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It seems like the accepted answer for engine failure around 700whp is the piston rings touching.
There are also plenty of guys making crazy power on stock bottom end 5.3s with the piston ring gaps opened up.
If the LT1 had the piston ring gaps opened up, what would be the max whp limit?
Ive read that the rods start bending around 800whp, but I feel that 800whp from a centrifugal blower is different than 800 whp from a positive displacement blower.
we have never had a lt motor break a piston and have quite a few making 800-850 rwhp. the only stock bottom end failure we have ever had was on a 990 rwhp c7 that doing 3 back to back half mile pulls eventually bent a rod. the pistons are not as weak as people will try and make you believe. i've seen plenty of files from people who had theirs brake a piston at 700'ish rwhp and the knock sensors were damn near off and timing was much higher than I would ever expect it to take.