How fast is a stock Z really?

[ZMidlife]

Do you have any specific examples of one of these Z motors "exploding" when pushed over 550? Where does this claim come from?

Do you know about forced induction? What forged internals means? Examples? I do not need examples when I know that a non-forged engine will explode eventually at 550whp. Even at 550 crank horsepower, the engine is not going to last a long time. It simply cannot handle the strain of that much power on the internal moving parts. If you think I am wrong, fine, then build your car as you wish. But having owned 29 Corvette's, 12 Camaro's, many of which were highly modified by Lingenfelter and Callaway, I know that you simply cannot throw too much boost at an engine that is not built to handle the stress. It simply will not last.
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The VR30 has been around long enough to prove its reliable at much higher levels than 550 crank. FBO VR30s on 93 make 420-450whp all day all over the us.

 

[Xylander]

Do you know about forced induction? What forged internals means? Examples? I do not need examples when I know that a non-forged engine will explode eventually at 550whp. Even at 550 crank horsepower, the engine is not going to last a long time. It simply cannot handle the strain of that much power on the internal moving parts. If you think I am wrong, fine, then build your car as you wish. But having owned 29 Corvette's, 12 Camaro's, many of which were highly modified by Lingenfelter and Callaway, I know that you simply cannot throw too much boost at an engine that is not built to handle the stress. It simply will not last.

You can't exactly expect one brand's engine (GM) to behave like any other brand. For example, Ford Gen II/III Coyotes are mostly forged from the factory and can handle 800hp on the stock internals. Built hundreds of those over the years. Take the Dodge Gen III Hemi engines. The 5.7L can handle around 600-700hp on stock internals, but the larger 6.4L can't handle more than 6psi on the stock internals... and it being forged has nothing to do with it. It's the design of the pistons with ring packs close to the piston head... which can lead to catastrophic ring land failures. Enter the 6.2L supercharged Hemi in the Hellcats... and you get a hybrid of those 2 engines. 5.7 crank, 6.4 block, with heavily reworked heads and all different pistons/rods, and voila, 18psi Hellcat engine.

Now, on this engine in the Z, as I've said here and elsewhere, I'm out of my depth. I'm an engineer though, and I'm quite confident in my abilities. Old engineering ism... "If you don't know the mechanical limits of an engine, ask someone who does."

So, if you have some sort of verifiable info other than a 550hp number pulled out of a hat, I'd love to hear what it is in that engine that gives out at that 550hp mark. At the end of the day though, I'm not too worried about it. A replacement long block for this car is only $9,000 new from the dealer. That's less than the cost of just the blower on my last car. I don't plan on blowing this car up, but if I did, I could afford to rebuild it several times over the cost of building one of my prior race engines.