The 427 Corvette Is Back, Thanks to Lingenfelter
The Corvette has been “America’s sports car” for decades but like anything, some versions are more coveted than others. Preferences are part of nature but certain expectations come with a title like America’s Sports Car; mainly, that the car will indeed be sporty. Lingenfelter has long been one to help ensure that, and its latest set of upgrades for the C8 has finally made the midengine Corvette acceptable in my eyes.
Every good Corvette needs an engine displacing 427 cubic inches. The 427 has been an off-and-on again option since 1966, when the first 427 big-blocks were dropped between the fiberglass fenders on the assembly line in St. Louis, Missouri. The on-again, off-again relationship with the sacred seven-liter was worth celebrating multiple times, but the direction in which Chevrolet has indicated it is headed with the eighth-generation Vette means that any hopes of listening to a 427 lope through the quad exhaust of a C8 is a pipe dream.
The team at Lingenfelter decided that couldn’t be and created the “Eliminator Spec” 427, which is drop-in ready for the C8. The engine is based on the LT2 that can already be found in the C8, and displacement is bumped from 376 cubic inches to the magic number by re-sleeving the block, swapping the crank, and tapping in a set of 4.125-inch Mahle pistons. Thanks to some cylinder head porting and a custom camshaft from COMP Cams, the naturally aspirated package makes a smooth 700 horsepower and 600 pound-feet of torque while still playing nice with the stock, eight-speed DCT.
The package requires you to stroke a check for just under $30,000, but the price does include installation, so you aren’t left with a cheap engine hoist and your friend’s set of box wrenches. Is it the cheapest way to make 700 hp in a C8? Probably not. Lingenfelter’s reimagined LT2 also puts out just 30 more horsepower than the LT6 in the Z06, and you don’t get the extensive chassis and brake upgrades of that flat-plane monster. Sometimes numbers matter, though, and for some Corvette faithful those numbers are 427.
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this engine should have gone into a 2023 70th Anniversary packaged Stingray for about 100k as a part of the package along with suspension lowering a mild suspension upgrade with larger role bars stiffer coil overs and cross member brace. 7.0 427 70th Anniversary Edition c8 period. do the floor matts better and wala
Love the 427 Corvette
Sounds like the makings of a C8 Grand Sport to me !!!
If someone could only figure out how to convert it to a manual transmission, they’d really have something special.
Agreed, nothing like ripping thru the gears.
Right On, Frank!
Yep – the factory is selling all the automatics they can at premium prices but old schoolers like me year for the return of the stick…
I haven’t ever owned a Corvette. But I might buy a manual C8. That said, nobody ever lost money by not making me their target market. (Current daily driver, 2018 Ford Focus ST. Current “fun” car, 1967 Lotus Super Seven.)
Nice! Very Nice!
If it only came with a manual box. Call me old fashioned but I so enjoy that interaction and when the amount of torque is that great how many overdrive ratios do you really need?
Should be a fun engine to enjoy in the C8.
I have a ’23 C8 Z51. The DCT is fantastic. Matter of fact, I find the whole darn car, inside and out, to be about as “special” as I can handle. For me, a manual with more than five speeds is too much of a chore and when you have as much power as the base C8 has, you would be clutching through the gears way too fast to enjoy it. If you want a manual, get a six cylinder e-type with a four speed for local enjoyment.
It’s not worth the money to much money and to much hipe a new will come and that is not gonna be worth 182000 or 300000 it’s all hipe that’s all people wanna make money outofit that’s all the next that make there gonna try to sell it for a million or more who ever buy this cars they one be like a Ferrari this kind of car will never be in the quality of a Ferrari or in the league of a Ferrari so Ferrari is 10 times higher then a c8
What ??? – this makes no sense.
You sure said a mouthful, partner.
Probably drivers Yugo
Hype
It’s a shame there isn’t a current plan to make a Corvette that’s the body size & appearance of the 63 – 67 vettes. The current Vette is certainly a super-car but doesn’t have that sport car charm & size of the older vettes!
Hell yes!
66/67 retro vette would be killer
…and it would look like a Corvette, and not some sort of transformer.
I have to agree with you and Mr. Mytfast. Just the thoughts of a retro C2 makes me weak in the knees. In my mind it was the absolute best look.
Mr. MYTFAST,
It’s been done. Going from memory here, so forgive me for error(s). A company called Karl’s Custom Vettes once sold a C5 rebodied to look like a C2. Because they were lower and wider, they looked even better than a C2 (If you can imagine that). I saw my first one at a Woodward Ave. Dream Cruise many years ago, and the second (and final) one at the Concours d’Elegance at the Inn at St. John’s.
Just looked it up. It’s Karl’s Kustom Vettes (with a K). They’re still in business, converting C5, C6, and C7 Corvettes to look like C2s for about $90,000 and your car.
#30k for 30 HP? What am I missing?
No, It’s a 210 HP upgrade. The stock engine (LT2) is 490 Hp. Making that engine into a 427 it puts out 700 HP
Can this new 427 be installed in a chevy nova?
I would love to install this new 427 motor in my 76 Nova!
Shifting thru gears is fun. YOU CONTROL THE VETTE AND YOU CAN FEEL THE VETTE TALKING TO YOU BACK. YOU CANNOT FEEL THAT WITH AN AUTO.
The engine belongs under the hood.
Me, I prefer a 327 CI engine with about 340 hp connected to 4 speed trans, a removeable hard top with only a little wind noise (but doesn’t let in too much rain), a gas cap that doesn’t leak, a jack that can’t be trusted, an AM radio that can’t be heard anyway, steering that requires all of your power, barely enough braking, and plenty of unwanted heat in the cockpit…….. Wait a minute, maybe I should take a look at one these C8s.