Chevrolet has revealed its wildest crate engine yet.
With a 10.356-litre displacement and more than 1000hp (1004hp, or 749kW) of power, the Chevrolet ZZ632/1000 outdoes the Dodge Hellephant crate engine by 4hp (3kW). Not much, but every extra horse counts.
Unlike the supercharged Hellephant, the Chevrolet engine (which needs a catchier name than zee-zee-six-three… you get the idea) pumps out its power using natural aspiration.
The block shares its basic bones with that of the V8 engine in the COPO Camaro, although there are plenty of changes on hand to turn that car’s 9.4-litre engine into the 10.4-litre beast you see here.
The engine also pumps out 1188Nm of torque running on what passes for premium pump petrol in the USA, although it’s likely owners who will drop what’s likely to be a considerable sum on a 10.35-litre crate motor will stump for proper racing fuel.
“This is the biggest, baddest crate engine we’ve ever built,” said the director of the GM Performance and Racing Propulsion team. Hard to argue with that one.
Crate engines – usually big V8s – are delivered to owners like a heart without a body, and installed in whatever deranged project they’re working on. Ford, Stellantis, and Chevrolet all offer a range of engines to tuners and drag racers, in a kind of three-way arms race.
There’s more headroom in the Chevrolet engine, too. Chevy says a prototype has survived more than 200 simulated drag races on a dynamometer, so it’s tough.
Finding a supercharger or turbo that’ll fit it could be tough, though.
What would you build around the 10.4-litre Chevrolet crate engine?
