Chevrolet Performance ZZ632 Crate Engine On Display At SEMA: Video
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Chevy had all sorts of exciting vehicles to show at this year’s SEMA Show – from the hulking Chevy Beast concept to the creative Project X EV. Our favorite Chevy announcement from the 2021 SEMA Show, though, was the debut of the ZZ632 crate engine.
Chevrolet Performance had a complete ZZ632 crate engine on display on the show floor at SEMA, allowing passersby to get a closer look at this impressive 10.3L Big Block. The company also filmed a short walkaround video of the motor on the show floor at SEMA for its YouTube channel, allowing those of us who weren’t lucky enough to go to SEMA to get a bit of a better look at it.
The ZZ632 engine is based around a cast-iron block that shares a mold with Chevrolet Performance’s existing ZZ572 crate engine, although the bore is 0.040 inches larger and the stroke is 0.375 inches longer – resulting in the large 632 cubic inch displacement. The block also features four-bolt main caps and a forged rotating assembly for durability purposes.
Another highlight of the ZZ632 are the CNC-machined high-flow aluminum cylinder heads with symmetrical ports. These are different than most older Chevy Big Blocks heads, which were typically manufactured with variations in port shape from cylinder to cylinder. The symmetrical port cylinder heads are nicknamed RS-X heads after Chevy powertrain engineer Ron Sperry, who designed them as his final project before he retired from his 50-year-long career. Sperry also introduced symmetrical ports on the LS1 engine when the LS engine family first came about back in 1997.
As we already know, the ZZ632 engine is factory rated at 1,004 horsepower at 6,600 rpm and 876 pound-feet of torque at 5,600 rpm. Despite its large displacement, the Big Block has a rather high redline of 7,000 RPM. During development, a single ZZ632 engine completed more than 200 simulated drag strip passes on an engine dyno, proving this high-revving Big Block can withstand endured punishment from drag racers.
That’s enough rambling about our favorite product debut from the 2021 SEMA Show, though. Check out the video embedded below to see the engine on display for yourself.
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I saw it at SEMA and talked to GM engineers. the cylinder heads are really all new, and in design an improvement to Big Chief heads, and since GM plans to also sell the heads as cast to racers, I cannot wait to see what a shop like MBE can do with them.
I have built many scale models of gas engines, starting with the Renwal Visible V8 in 1963. Then I built other models from Revell, Monogram, Hawk, and others, including a Ford Turbo I4 and a Dodge V8 Hemi. Now I see all as too complex and inefficient with too many parts. The future is electric motors with few moving parts, no combustion, and immediate torque at zero RPM. That is why Tesla makes the fastest sedans, and every other auto maker is going electric. That V8 big block will be a museum piece just as the steam engine.
BBC for racing applications will be around for a couple more decades at least. EV’s are cool, I like them, and own 2, but there is a visceral experience that ICE provides that EV’s never will. Also EV’s not so good at anything requiring constant power over a long time (Road courses multiple laps, and pulling trailers).
Go to a Tesla site and kiss their a** we don’t need you here.
Be Interesting to see if a marine use version gets developed?
GM told me they are not doing a marine version, but that does not mean Mercury Marine will not do one. These cylinder heads though are lightweight castings, not sure how they will do in marine applications?
No GM is more worried about Rivian than some crate motor nobody will buy.
Another nail in the GM coffin.
Nail in the coffin you’re out of touch. GM is making $$$. Their sales in China lead all others and that’s the biggest market in the world. The C-8 corvette is a masterpiece and the “world ” says so. Go Away troll.
Why is everyone wetting their pants over GM/Chevy (finally) making a 632 when 632’s have been around for years?
1000+ hp is a great accomplishment if you’re running a 582/598/615 BBC mild drag-race engine, naturally aspirated, without nitrous…
You can get a 632 PUMP GAS (93 octane) engine, that will be totally street worthy, that will make 1000 hp for considerably less than what a ZZ632 will cost, from a number of reputable builders.
You can get a drag-race 632 that will make north of 1200 hp for still less than a ZZ632, or how about a nitrous prepped 632, making 1900+ hp for around what a ZZ632 will cost.
You can even get a low-deck drag-race 598/615’s (meaning it is the same outer dimensions as a traditional BBC – NOT a tall-deck like a 572/632) that makes 1000+ hp for roughly half of a ZZ632.
Welcome to the party GM, you’re late and you forgot to bring your dish to pass…
And your own beer 🍻