The crown jewel for Chevrolet Performance for the 2021 SEMA Show is the ZZ632: a 1,000-plus horsepower engine that promises to be available to customers early next year. Pricing for the 10.4L Big Block V8 hasn’t been officially announced yet, but Gandrud Chevrolet, a dealer in Wisconsin, is taking pre-orders for the ZZ632 crate engine at an MSRP of $37,758 USD, with a listed sale price of $29,499 USD. That’s more than double that of discontinued 755 LT5 V8 crate engine, which had an MSRP of around $18,000 USD. Meanwhile, the 1,000 hp Mopar Hellephant crate engine was priced from $29,995 USD, but needed the $2,265 installation kit to go with it.
Another way to compare, the LT5 crate engine gave you .04 horsepower per dollar spent. The ZZ632 gives you .026 horsepower per dollar spent. Inflation, man.
The only engines that come close to the price of the ZZ632 are replacement motors for the COPO Camaro. Gandrud Chevrolet has those listed, too if you’re curious. Additionally, pricing for the recently announced LS427/570 small block crate engine is listed from $15,766 USD, while the 572/620 Deluxe Big Block V8 crate engine is $20,903 USD.
Chevrolet Performance ZZ632 Big Block V8: 10.4L, 1,004 Horsepower, Zero Forced Induction
The ZZ632 Big Block V8 crate engine is far and away the most powerful motor General Motors has ever announced. And it does so the old fashioned way: a cast iron, OHV design, with enough displacement to swallow a small child. And there’s no need for a turbocharger or a supercharger, either. All told, peak horsepower is dyno tested at 1,004 horsepower, and 876 lb-ft of torque. On 93-octane pump gas!Chevrolet Performance notes that the ZZ632 Big Block V8 is not intended for marine applications. Which means boat makers will have to figure out a way to make it work. In addition, the cylinder head port design system requires its own custom exhaust system, leaving it up to the imagination of the builder. And if you’re mounting it to a manual transmission (we’re sure there are a few out there that can handle nearly 900 lb-ft of torque), you’re going to need an internally balanced flywheel to make it work.For an idea of what a 1,000 hp crate engine looks like in a muscle car, be sure to follow Hoonigan and their Chevrolet Camaro Z/28 project for the SEMA Show.
