Slideshow: 2001 Corvette Trades LS6 for 1,000 hp LQ9

Dreams so Real

Sometimes, reality is better than our dreams. When Joey Butel was a senior in high school dreaming of getting the then-new 2001 Corvette Z06, his dreams didn't soar to include 1,000 street-able hp. The same is probably true of 199 people who snapped up the first Z06 Corvettes Chevy made in 1963. Those first Z06s included race-bred options like better shocks, stiffer springs and stabilizer bar, better brakes, and a 36-gallon gas tank tailor-made for competition. The second Z06 came near the end of the C5's run, adding some much-needed spice to an aging model. The 2001 Z06 featured the new LS6 engine, producing 405 hp, plus a bevy of weight-saving measures like thinner glass and a time-to-get-serious titanium exhaust system. Teen-aged Butel couldn't swing the $47,000 the Z06 commanded at the time, but he could dream.

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Door Open

Dreams became a reality in June of 2013 when Butel took home a 2001 Corvette Z06 hardtop. His dream came in Speedway White and, except for ugly wheels, was mostly original. Butel began his road to an improved 'Vette with changing those wheels, but he didn't stop there. When his path reached the LS6, it ran into a slight detour when the boosted engine blew up on the dyno. He started over, but this time with even more boost in mind, beginning with a Schwanke Engines-built LQ9 Gen-IV iron block. Springfield, Minnesota-based Schwanke bored the block out to increase capacity to 377 ci and assembled the short block using Wiseco pistons and Molnar rods. Butel then added a Blower Stage 2 camshaft from Tick Performance and a set of 230cc aluminum heads from Air Flow Research— topped by an LS2 intake manifold with porting by Peak Performance and fed by a TPIS 90mm throttle body.

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Driven to Excess

Next came the real power-adder. Butel selected a Vortech YSi centrifugal supercharger for boost, overdriven by an additional 10 percent via an ATI crank pulley. The combo is good for 21 psi of boost, and the intake charge is kept cool and dense via a custom ECS air-to-air intercooler. An electric Holley Dominator fuel pump supplies fuel to Bosch 127cc injectors, a Ron Davis four-row radiator keeps engine temps under control, and Kooks headers into a stainless 3-inch exhaust system with Borla Stinger mufflers handle exhaust duties. After a tune from KC Maxx Performance in Kansas City, Kansas, Butel's Z06 was delivering 1,029 hp (at 7,000 rpm), and 949 lb-ft of torque (at 6,000 rpm) to the wheels.

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Driveline Duty

With north of 900 ft-lbs of torque, a transmission upgrade was a must. Butel swapped out the entire C5 rear set-up for a C6 Z06 rear subframe package built by RPM Transmissions. The package includes RPM's Level 6 TREMEC TR-6060 six-speed transaxle and a Wavetrac limited-slip differential with 3.42:1 gears. The Z06 utilizes a twin-disc McLeod RXT clutch inside a Quick Time bellhousing that connects to the trans via a Precision Shaft Technologies custom torque tube. 

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Dropped and Tubbed

Butel dropped the Z06 two inches up front with RideTech Level 2 coilovers, and shored up braking ability with Baer Eradispeed slotted rotors all around with Wilwood four-piston calipers up front. The C6 rear subframe changed the Corvette's wheelbase, but Victor Almazon-built custom lower control arms brought things back into line and made wheel and tire selection a whole lot more reasonable. Butel went with 275/35R18 Nitto NT01 tires on 18×9.5 Weld S71 wheels up front, but to fit the 18x12 wheels he wanted to run in the back, without cutting the fenders, he needed to get creative. His solution was to build custom fiberglass tubs for the wider wheels, and with the help of Mitch Farmer at Weld, he was able to get the wheels he wanted in a custom offset so he could run S71s in back as well. The custom Welds wear 305/40R18 Mickey Thompson ET Street S/S tires, just the thing you need with 1000+ hp.

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Dream Done

With all that effort to keep the contours of the Z06 stock, it's not surprising that exterior mods are minimal, including just a simple front splitter and rear diffuser to help stick it to the road. That is unless you count the distinctive black C6.R-inspired graphic the hood boldly displays. Butel's plans for the finished 'Vette include trips to the dragstrip in search of 9-second quarters, and maybe some half-mile roll racing. From dream to reality in under two decades, it might have been sooner but you know how things go—one day you are changing out ugly wheels and the next you have 1,000 hp.

>>Join the conversation about this LQ9 swapped C5 Corvette right here.

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