or Petty or Childress.. Sure that will work. There’s nothing like racing from the Executive suite!