Corvette Shakes the Earth with Texas-Sized Camshaft Upgrade
Corvette Grand Sport’s got a new cam with a big sound. RIP headphone users.
Everything is big in Texas, starting with the state itself, the biggest of the contiguous 48. Then, there are the distances between the biggest cities, averaging tens if not hundreds of miles from point to point. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the second largest city in the U.S. to be contained entirely in one state (and also has “Big Hoss,” the world’s biggest video board, located at Texas Motor Speedway). The world’s largest medical complex in Houston has a bigger skyline than Downtown Dallas (while making up less than a third of Houston’s own skyline).
And Houston is where we go for a Texas-size upgrade in sound and power, via YouTuber RPProductions. RP recently sent off his 2012 Corvette Grand Sport to a nearby speed shop for a cam upgrade featuring the Texas Speed & Performance Stage 3 LS3 kit. If you’re wearing headphones or funneling this through your THX system, now would be a good time to turn down the sound (or turn it up if hearing isn’t that important).
The new cam gave RP’s ‘Vette 52 additional horsepower at the rear wheels with nothing else done. As a result, the Corvette now puts down 480 horses on the dyno. It also is loud as hell and shakes like a hot Eddie Money jam. In fact, the shaking from the new camshaft is so hardcore the entire body vibrates, which is noticeable with the driver’s side door open, and inside with all who sit behind the earthquake generator.
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The new camshaft upgrade is paired with a tweak to the bi-modal exhaust system. This “mild-to-wild” switch has two separate buttons to control the sound. The green button “quiets” things down for those smooth cruises through the posh neighborhoods, while the red button opens it all up for that NHRA top fuel sound experience. Despite the upgrades, though, the Corvette still pulls in a decent 22 mpg. RP Productions will be spending some time re-learning how to drive this snarling salt shaker, but with a Texas-sized upgrade like this, it’ll be worth shaking up the mean streets of Houston.
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