Upgrade to 700HP and over
 

Hi!

First of all, been going through the forum and did find a lot of useful information, incredible forum!!

I am stuck on a few issues at the moment and needed some clarification.
I have a 2023 SS 1LE and would love to increase it's power and here is my plan so far (trying to keep it street legal here in canada also), not in any specific order and it's probably a 2-3 year planning (budget is going on other stuff for the house also)

1- supercharger (probably magnuson or procharger, haven't decided yet)
2- change fuel pump and injectors from lt4 (unless you guys can recommend something better, seemed the best option so far)
3- cam change
4- cold air intake change
5- forged internals
e85 is not an option here but we do have some 94 octane here.

So far I would like to get near 700whp which I guess I could by increasing boost and so, and maybe later on some modification for over 700 who knows.

The issue I have, is I don't want to have major problems with the motor so been looking into going with forged internals. I don't think I can actually pull the motor out myself or not confident enough anyway. So, been looking around and geez..we're talking like 12K to get the job done here which seems astronomical. Unless someone knows a shop who has better price around montreal I'm kind of stuck.
So, was wondering if a drop-in would work without removing the motor.
Putting the supercharge seem relatively easy as they do have step by step for this, but the forged internals??
Can I get a set and just remove the oil pan beneath , replace the piston/rods without recalibrating or measuring stuff or anything?

Anyone could help with this? maybe a step by step with all the info would be very nice.

note: the car has around 6k miles, would probably do the job next winter when it's around 10-12k

thanks for the help

If you can do everything yourself, putting in a drop in piston and rod setup isnt too bad. Not being a dick, but if pulling the engine itself is too much for you then the other stuff is going to be too much for you as well. Putting pistons and rods in with the block still in the car is possible but they don't come out the bottom. You would have to unbolt them from the bottom then pull them out the top, which means removing the intake and heads etc. Big picture if you really want or need the security of the forged internals, trade your car in for a zl1. It'll be cheaper and easier. The next best option is laynlo's setup of pd blower, port injection, ethanol and fuel pump booster on the stock lt1.

Good advice

The only way to do it cheaper and end up with it potentially being right is to do the job yourself. Working on these cars is no easy task and to pay someone to do it right is going to cost some coin.

That being said my car sits around 700whp now with the stock LT1 motor, 11psi of boost, fuel System and E60 fuel. Been this way since 2019 and haven't had any issues. The Ethanol fuel is what is allowing this to happen.

Since you do not have E85, you need to get dynamic compression down. Ideally lower compression pistons would be best. However, a cam swap will lower dynamic and allow you to hit 700whp on 94 octane with 10-11psi of boost. You will need the LT4 fuel system. Jenetty Racing offers a Super Street Brawler package that achieves this.

The thing for me is, If you are going to spend 20k for the entire package, what is another 3-4k or so for rods/pistons installed while it's apart. The engine will already be torn down to the short block regardless. Then you have the bottom end to support another 200+ whp reliably if you desire to turn it up vs being pretty much limited to around 700whp with that package. Either way I know Jenetty has done a lot of these packages and had no issues with reliability.

wow that was quick!

Guess I'll go ahead and pull out the motor, was just worried to pull out the motor of a brand new car especially since I never pulled out a motor myself.


I'll start by doing the supercharger and later on the lt4 fuel system and finally I'll pull out the motor and do the cam and forged internals once I get there.

Supercharge/lt4 shouldn't be much of a problem since found a few manuals/videos on how to do it but pulling out the motor of a 2023 didn't find much yet.
Anyone has something on this? it's an automatic also btw.

thanks

You want to be careful about that order.

Can pop things without the proper fuel system. That would be a primary upgrade for boost, unless you run a reasonable boost pressure. 7-8lbs I believe is fine, but the other more knowledgeable guys will be able to confirm that. But if you start pushing higher than that your fuel system is going to have the hurt put on it.

That is kinda backwards might want to address fueling before the power adder.

I would do the cam and internals first.

Or skip cam/internals go with the blower and port injection.

You will need a Fuel system upgrade along with the Supercharger. And you will be limited to around 600whp on pump gas with the stock cam. The high DCR of the LT1 doesn't allow much room on 93. The cam plays a vital role in pushing that octane wall out another 100whp. Hence why I linked Jenetty's package.

Either way you really need Ethanol if you want to boost the stock motor. Order it by the drum and mix it with pump gas for a E50 blend. You can still drive it on 93, but mix the E in when you plan on running it hard. Running E will require a lot more fuel system. Will need Port Injection or +30 injectors and either the LPE HPFP or Katechs new Goliath.

I would also suggest spending some time reading threads in the Forced Induction section before going any further. A lot of your questions have been hashed out many times in the past over there. A 2023 isn't a ton different than the prior years. The cam phaser changed on 2022+ and the HPFP connector changed in 2019. Low side pump also is stronger on the 2021+. Other than that, not much difference.

What about the transmission and rear axles ?

Was thinking about keeping the boost low before doing the fuel upgrade. But I guess I might do it at the same time and keep the cam/internals for later. won't be pushing the boost until the rest is done anyway.

Been looking all over the forum and yeah found a lot of useful info so far.

Honestly - any thoughts about just selling your car to get a ZL1? By the time you replace pretty much everything powertrain related in your car, you are almost there price-wise, with a factory powertrain warranty.

Just a thought.

-Geoff

yeah did think about it a lot, wanted a zl1 and when it came in this year (after 3 years of waiting), it was 30K over my car excluding the interest and taxes. As for used car, they are selling it way to high price or simply just in bad shape (and for some reason always had bad experience with used cars, not very interested in going that route again).
Price are just crazy here in quebec and cars are hard to get by. not to many zl1 coming to canada.
So long story short, ended up with a ss 1le. Don't get me wrong, I'm VERY happy with it. And starting to prefer the look also compared to the zl1. The satin black on it is just great. Maybe a zl1 1le? ;)

From what I'm seeing and the quotes I got, getting a magnuson, with lt4 gas component, would be around 15k if I do the job myself.
As for the internals, cam would be around 800 from what I'm seeing (need to do some research on that one) and drop-in around 3k (need more research on that one also, so many options)
so, with taxes (only 5% since it's shipping from another province) would be a bit less than 20k

Would be happy getting near 700whp.

If I would live in the US, might be a totaly different conversation.

I haven't had any issues in 5yrs and a plethora of street pulls later. At a prepped track on a sticky tire, axles and driveshaft would be a good idea. Trans can handle lots of power when tuned correctly.

Agreed! My A8 is still stock even after years of high power abuse (good tuner lol).

Driveline is probably fine on the street…but stock SS driveshaft mangled itself at the drag strip lol… so if you’re gonna hang out at the strip a lot get some GForce axles and a good DS.