I was planning on making some power out of My 2005 C6 M6 LS2 6.0, low mileage engine, with a P-1SC procharger from A&A

Engine mods, I was going to stage 2 supercharger cam, PAC 1218 springs, 1.875 headers, and nothing else
I am really dreading gapping the piston rings and thinking of leaving it stock gap. It's a lot of work pulling the motor.

Have many people had success with 700-800 hp with stock boosted motor, with a proper tune?
Would it be wise to have upgraded the intake and methanol injection, if so, what is recommended?

 

If you don't have long tube headers, that would be a big improvement. How much boost are you seeing now?

 

I haven’t installed the supercharger yet
I am trying to determine if I need to ring gap first or if I can get by without, as it’s a big job.

I have the long tube headers on now, havent dyno yet.

 

Just a note, on an 05 M6, if you are going to push that much HP, you may also want to look into a new diff. If you get wheel hop (or bad wheel hop), you'll blow the stock diff.

 

I am progressing that direction, I realize the stock diff is quite weak. However, got to get to that point first.

 

Lets back it up, since just going into the Throttle and Tm mapping will allow you to break the tires free at will on the stock motor with manual trans.
So by adding more power, just doing the same pretty much.

So before adding more power, how are you plan on getting that increased power to the ground to stick in the first place?
Next, how are you planning on bullet proofing the drive line for the increased power so it can hold it as well.

 

Correct on getting it to the ground. My 05 with 400+ RWHP has no traction and if I go with DR's the rear end will likely not last long.

 

It's a lot cheaper to replace the diff BEFORE it grenades and damages other parts..............

 

I ran at 750rwhp on my LS2 for two years before it finally let go. Can it do it, yes. How long will it last.... depends lol.

As far as gapping the rings. Its not necessary. If your going inti the motor for that, you may as well Upgrade the rods and pistons. The rod or rod bolts is what gave in mine and the known weak spot.

A "safe tune" will help but there are many variables to how long it will last. I can tell you, while it was fun as hell, I always knew it was a ticking time bomb at that level on a tock bottom end.

 

Brittle fracture failure of OEM piston materials is an all or nothing deal. They either break, or they don't. There is no wear. There is no time limit. You can't put a number of miles or runs on the situation, it is an all or nothing material. There is no such thing as borrowed time. That is just an expression people use until they understand the material science and engineering behind production of these materials.

The same thing applies to ductile rod materials. They either yield, or they do not. All or nothing. Once yielded it is permanently deformed. If it never yields it never yields, no matter how many times we apply the same stress it didn't yield the first time it should never yield. Of course all materials gradually decay- nothing lasts forever. But in the scope of automotive usage we are talking millions of miles, hundreds of years perhaps to lose enough atoms due to environmental decay factors.

What really causes/kills these OEM internal parts is changing conditions- stress that wasn't there yesterday. "borrowed time" is not real but as time moves forward things change, and you are indeed under 'barrowed time' if the setup isn't attuned to compensate for all possible changing conditions. I could give a hundreds examples of how things can change to ruin the bottom end components, no matter how much power is being produced. For example bad gas in any stock engine- enough of a pressure spike leads to a broken piston, instantly, if the headgasket does not move. All or nothing behavior from brittle fracture piston materials in play. This is why you shall never upgrade the head gasket beyond OEM without also upgrading piston materials... but I digress


The key to success is managing the conditions so they do not change or wander from ideal. This involves knowledge of tuning and setting up. For 25 years I setup and tuned forced induction vehicles using original bottom end brittle pistons and I know every detail to keep them alive. Here is a couple list of what you need to do

1. Review these posts where I speak of stock engines and power potential for high mileage
https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...post1605352215

make sure you don't miss this one especially
2. https://www.theturboforums.com/threa...ynojet.387535/

If you follow exactly these guidelines the engine will never suffer piston or rod failure. Notice none of them speak of tuning or timing or a/f- it is assumed you are already a master tuner to reach this level. Otherwise, start there before moving on. I will emphasize a few particularly sensitive issues here as well:
1. Use a very slow ramp rate and low lift camshaft so the engine does not drop a valve, eat stock trunions, or suffer loss of valve control at high RPM
2. Limit RPM to something reasonable say 6200rpm or less. You won't need big RPM with proper forced induction unless racing for money or a trophy or some record. In which none of these things apply, none of it is for racing purposes. These guidelines established from my 'book' are merely for engines intended for FUN and reliability, high mileage.
3. Watch the EGT, use a warning lamp, ask for help if you don't know how to determine a safe EGT based on temperature location and sensor resolution aspects. Integrate E85 fuel and water injection 100% distilled as needed to control cylinder temps or pistons are on 'borrowed time' because you have no way to control piston temp.

Read through my entire posts so you know where to inject the water and what it's purpose is.

 

Oh- the rings. DO NOT open the engine. Gapping rings is done to allow excessive thermal expansion which should NEVER happen in the first place if you follow my rules.
The OEM pistons do not want to expand much, they are not designed to expand much. Even if you gap the rings, for the piston to reach such a high temperature will still cause damage, internally the covalent bonds between aluminum atoms will begin to fail, much like the dust forming around the edges of a paper clip as it is bent a few times. This weakens the material eventually leading to failure even at benign stress levels. The key to longevity is prevent the high temperature related thermal expansion in the first place, and prevent pressure spikes associated with improper tuning, poor fuel quality, etc... and using too strong of a headgasket for the rare event of a mistake which prevents a blown gasket and instead results with the broken piston.

 

Plan forward. Get the diff (and the rest of the driveline) secure first. You can drive a stock motor with a beefed up driveline. The other way around, not so much.

 

Wise words.....