C5 Z06 with Quadruple Digit HP

Introduction

In 2001 Chevy decided to bring back the Z06 Vette. Their efforts produced a leaner meaner Vette pushing 405 hp. Then high school teen Joey Butel was in love.

A little over a decade later, in June of 2013, he picked up a Speedway White 2001 Corvette Z06 hardtop. It was a one-owner car that was mostly stock “except for a set of hideous wheels and a CB antenna,” according to Butel. Little by little, he made modifications. One modification at a time until he was satisfied, his final result? A 1,000-plus-horsepower C5!

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Wheels

Up in the front Butel installed 18x9.5 Weld S71s with 275/35R18 Nitto NT01 tires. In the rear, he didn’t want to fit 18x12s under the stock fenders. Even after tubbing out the rear, he still couldn’t technically run 18x12 Weld S71s like he wanted. Until running into Mitch Farmer who works at Weld and was able to pull some strings and get custom wheels made that would give Butel the offset he needed. Mickey Thompson ET Street S/S tires measuring 305/40R18 were then fitted onto his custom creations giving plenty of grip.

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The Heart of the Beast

Butel pulled the stock LS6 in favor of an LQ9 Gen-IV iron block which was built by Schwanke Engines of Springfield, Minnesota. They bored the stock block to bring the displacement up to 377 cubic inches throwing in some Wiseco pistons and Molnar connecting rods for future boost applications. Butel took it from there, bolting on a set of aluminum Air Flow Research 230cc heads that really let the engine breathe when combined with a Trick Performance Blower Stage 2 camshaft. Between the heads went an LS2 intake manifold ported by Peak Performance and a TPIS 90mm throttle body. Finally, a Holley Dominator electric fuel pump feeds the motor through Bosch 127cc injectors.

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We Mentioned Boost

Butel mounted a Vortech YSi centrifugal supercharger with a 10 percent overdrive ATI crank pulley.  The Vortech unit spins up a whopping 21 psi of boost. Kooks headers with a 3-inch stainless system and Borla Stinger mufflers were given the task of pumping out all of the air being crammed down the engine's throat. One potential issue when adding so much boost is heat. So, to knock down inlet temperatures, a custom ECS air-to-air intercooler was installed with a Ron Davis four-row aluminum radiator to control overall engine temps.  After some fine-tuning by Ryan Mitchell at KC Maxx Performance in Kansas City, Kansas, she was putting down 1,029 hp at 7,000 rpm and 949 lb-ft of torque at 6,000 rpm at the rear wheels.

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Nice Azz

With so much torque, the stock transmission was never an option.  To prevent the embarrassment of a first pass implosion Butel went with a complete rear subframe out of a C6 Z06 built by RPM Transmissions. They threw in their Level 6 TREMEC TR-6060 six-speed transaxle paired with a 3.42 and Wavetrac limited-slip differential. A McLeod RXT twin-disc clutch within a Quick Time bell housing connects the LS to the TR-6060 via a custom torque tube from Precision Shaft Technologies.

Suspension-wise, there's RideTech Level 2 coilovers lowering the car down 2 inches in the front. Butel also needed some stopping power to counter all that power so he paired Baer Eradispeed two-piece slotted rotors with Wilwood four-piston calipers

Butel had to get creative in the rear, with the addition of the C6 subframe, which lengthened the wheelbase. His solution came in the form of custom lower control arms built by his buddy Victor Almazon. Like the front, the rear also saw a set of Baer Eradispeed rotors but with the stock calipers instead.

The rest of the Corvette was fairly stock other than the front splitter and rear diffuser, but Butel wanted it to stand out next to other similar C5s.  He needed something different, he opted for a custom black vinyl decal made for the hood, which was inspired C6.R Corvette race cars.

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Closing

Inside the Vette, subtlety was the name of the game. Parting with the aged stock head unit, Butel had Double D Mods install an updated Kenwood touchscreen head unit. Just below that replacing the cupholders, he had a custom gauge pod mount made to house air/fuel and fuel pressure gauges. Recaro sport seats and a B&M shifter complete the interior giving it a quality feel.

Butel waited over a decade to purchase his C5, then spent another four years modding and tuning. Now he can start using his C5 Z06 with the goal of running 9s in the quarter and competing in some half-mile roll-racing events.

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