Ken Lingenfelter of Lingenfelter Performance Engineering has recently said that the new Chevrolet Corvette Stingray may limit tuners in regard to just how much power they may make out of the new 6.2 liter V8 LT1 engine.
Speaking to Thetruthaboutcars, he noted that the LT1 is the first direct injected V8 engine from GM, he said that tuners may not go past the 700hp mark up from the 450hp that comes in the new Corvette. Anything further than 1,000hp would be impossible. He compared that to the hand grenade F1 qualifying engines built to make crazy power but not last longer than a few laps.
The 700hp mark is a common thing among the LS tuning world. LS V8 engines come with as much power as 600hp as stock, tuners like Lingenfelter, Callaway and Hennessey are able to make twice that with their tuning programs. The LT1 is a cam block in engine while the LS is a pushrod type engine. The tuning of cars with direct injection proves a challenge when one swaps heads and cams and makes radical changes outside of the factory fuel parameters.
The new motor has the highest specific output of any GM engine ever, 450hp and 450 lb-ft of torque from 6.2 liters of displacemen. With specific output only applying to naturally aspirated engines, they only account for peak power the entire power under the curve, and the new LT1 produces 72.5hp/Liter of this specific output.
