Corvette Conundrums

Initially Kenne Bell bolted on its new 2.6-liter twin-screw supercharger. Most guys would have been content with a 750 hp Vette, but not Gooss. Within 60 days of having the car back in his possession, Jim Bell of Kenne Bell agreed to upgrade the 2.6 with the new prototype 2.8L supercharger. (As we said at the outset, Gooss doesn't seem to know when to quit.)


During this development phase, Kenne Bell discovered that at anything higher than 700 horses, it worked out better to use a speed-density system instead of a mass-air meter. This switch also picked up a few horses. At 18 psi, the engine exceeded 875 lb.-ft. of rear-wheel torque at only 4000 rpm.

Say When
At that point, Gooss actually did know when to quit, because he shut the run down at his request. "Although, we would have easily gone over 950 pounds and 900 horses on my little 403ci LS2 stroker, I had nothing more to prove to anyone. We had accomplished one of our very first goals: the highest horsepower Kenne Bell C5 in the world."


Instrumental in this achievement was the very first set of 1 7/8-inch C5 long-tube headers ever produced by Long Island-based exhaust fabricator Kooks Custom Headers. Routed into high-flow cats and a 2.5-inch Bassani exhaust system, they flow enough air to keep pace with ravenous LS2 without introducing an overabundance of noise or compromising emissions legality.


How does it drive? If you accelerate lightly through the gears you can hear the faint screech of the blower in the background, just enough for your passenger to know that this isn't some ordinary C5. But if you stab the throttle, the car turns violent, squatting the rear end and lunging forward with the feeling of a 500 shot of nitrous. It pins you so hard that it takes your breath away. You can almost forget to shift gears because of rolling thunder running through body. But as soon as you let off the throttle the car goes instantly quiet, and you find yourself taking a huge gasp of air, enough to utter an expletive deleted.