The lifter failure that resulted in a 750whp+ build — that’s the story of Jeffrey’s 2010 Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport! When this C6 came to us, we diagnosed a catastrophically failed lifter, which started a chain reaction of lubricated component failure. With the LS3 engine in bad shape, Jeffrey had a couple options: repair or replace back to factory specifications, or take the opportunity to build… Jeffrey clearly chose the latter! After consulting with Elrich, we settled on a goal of a Flex Fuel enabled 750whp on E85, without compromising on drivability or reliability. There was, however, one kicker: the supercharger had to be positive-displacement and had to fit under the stock hood — a kicker we’ll outline further below.
With the plan in place, we got to work in the shop making it happen! The setup includes a built LS3 based, stock cubic inch, 10.5:1CR short block from Steve Morris Engines, CNC ported cylinder LS3 heads from Total Engine Airflow, custom 3-bolt conversion camshaft from Cam Motion with a Corvette C5R timing chain keeping time, fasteners from ARP, Heartbeat TVS2300 supercharger system from Magnuson Superchargers, Super Damper with an 8.260″ (12% overdrive) outer shell from ATI Performance Products, L1 return-style fuel system from Fore Innovations, LLC, ID1050X fuel injectors from Injector Dynamics, Flex Fuel conversion from DSX Tuning, 9.50″ single-disc torque converter from Precision Industries Converters, long-tube headers and X-pipe from American Racing Headers, axle-back exhaust system from CORSA Performance, along with all the miscellaneous OEM & aftermarket odds-and-ends to bring it all together.
Now, for the kicker! The Heartbeat supercharger for C6 Corvettes is designed beautifully to fit under the stock hood, with an OEM fit and finish. The one draw back, is by doing so, the jack-shaft commonly used with other TVS2300 systems is eliminated, also eliminating one very key additional source for additional overdrive, and thus additional boost pressure. Also, given the steering rack placement on this chassis, the lower pulley size is also limited to a less than ideal 8.260″. And when you’re working with a more efficient engine (i.e., ported cylinder heads, camshaft, long-tube headers, etc.), finding the boost pressure needed to make power becomes a big issue.
So, given the target power goal, we drew inspiration from making power on C6 Corvette ZR1, and applied the same principles — primarily, addressing inlet restriction. However, doing so with the Heartbeat supercharger is no bolt-on ordeal, and so Jeremy got to custom fabricating the solution! Up first, we started by custom fitting a C6 ZR1 5.00″ carbon fiber intake system from Kong Performance, and then custom fabricated the supercharger inlet snout utilizing a 102mm flange from ICT Billet LLC, perfectly connecting the 102mm Boosted throttle body from Nick Williams. Then, we worked with ZPE to come up with the absolutely smallest diameter GripTec pulley possible (limited by the supercharger housing itself), landing at 77.47mm.
With the mechanical work wrapped in the shop, Charlie strapped her down to the rollers for Vlad to perform a custom calibration via HP Tuners. With E85 in the tank, and the TVS2300 delivering ~15psi, Vlad increased the LS3’s output to a repeatable 750.90whp & 649.54lbft, with a best run of 755.19whp & 652.97lbft! Overall, Jeffrey addressed his failed lifter, and now has himself one badass C6 as a result.
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