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Why not use the engine that's in the IMSA cars in the ME?
My guess is you have not driven a race engine on the street! This question came up two years ago when Chevy introduced the 535 hp LT1 crate motor! Everyone wanted one in their C7! Sounded good until you looked at the torque. It was not much more than the 460 hp version! In addition, they could not use variable cam timing that gives more torque at low rpm where you can use it on the street. In that case the higher lift, longer duration cam would have the valves hitting the pistons! I'm sure they have pushed the LT1 in the C7 about as far as they can go with cam duration and lift and still retain the significant cam timing change used.
SIDE BAR
This is aa example that happened to me. When building our current house had a '93 Vette. The new house was 17 miles away from our old and after carrying some 8 foot 2X4's in the '93 sticking out the back with the hatch tied down said need a pick-up! Got and S-10 stripped but it had a V6 and 5 speed manual trans. Turned out I loved the truck on the 17 miles Interstate trip to work. Like it so much I sold it to a friend and bought a step side S-10 with every HD option Chevy offered. HD springs, shocks, sway bars a hop shock to reduce spring rap up, large wheels and tires and ~3 inches lower than the standard base S10. It had bucket seats and again a V6 5 speed but GM had a 20 hp higher hp rating and positraction. More power is always good I thought!
But then I realized when I was accelerating into traffic on he 4 lane highway at the end of my street I was having to slip the clutch, which I never did with prior truck! Something was wrong. Brought it to the Chevy dealer and luckily the Service Manger was a drag racer. He took it for a ride and when he came back he said, "Yep, they upped the hp spec, probably to compete with Ford, but they just changed the cam and lost low end torque. Not as noticeable in an automatic but I agree you can feel the difference in a standard shift. He said, If I were you I get a Hypertech programmer and set the car up for max power that required 93 octane and a 160 degree thermostat. Did that and also added an MSD ignition, modified the air intake with an oiled cotton filter put on polyurethane sway bar bushings etc. It was a remarkable difference. In fact my GTECH Pro recorded significantly faster 0 to 50 times!
So yep, you could put that 535 hp LT1 in a street car (and not meet emissions etc.) but in normal driving may not be any quicker. Now if Drag racing it will provide faster times!
PS: Sure hoping the C8 will have an engine similar to the C8R race car; a smaller cid, double overhead cam, twin turbo! Although it won't have the race car cams or need racing octane gas may have to keep it in some lower gears to get the desired power! Been there, done that!
MISS THAT TRUCK! COULD GO OVER 18 WHEELER TIRE TREADS ON THE INTERSTATE AND MY RADAR DETECTOR WAS NOT GOING OFF AS MUCH!
Why not use the 5.7L Hendrick Motorsports NASCAR engine? It’s NA, Revs higher than a Porsche Flat six, and you can detune it with a simple restrictor plate and use it in every version! It sounds sweet, too.
