Chevy Unveils New 10.4-L, 1,004-HP V8 Crate Engine—Its Most Powerful Ever
The ZZ632 is 10.4 liters of naturally aspirated, American fury.
Chevrolet Performance surprised us all back in late July when it unveiled its 572-powered COPO Camaro. Packing 9.4 liters of displacement, it was the biggest engine ever stuffed into a vehicle built by the Detroit automaker. It was impressive, but now something even bigger has come out. No, this isn't a joke; Chevy just unveiled a 10.4-liter, naturally aspirated V8 crate motor with over a thousand horsepower.
It's called the ZZ632 on account of its 632 cubic inches of displacement, and it's as serious as crate engines get. Forget Dodge's 1,000 horsepower Hellephant crate motor, this makes four more without help from forced induction. Want some more details? Well, we got 'em.
To start, the crankshaft and connecting rods are forged steel, and the pistons are forged aluminum. The tall-deck block itself is made from burly cast iron, and features four-bolt main caps similar to the 572 Big Block in the COPO Camaro. It's topped by aluminum heads with symmetrical ports, CNC-machined from the factory and designed to enable identical flow to every massive cylinder. For some context, a single cylinder in the ZZ632 is the same size as the entire engine in a top-trim Chevy Trailblazer.
The fuel this engine uses is, as compared to everything else about it, very normal. It's regular 93 octane that you can get from most gas stations. It's injected electronically at the ports, as opposed to being spat into the cylinders via a direct injection system. Combine this fueling with 12.0:1 compression, a massive single plane intake manifold, and a 7000 rpm redline, and 1,004 horsepower seems very attainable indeed, as does the engine's 876 lb-ft torque figure.
With so much aftermarket support for the big block, one could doubtlessly push this engine well past that 1,004 horsepower figure as well, using forced induction or not. 10.4 liters is a lot of displacement to work with, and the fully-forged bottom end is doubtlessly ready to take the punishment.
To be clear, though, this isn't really an all-new engine. Its casting is the same as the smaller 572, however the cylinders are bored 0.040-inches over and the stroke is increased by 3/8 of an inch to pick up the extra displacement. Chevy indicates that the block also had to be modified to accommodate this larger stroke, and bespoke connecting rods had to be made as well.
The Detroit automaker did not offer a price to go along with this impressive new beast of a motor, but a new 572 with 727 horsepower typically costs around $16,000. Expect the price for this new 632 to be in that neighborhood. And start thinking of places to stick it.
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