07-29-2022, 08:43 AM | #1 |
Drives: 14 Camaro SS 1LE Join Date: Feb 2019
Location: Clinton Twp, MI
Posts: 483
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8000 RPM LT4, inside a Katech powered ZL1
Good Morning everyone and happy friday! My name is Zach and I am an engineer over at Katech in Clinton Township, MI. If you don't know who Katech is, we are one of the premier performance engine and vehicle builders that have been in the industry for more than 40 years. Our roots are deep with Corvette Racing, a majority of our innovation comes from our experience developing race engines with GM.
I am in the engineering department and also do a lot of work with our vehicle shop. My goal when working with customers is to make sure they understand the type of package they are getting into, and it meets all of their expectations upon pickup. With that said, we do a lot of cool development work in the shadows to ensure we are competing with the best of the best in this exponentially growing industry. I purchased a 2018 ZL1 1LE personally with the original goal to make it our version of a gen 6 Z/28. Take the LT4 out, put a dry-sumped naturally aspirated 427 in, and let it rip on the track. After driving the supercharged motor on track and overlaying some dyno data between a few of our engine packages, I determined that I will save that project for another vehicle because this car had to stay with a supercharged engine. I set the new goal to develop a high-rpm package with a relatively stock engine that could be used for multiple applications. The new target was making 800whp at 8000 RPM. In this thread, I plan on posting the engineering behind what it takes to do something like this, the contents of this package, and the results it produced. To start, here is a picture of the car when I first purchased it. I bought this from a former road racing form member Mark of W2W racing. It had 3500 miles on it from a dedicated life at COTA. It was gutted with AP racing brakes, a cool suit chiller, a trunk meth tank, and some mild bolt-on/exhaust work. My first project for the car was reverting this back to stock with the interior, trunk, and fueling modifications. I removed the meth system, I reinstalled all of the factory interior, and put the stock brakes (for the time being) back onto the vehicle. Afterwards, I had our calibrator tune the vehicle and it made a stout 600rwhp with the only modifications being a rotofab intake, ARH headers, and Borla S-Type exhaust. I will continue to update this post with discussion topics, results, and finding as I get the time. This car is levels better than my 5th gen, and I can't wait to get out to some events with all of you |
07-29-2022, 08:57 AM | #2 |
Drives: 2017 Camaro SS, 2011 Corvette GS Join Date: Feb 2019
Location: Erlanger, Kentucky 41018
Posts: 815
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Cool.
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07-29-2022, 09:36 AM | #3 |
Oldman w/a teenager brain
Drives: 2022 ZL1 A10 Join Date: Mar 2021
Location: East TX
Posts: 159
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I’m in for all the updates you want to post OP. Can’t wait to see the finished car.
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07-29-2022, 09:39 AM | #4 |
Having FUN in the SUN...
Drives: 2022 M6 ZL1 1LE Join Date: Jan 2022
Location: San Diego CA
Posts: 1,052
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Subscribed
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2022 M6 ZLE: Katech CNC Ported Blower + Ported Heads + 103mm TB + Oil Pump + C5R Chain + Valve Covers + Coil Relocation
TSP VVT and DoD Delete Covers + LME Chain Guide + DSX Billet Lid + ATI Damper + 9.17" Lower + 2.4" Upper + MM Wild CC Coated ARH + AWE Touring + Magnaflow Center X + E85 + MSD Coils + Banks iDash + JMS Booster + Synergy Fender Tank ALL the RED Rear End BMR Goodies + JRE Terminator Cam Package + Remote Tuning and Moral Support from TED @ JRE BMR Motor Mounts + DMS Front HX + FIC 30's + APEX SM.10's + 305/345 R888R's = 770rwhp 785rwtq @E50 13.5psi |
08-01-2022, 10:30 AM | #5 |
Drives: 14 Camaro SS 1LE Join Date: Feb 2019
Location: Clinton Twp, MI
Posts: 483
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Good Morning guys, happy monday! The first step to doing any of these types of projects is having a good cup of coffee and getting right into the teardown process. Here are some pictures of the car when we pulled the engine.
Whenever doing any work involving tearing into the stock shortblock (any sort of cover, oil pan, etc), we highly suggest pulling the engine. These engines are glued together with RTV unlike their older LS siblings. The issue with this is that it is very difficult to get the engine to reseal properly without thoroughly cleaning everything before reassembly. When you pull these apart in the car, it is an oily mess that almost guarantees you to have oil leaks during the reassembly process. Another issue is with the large single bolt camshaft. You are suppose to brace the back of the camshaft when torqueing this bolt. If you do this in the car, you are putting all of that torque through the timing chain. Doing so makes you at risk of having a timing chain failure even when you have a stronger aftermarket chain like our C5R chain. Vehicle on the hoist Rough disassembly Front bumper off, further disassembly Engine on the lift table LT4 longblock on an engine stand |
08-02-2022, 03:46 PM | #6 |
Drives: 14 Camaro SS 1LE Join Date: Feb 2019
Location: Clinton Twp, MI
Posts: 483
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Good Afternoon guys,
Here are some pictures from the teardown. For this build, this involved getting the engine down to a bare block. The only modification that I plan on doing to the shortblock is adding ARP connecting rod bolts to the factory rods. We have tested the factory rotating assembly to nearly 1500HP around 7000rpm, somewhere between 1300 and 1500 we began to bend rods. I am adding ARP connecting rod bolts to ensure that the factory rod bolts do not break when spinning this engine at 8000 RPM. I am testing no-mans land on this stock bottom end, so I would not take this as "Katech's signoff to spin the SBE to 8000 RPM w/ ARP Rod Bolts", but take it as "This is what Katech's engineer Zach is doing in his personal project car" Supercharger Off Factory Valvetrain Cylinder Heads Off Piston/Rod Assembly Removal Piston/Rod Assembly Removal Last edited by Katech_Zach; 08-03-2022 at 08:26 AM. |
08-02-2022, 04:00 PM | #7 |
Shadow Gray '19 ZLE M6
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Following! Love this thread
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2019 ZL1 1LE | M6 | SGM | PDR | CF Dash | Nav | Wheel Locks
PPF | Paint Correction | ZL1 Addons Rock Guards | ZL1 Addons Lift Pads | ZL1 Addons Feather Lite Tow Hook | JWM Smoked Sidemarkers | Wildhammer Smoked Rear Reflectors | JWM License Plate LEDs | RotoFab CAI | ADM IC Reservoir v2 | BC Forged RZ05 | SPL Toe Arms | BW Brake Deflectors | CMS Roll Bar | Schroth Profi II ASM Harnesses . Sold: '99 Trans Am (bolt-ons & cam) | '00 WS6 (bolt-ons, heads, cam, 12 bolt) | '05 CTS-V (bolt-ons, short throw) | '10 SS/RS M6 (short throw, CAI, coilovers, LTs, catback, JRE tune) | '01 WS6 YouTube |
08-02-2022, 04:22 PM | #8 | |
Drives: 2017 Camaro 2SS A8 Join Date: May 2019
Location: USA
Posts: 1,656
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Quote:
So did I read this right or wrong? ARP connecting bolts only? Further down you mentioned adding ARP connecting rods.
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Roto-Fab w/sound tube delete, Katech ported TB, Pray IM, Velossa, DD side markers, DSX FF, UPR Catch can, Halo brace, My custom vent gauge pod
Originally Posted by arpad_m - Aww, yet another oil thread with almost the same question in the OP |
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08-03-2022, 08:27 AM | #9 |
Drives: 14 Camaro SS 1LE Join Date: Feb 2019
Location: Clinton Twp, MI
Posts: 483
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08-03-2022, 08:47 AM | #10 |
Drives: 2021 1SS 1LE Join Date: Nov 2020
Location: 98548
Posts: 612
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I am so stoked for this build!!
Ken |
08-03-2022, 09:21 AM | #11 |
Drives: 2019 Camaro Z-28 Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Dallas
Posts: 1,485
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Watching this with great interest Zach. I myself am having a BLAST road racing my LME 416 NA SS 1LE HYBRID. As a matter of fact I call it my 2019 Z28. The ONLY time it went into REDUCED POWER mode is when I broke an AC belt and it tore a wiring harness off the front of the engine. Water temps even at 105 degrees outside down here and 30 minute sessions NEVER gets about 10 degrees warmer than normal.
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2019 SS 1LE BIG NA A10 Eagles Canyon Raceway 2.7 CCW Below https://youtu.be/c9M5UHDftcA 4-15-23 at SCCA TT U1 Class MEGA Thread on THIS car: https://www.camaro6.com/forums/showthread.php?t=602092 Retired Cars BELOW: 1973 Camaro, 1969 Camaro, 1969 Camaro SS RS 2010 Camaro SS with 1000HP F1R, 2019 ZL1 1LE A10 |
08-03-2022, 12:52 PM | #12 | |
Drives: 14 Camaro SS 1LE Join Date: Feb 2019
Location: Clinton Twp, MI
Posts: 483
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It will rip, thats for sure
Quote:
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08-03-2022, 03:42 PM | #13 |
Geoff
Drives: 2020 ZL1 Green Join Date: May 2013
Location: Houston
Posts: 1,720
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Very interested in this one, thx for posting Zach
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08-03-2022, 06:10 PM | #14 |
Drives: 2SS 1LE Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: AK
Posts: 2,301
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On the stock cars, the AC automatically turns off under power demands, like racing. Many cars/manufacturers are doing this these days.
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Everything happens for a reason, except when it doesn't, but even then, you can, in hindsight, fabricate a reason that satisfies your belief system.
2018 2SS 1LE 2023 Colorado ZR2 2022 Stinger GT-line AWD |
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katech, lt4, performance |
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