I'm very happy with my 450 rwhp and 121 mph trap speed on all season tires, but I have question cause I have sorta wondered about it. My car is a 2002 Corvette.

What is the bottom end and rotational assembly rated at in terms of maximum power without sacrificing (significantly) the life of the engine.

If its anything like most engines, I would take it the powdered metal rods or pistons are the first thing to go. With 450rwhp and 400+ ft-lbs of torque, rev limiter set to 6700, I just wanna have piece of mind that i'm not beating the crap out of crank, rods, and pistons, lol. (even though, I probably am )

 

Stock crank on those things can handle 1000+ RWHP. Seen it plenty of times. Same with Stock LS1 cranks.

 

After you go forced induction and pushing 1000+ is when you would want to start looking at forged internals.

 

500-550rwhp is the max recommended.

 

Who recommends that?

 

most of the builders. the crank is strong passed the 500 mark, its the bottom end that needs reinforcing.

 

True. Everything is dependant on how you make the power. Obviously, a big hit of the sauce is going to be harder on any bottom end than straight up fuel/air/spark.

 

Depends on the power adder being used....NA perhaps 500ish rwhp
nitrous is about 700 rear wheel and forced induction(turbo or supercharger)
can max out at about 900 rwhp before the stock junk says thats all folks.
This is assuming perfect tune in all scenarios.

 

I don't follow your logic...your telling me 500 na is pushing it, but if you spray 250 ish on the already borderline na short block, it's fine as well? Or an extra 400 from boost is nothing to sneeze at?

I think you got your numbers backwards.

 

Perhaps because at 500 WHP NA you need to buzz it to 7200+ where with nitrous or boost, the power happens much lower. Say closer to 6000.

Ron

 

Point taken, but that doesn't change the added stress of the nitrous or boost. I can't see 1200 rpm making a 200+ horse power difference as far as a safety cushion is concerned.

 

I talked to a machinest last year about this. Man has been building gen IIIs since they came out. He told me once close to 500whp your on borrowed time because of the rods. I firmly believe it. A lot of depending factors on this tho. Tuner,engines condition before any upgrades, how it's driven etc. I can't believe there are people on here saying there safe to 700-900whp. You have got to be kidding me. obviously these are folks that have never assembled an engine before and are talking out of there a*s.

 

... Umm... No.

 

This question is like asking what kind of adult beverage tastes best. People break stock short blocks on near stock setups, and some people run 750 HP out of a stock short block for years. I know of one turbo car that has run those types of power numbers on almost a stock engine for 3-4 years now without any troubles. It is run on a fairly conservative tune, in terms of timing and AFR to make sure there is no detonation, which is the key. Detonation or over revving are the most likely root of failure for modified and raced engines. A more appropriate question may be how much abuse can the stock short block take.

 

Im not very friendly to my 2000 corvette. It has the same horsepower as yours but just a little more torque and I have 3.90 gears.

I've had the set up for about 10 years and no issues. Its a weekend driver, but is punished everytime I drive it for never beeing fast enough lol

Im a stock lower end. Harden push rods, ARP bolts, Dual valve springs will help you last at your level.
www.TampaTuning.com
Phil

 

1000+rwhp is when you want to "start" looking at forged internals? You will be looking at melted pistons/shattered rods looooong before you get to 1000rwhp on the stock rotating assembly.

500rwhp NA sounds about right, but 900rwhp on the stock rotating assembly is pushing it hard and not very safe or reliable at all.

 

This information is from threads that were in this forum and some good discusions and plenty of examples . 1 thing that affects how much stock bottom end can handle safely is rpm's . If it's kept under 6500rpm's it should handle 600-650rwhp safely , if it's pushed to 7000-7200 fairly regularly then I would suggest that it put out 500-550rwhp max . 1 possible reason may be a thread a while back where the op said that all factory oil pumps pressure drops off like a rock above 6500 rpm's and that any Melling above the M295 will continue to rise up to 8000 rpm's .

 

call a company like texas speed they'll set u straight. lots of misinformation. u want reliable not have to worry about n e thing ur looking at 550 -600 whp. aat most. stock internals. plain and simple. and thats sacrificing a ton of streetability. upgrading the rod bolts would b a great idea especially if spinning past 6500.

occasional u'll c a few 700-750whp ls1's that manage to stay alive, but theyre not Daily drivers either.

 

oh and the dyno section would b a good place to look for more info on what combo's make what power etc. etc.

 

Stock crank on those things can handle 1000+ RWHP.