How tough are Corvettes? When to engine and driveline parts start breaking?
Corvettes are admirably strong. So far, nobody seems to have made more power than a stock block can handle staying naturally aspirated. Only mistakes such as running lean seem to do the LS1 in. Forced Induction cars seem to be happy until around 550whp, beyond which things can get a bit sketchy. As far as the rest of the driveline, the clutch is the weak link from the factory, which is fine. Once that is strengthened, the driver’s side output shaft in the differential is notoriously weak. When you have your 3.90 or 4.10’s put in, have a stronger shaft installed for another $300 or so. Beyond that, using full slicks at the track can break tranny and diff casings, and some folks have even snapped torque tubes. But, that is with hard launches, lots of horsepower, and extremely sticky tires. Other than needing a stronger clutch, without heaping slicks and 6000RPM clutch dumps on your car, it should be fine even at obscene power levels. Heck – even some of the Lingenfelter turbo cars use no
