General Motors has considered offering a 5.5L V8 LT6 crate engine, but with demand for the 2023 Corvette Z06 already extremely high, a concrete decision has yet to be made.
In an interview at the 2021 SEMA Show in Las Vegas, GM Authority executive editor Alex Luft asked GM’s Director for the Performance and Racing Propulsion Team, Russ O’Blenes, if GM would eventually offer an LT6 crate engine. O’Blenes confirmed his team has considered offering the flat-plane crank V8 engine as a standalone product, but with demand of the 2023 Corvette Z06 already strong, the automaker will first focus on getting these engines into production vehicles.
“There’s obviously discussion,” O’Blenes said of the idea of an LT6 crate engine. “I think right now, the good news is we’re selling I think three years’ worth of sales already on the cars.”
“I’m sure it’s something that we’ll continue to investigate,” he added. “We’ve done a lot of development with it as we worked really closely with the production team, so we’ve got a really good feel for how to do it.”
Luft then asked O’Blenes if GM typically needs to see a surplus of engines over how many units it needs for production vehicles in order to begin a crate engine sales program. O’Blenes said GM does not need extra engines in order to give the green light to a crate engine program, but when demand for a particular vehicle is high, production vehicles will almost always get priority.
“No, not necessarily a surplus,” he said. “But our customers are the most important, building the cars that the customers ordered is the most important. The great news is that we’ve been selling tons and tons of cars because people want our product. So the surplus part is not like with the LT5, we just consciously buy more when they’re doing their build out. We buy them to make sure that we can provide them.”
As a reminder, the LT6 V8 is a naturally aspirated 5.5L V8 with dual overhead camshafts and a flat-plane crankshaft. Output is rated at 670 horsepower and 460 pound-feet of torque, making it the most powerful naturally aspirated V8 ever installed in a production vehicle. Paired with an eight-speed dual-clutch transmission, this engine will enable the C8 Corvette Z06 to accelerate from zero to 60 mph in just 2.6 seconds.
Production of the 2023 Corvette Z06 will begin at the Bowling Green Assembly plant in the summer of 2022. The LT6 V8, meanwhile, will be hand-assembled by master engine builders at the Performance Build Center located within the Bowling Green plant.
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Comments
Honestly nothing. Any custom build many people make don’t feature a fast shifting tranny or gearing that steep. Most drag cars use hydramatic slush boxes and need a heavy toque biased engine. Street rods need low end torque. The only customers I can think of would be if Hennessy wants to make another monocoque super car or lotus. This is a superbly specialized engine
Looking for a Fiero now. Lol. I know some builders could come up with some amazing builds.
How about a Class 1 Unlimited or sand dune hill climb Buggy?
They need to see a surplus? Wtf what production vehicle used their stupid 10L V8?
They should stuff the 10L V8 into the siverado. It will get teribble mileage and be a bad truck overall but it will eat any trx.
The obvious of course – find a 6th Gen Camaro SS 1LE. Remove the LT1 – put your LT6 crate engine in. Aaand there’s your (homemade) 6th Gen Camaro Z/28.
Truth be told, GM should be doing this from the factory.
Put it in a Yugo.
probably an easy 25 large on that one plus wiring and PCM
Ferrari 308 GTS, car costs as much as the engine, but would actually get up and go, and start. Just need a buddy w a helicopter and a suite Hawaiian shirt.
The high costs of a used Ferrari isn’t the sell price, it is the price to fix the damn thing (which will happen often).
How about a 1947 Crosley Sedan!
I was figuring to just buy a totaled Z06 and transplant the engine, transaxle, ECU, and whatever else into my Z51.
A trash can.
Engine has crappy torque numbers.
One could attach a 2/3 reduction gear to it and get the 670 hp at 5,600 RPM with 690 lb-ft torque at 4,200 RPM. That work better?
That depends on how you might use it, For drag racing it’s probably not a good one out of all the GM crate engine available but I can see this engine used for racing purposes such as Time Attack Cars, Nùrburgring/GP track day car, and some custom build.
“Crappy” torque numbers.
HAHAHA!
that dual clutch auto will make you forget the mediocre torque numbers as you as you push the rpms to 8,300 with extra fast shifts. First gen numbers were always created to be surpassed in the following years. 670 now, 690hp the following year with a head change, 710hp the following year after that with a cam change… who knows what the limit will be.
My understanding is that the Z06 uses the same trans gearing with a shorter differential output gearing to increase the mechanical advantage and elevate the engine rpm at any given road speed
Come on GM, make this crate engine for the rest of us.
With lower torque produced via the LT6 Z06, won’t that almost mandate using the new 8-speed tranny to properly utilize the higher rpm and lower torque?
The LT6 isn’t an engine for drag racing, but it’s perfect for road racing and would make a great engine for an SLC, Lola T-70 replica or even a 917-K from RCR, the question is how much ?