1998 Chevrolet Corvette - Seven Cars: 9,565 Horsepower

Seventh Place
Jesse Gese
'98 Corvette
408ci Gen III small-block
1,200 rear wheel horsepower

Dyno Max Power Tour 1998 Chevrolet Corvette With 408 Gen 3 Small Block Engine

It seems as if there shouldn't be room for 1,200 rear wheel horsepower under the hood of a stock '98 Corvette. The reverse rotation F-2 ProCharger is responsible for 30 psi of boost.>

Jesse is another of the Minnesota gang who all but dominated the DynoMax competition. Major street cred has to go to this small-block since it not only sports the smallest displacement of all seven competitors, but it's also a production iron block and the only competitor using production cylinder heads. While street legality is required for competition, Jesse probably has them all beat when it comes to road miles. This is his daily driver and he's racked up over 40,000 miles on E85 fuel alone. Jesse's latest power combination was fresh for the competition and provided a little bit of excitement when the air-fuel ratio went lean, and the motor rattled, pushing a head gasket out, pressurizing the cooling system and blowing off a little steam. That was at 30 pounds of boost. Jesse says it's clearly time for an LSX block and 6-bolt cylinder heads just to keep it glued together. One thing that certainly helped his impressive rear wheel numbers was the production Tremec T56 six-speed, since Jesse was also the only contestant using a manual trans. Not only that, but all 1,200 horses fed through the 'Vette's stock IRS rear axle assembly. "I really thought the torque tube would have broken by now, but it's still together." Jesse gets our vote for the car most likely to fool us into a sleeper duel. And most likely to win!

Engine: 6.0L Gen III 402ci small-block
Block: Production GM 6.0L iron block, 4.030 x 4.00 bore and stroke
Crank: Callies Dragonslayer 4340 steel
Rods: Callies I-beam forged 4340 steel
Pistons: JE forged aluminum, 9.0:1 compression ratio
Cam: Custom-ground TPIS hydraulic roller with roughly 260 degrees of duration at 0.050 and over 0.650-inch lift with stock rockers and better pushrods
Heads: TPIS-ported L92 aluminum heads with Rev 2.16/1.70 valves. The exhaust valves are Inconel to stand up to the boost pressure.
Intake: Custom sheetmetal intake built by TPIS along with a TPIS electronic 90mm throttle body. TPIS also spec'd the 160- lb/hr injectors with 65 psi of base fuel pressure.
Supercharger: A reverse rotation ProCharger F-2 is squeezed into the Corvette's engine compartment. "I couldn't get one from ProCharger soon enough, so Dan Schoneck of Schoneck Composites loaned me his blower." The blower also benefits from an ATI sprag clutch damper, which helps the 30mm cogged belt survive on engine deceleration. Jesse says, "You can actually hear the blower spinning after I shut the engine off."
Nitrous: On top of the 30 psi of blower boost, Jesse also hit the 6.0L with a 200hp shot of Nitrous Express fast gas.
Fuel Pump: Magnafuel was Jesse's choice for fuel mover, but he thinks a larger pump will be necessary to make more power.
Electronics: No trick aftermarket stuff here, just a factory computer tuned with lots of help from Andy Wicks and EFI Live software. In addition, those are stock GM coil packs lighting off all those horses. Fuel: E85, 105 octane
Exhaust: Kooks built a set of 1 71/48 to 2.0-inch stepped headers that feed into a set of 3-inch exhaust pipes with a pair of DynoMax Bullet mufflers. "A 3-inch exhaust is all that would fit under the car," Jesse says.
Transmission: Believe or not, that's the stock Tremec T56 trans fed by a Ram Street Dual clutch assembly. According to Ram, a chassis dyno is the hardest load on the clutch of all applications because there is no tire slippage.
Rearend: Equally stock is the Corvette IRS with the OE 3.42 gears and only a few mods to the half-shafts.
Rear Tires: "I'm the only guy not running Mickey Thompson tires," Jesse says. His rear tires are a set of BFGoodrich drag radials.