[wnta1ss]

Originally Posted by Red Lightening

I broke down my motor this winter to go forged, more power, more fuel. I ran a D1x pro charger with a 4" pulley typically at 10-11 lbs. Lt4 fuel system, e85 1-7/8 looks long tubes no cats, awe exhaust. With a safe tune was at 724 whp 645 torque. Hearing all the horror stories, I wanted to share mine. With this tune in, I put over 7,000 miles of mixed daily driving, dig and roll racing, the cylinder walls and Pistons looked near perfect. My tuner felt that I could an extra 50hp out of the previous set up prior to running low on fuel, (as well as anytime North of 750 your messing with fire, there are plenty out there that even push 800whp) but at 724 was more reliable tune as most tuners will tell you that low to mid 700's is the limit on e85 without some type of additional low side beyond the lt4 pump. It is my experience that the Pro Charger set up and E85 both led to lower intake/engine temps likely kept it safer as the car rarely ran over 200 degrees even on hot days. Either way rings were mostly all around .015, so maybe I was fortunate?? It certainly sounds like the odds were against many LT1 owners in holding up over 600whp, but not in my case. This is not a fluff story, but real data, real experience, real people, (haha not actors), with a very reputable tuner in Colorado who did all the tuning, on a Dyno Jet. Based on the cars performance when racing and what other cars achieve those numbers also appeared legit.

With .015 ring gaps, yes you were somewhat fortunate in that aspect. You say that your car made 724hp, but what was the dyno correction factor applied (like 1.15 or 1.20 or ???)? With you being in Colorado, my guess is that your actual horsepower was much lower than 724, and the observed/uncorrected figure is what we need to know to properly evaluate your experience with that car. High altitude means thinner air which means less horsepower.