[Whipplecamaro]

Hey guys im new here. Im just wondering how much boost can a stock ss handle? Like fuel wise and i guess engine wise. Ive read lots on here that 650whp is max it can handle with out internals. Biggest concern is i just got a 2.9L whipple supercharger put on and you can barley hear it. Like a small whoosh under light load and thats it. I put the sound tube back on helped a bit but nothing like a hellcat whine or anything. I know a cold air would help a bit and a smaller pulley would do tons. But smaller pulley means more fuel and more power but just how much can a lt1 handle? Has 544whp and 563ftlbs on dyno.. so how much more can it be pushed safley with out a piston meeting the pavement haha

[MR 45TH]

Unfortunately I don’t think you will find an exact answer of exactly when you’ll run out of fuel or when you are at the limit of the bottom end. Cars are all different and some people have better luck than others. Based on what I’ve seen and speaking for my car, you probably won’t get much more than 600 on the stock fuel system. As far as the bottom end most will tell you it is unsafe to push it anymore than low 600’s. Now that doesn’t mean people haven’t done it and been successful.

[KingLT1]

Put a full LT4 fuel system in it and turn it up.

[steelheadrob]

I am sitting right at the 650 level with the Whipple and LT4 fueling @ 9psi boost. All of my fueling logs, fuel rail pressure, pulse width, AFR, etc. are all withing the safe zones. My tuner says my engine should see a long and happy life at the current levels. It seems to be less about an absolute HP number, instead how you get to the HP number. The higher your boost level and the more you push your fueling to the limit the higher probability you will have a problem. The wildcard is some engines don't have the same tolerance so even if you follow all the best practices you could still have a problem.

[Drsagacity]

Originally Posted by Whipplecamaro

Hey guys im new here. Im just wondering how much boost can a stock ss handle? Like fuel wise and i guess engine wise. Ive read lots on here that 650whp is max it can handle with out internals. Biggest concern is i just got a 2.9L whipple supercharger put on and you can barley hear it. Like a small whoosh under light load and thats it. I put the sound tube back on helped a bit but nothing like a hellcat whine or anything. I know a cold air would help a bit and a smaller pulley would do tons. But smaller pulley means more fuel and more power but just how much can a lt1 handle? Has 544whp and 563ftlbs on dyno.. so how much more can it be pushed safley with out a piston meeting the pavement haha

Assume you are still running the LT1 fuel system, we saw the fuel system dropping off right just under 600whp and dialed it back for safety reasons.

How much boost are you running now?

[TJay74]

The issue with the LT1 isnt it cant handle over 650hp, it is just that on stock internals and more so the piston rings you have to be careful pushing over 650rwhp. The ring gaps are a crap shoot, some have found out that over 650rwhp and tight ring gaps produce broken ring lands on the pistons around the wrist pin area of the piston.

The LT4 fuel system (in-tank pump, high side pump and injectors) will really help you get more out of the setup and do it safely on the tune while adding some other HP mods like a RF CAI and maybe a smaller pulley. You could even have the tuner tune the OEM FPM to boost the voltage as it only costs $50 to unlock the FPM via HP Tuners. After that you are getting into 3rd party fuel pump voltage boosters in order to push the system even further.

You should be able to get to 600-650 to the wheels with the full LT4 setup and tuning the OEM FPM.

I am at 650rwhp now with meth injection and will stay there a bit. I may one day down the road put the rest of the LT4 fuel system in my car and unlock the FPM and see what I can get safely on 91 octane E10 up to maybe E50 if possible and turn the meth injection off, or at least maybe reduce the meth injection duty cycle.

Once I have to get into my engine I plan on drop in forged pistons, forged rods and a cam change to eliminate the AFM stuff and change out the springs. Then shoot for around 750-800 to the wheels at that point.

[Whipplecamaro]

Yeah im new to blowers so right now i feel bad bagging it cuz all i do is use it as a sunday driver and when i do use it.. well i use it haha. But its at 8psi right now but ive read horror stories that 10-12 psi the pistons walk. I just dont wanna crank it right up because if i do i have to do everything like fuel and internals and if opening it up might as well do heads and cam too. How much can the lt4 fuel system handle? Or is it worth going to something different to handle more for future? I know matt from lethal camaro used some after market one that handles a ton but its very pricey

[TJay74]

I am running a PC D1SC at 10-11 psi and it has been fine so far for the last 5k miles.

[Drsagacity]

My advice would be to stay where you are until you are ready to upgrade parts (fuel system, cam, pistons and probably rods depending on your goal).

You are reasonably close to where the LT1 fuel system starts to fall off, so why push it for an extra 50whp? You could do something like what TJAY has done with alky injection if you are comfortable using that as a way to cover for a lack of fuel and that will allow you to run more timing, but you also know at 10-12 psi with a PD blower is beyond what the stock LT1 fuel system can handle on its own...just hope you don’t have a problem with your alky injection system.

Also, Keep in mind for TJay’s System, he doesn’t see max boost until right at redline...so he sees less boost throughout the rpm band. On your setup, that’s not the case. You will see nearly 10psi immediately...and all the way to redline. It’s just a difference in how the two blowers work.

You may want to consider your goals. If you are at 550whp, you have the power to run in the 10’s pretty comfortably (10.8 range). If you bump it to 650whp, you will run closer to the 10.4 quarter mile. Is it worth the risk to pick up 4 tenths of one second on the first through 4th gear pull? Btw - if you don’t have good enough tires you probably won’t even see that much of an improvement.

Just a few things to consider.

[Whipplecamaro]

Yeah thats true enough, thought the same thing with getting the blower is it even worth it.. yes when your in it driving smiling war to ear but was it necessary hah. Might just wait a year for rest, one thing at a time. Thanks for the info ��

[KingLT1]

I would upgrade the fuel system, switch to e85, and leave the boost where it is. I just said LT4 fuel system earlier because it should be done either way. Most of these engines blow up trying to squeeze too hard on the stock fuel system. Also they get the car dyno tuned on a non load bearing dyno and fuel looks good but then blows up on a long street pull because fuel pressure dropped. That is one critical thing that gets overlooked...non load bearing dynos do not simulate real world conditions, so what the car does on the dyno, will not be achievable on the street or track.

[Drsagacity]

Originally Posted by Whipplecamaro

Yeah thats true enough, thought the same thing with getting the blower is it even worth it.. yes when your in it driving smiling war to ear but was it necessary hah. Might just wait a year for rest, one thing at a time. Thanks for the info ��

Getting the blower and staying on a safe tune with the stock LT1 is beautiful. You will be faster than a ZL1 at a much lower price point (higher compression engine, lighter car and a more capable blower that runs same boost with way less effort). That’s the great place to be.

You can look at the fast list and see that there aren’t a ton of ZL1’s that get into the mod wars...because they feel fast from the factory.

[Whipplecamaro]

Yeah im from canada so there isnt much for e85 if any, was thinking going that route. I orginally wanted a zl1 but its a unicorn here as the dealerships say.. 52 or something canada gets each year so they are sold before they even make it to the dealer. The ss was tons at first but once you get use to it by the end of the season you want more haha. But like you said im dyno tubed with a whipple on so i should be close if not the same as a zl1 now so just a matter of how far i want to go