Chevrolet Has A New 10.35L, 1,000bhp N/A Crate Engine

The 2021 SEMA show is just around the corner, which means we can expect a tuning arms race of ridiculous proportions from major manufacturers trying to steal the limelight away from aftermarket players. Chevrolet in particular has opened one hell of an opening salvo - a 632 cubic-inch crate engine.

For those less familiar with measuring engine capacity the old fashioned way, allow us to save you a Google - that works out a 10.35-litres. The beast of an engine is good for 990bhp (1,004hp) and 876lb ft of torque. This makes it marginally more powerful and slightly less torquey than the mighty Mopar Hellephant, which uses a supercharger to extract its ridiculous figures. Chevrolet’s engine, on the other hand, is naturally aspirated. That being the case, we’ll forgive the ‘ZZ632/1000’ for having a far less catchy name.

Peak power comes in at 6,600rpm, just below the recommended 7,000rpm redline. Peak torque arrives at 5,600 meanwhile, but it’ll be punchy enough without having to rev it anywhere near as high, with a whopping 600lb ft available from just 3,300rpm.

The 632 is based on the tough iron block of the smaller but still hilariously large ZZ572 (below) found in the COPO Camaro, with the bore and stroke increased to give the additional displacement. The crankshaft and connecting rods are made from forged steel, while the pistons are forged aluminium. Proudly sitting on top is a lovely CNC-machine inlet manifold.

An iron block V8 with forged internals promises to be nice and tough, but just to be absolutely sure, each one Chevy sells will be subjected to 200 mock drag strip runs on a dyno. Thorough.

Speaking about his new (big) baby, Chevrolet Performance and Racing Propulsion Team boss Russ O’Blenes said: This is the biggest, baddest crate engine we’ve ever built. The ZZ632 sits at the top of our unparalleled crate engine lineup as the king of performance. It delivers incredible power, and it does it on pump gas.”

Pricing hasn’t been revealed yet, but we do know that customer deliveries will begin in 2022.