It’s alive! It’s aliiive! And it can be driven! Not that there was any doubt in the passion project that put an 8.1-liter big block into a C8 Corvette. If anyone was gonna make the ballsy pairing work, it would be Larry Hofer, the guy who literally wrote the book about the engine.
We came across Hofer and his ongoing Chevy creation this summer, even though it’s been a two-year-plus effort so far. As with our previous post, this recent update comes courtesy of Greg Quirin, who enjoys a first-ever ride along in the first-ever drive of the big block ‘Vette.
At the 2:30 mark, Hofer backs the 525-horsepower V8 C8 out of the garage, to which Quirin says, almost disappointedly, “It’s relatively quiet. I thought she’d be louder.” Patience, sir. Patience. Hofer eventually parks the vehicle to the side and, of course, presses the gas pedal a little harder, engine bay exposed. Uh, so much for being relatively quiet.
Hofer says the vehicle hasn’t been tuned yet and that the engine note will get “a lot better, but this is pretty good so far.” Facts. And that’s just from audio recorded via a smartphone while standing outside the vehicle.
The real test, however, is putting the vehicle in drive. With Hofer behind the wheel, the five-minute trip around the neighborhood was, er, a little dull, but that’s a good thing. The short trip wasn’t without lessons, either.
Although the brakes and fluid temperatures were just fine, the vehicle’s torque management system proved to be a bane causing negative engine timing, Hofer says at 7:00. He explains that the system is programmed for 17% but that the big block is producing 42%. Oopsy. So, although it feels like an engine misfire, according to Hofer, it’s really the engine trying to back up the throttle and make adjustments to lower the rpm.
“This has been less than eventful,” said Hofer. “But it did make it around the block, so we can call that a success.”
There’s still work to do, but the finish line is finally visible for this one-of-a-kind build. With some tweaks to the tuning and torque programming, the final version of this V8 Corvette can only be on the right side of glorious.