The buzz around the LT1 engine and the smaller variants of it that can be found in trucks has been totally positive since the engine family began hitting the streets in Corvettes and Silverados. Our direct experience with the engine came with our week with a 2014 Chevy 1500 Z71 truck and frankly we thought that the 5.3 drove a lot like the previous 6.0L LS engine. It delivered better economy and great power which was the obvious plan by GM when they worked this new family of engines out on paper and through the developmental process. All that is well and good but as hot rodders, the big question is not what the engine makes it is what the engine can make. Companies like Lingenfelter and as shown in this video Texas Speed and Performance are already working on parts and pieces to make these engines really sing. This video shows a stock displacement (6.2L) LT1 on the dyno wearing a set of heads that PRC CNC ported and it is also running a camshaft that the TSP guys spec’d out.
As you’ll see, the direct injected engine was pulled to 7,000 RPM, which is not a place where these engines fear to tread and it is also cool because it shows that this is a streetable combo that makes most of its power where the mill will normally be living on the highways and byways. You can turn it loose and the strip and really let it eat, but otherwise this seems like a pretty tame setup from the perspective of manners. Peak horsepower is 622 which comes in at about 6,800 RPM and peak torque generated was 531 lb/ft which came in the 5,700 RPM level. This would be a romper, stomper engine in a ‘Vette!
It is exciting to see these engines already getting “the treatment” from builders and shops. Their direct fuel injection and other systems would have scared the pants off of people a few years ago, but we’re in a brave new world of technology and frankly that technology has resulted in cartoonish horsepower levels from otherwise stock factory engines. We like!
HIT THE LINK BELOW TO SEE A HEALTHY NEW LT1 MAKE MORE THAN 600 HP N/A ON THE DYNO!
My LT1 was really bad ass , thanks to Mr Motion & the boy’s at Motion Performance
I just wish they had called it something else. Whenever I see LT1 I start wondering which generation of LT1 is being talked about. Nomenclature aside, it looks like a pretty cool mill.
And this is just the beginning.
Maybe Chevy should call it the LT1 DI