In case you missed the announcement a few weeks back, Steve Morris Engines is building a 1,000 plus horsepower, turbocharged LS3 to give away to one lucky winner in what is being called the LSFree Sweepstakes. In an effort to raise awareness of the growing parts house role Steve Morris is providing builders, this engine is designed to dispel some of the controversy and forum-bred myths about building a parts package that really works.
Morris is documenting every step of the process in a series of videos that explain the choices he has made and the operations conducted on this engine to make sure it reaches the 1,000 hp goal. In the latest update we get our first glimpse of some shiny go-fast parts to force-feed this powerplant.
Starting at the cylinder head, exhaust gases are routed away from the engine thanks to Hooker Headers manifolds flipped forwards and culminating in a fabricated single-merge before entering the turbine section of the turbo. Morris explains the justification behind a cast manifold over a traditional tubular header saying, “I use this on my own personal Trail Blazer SS, makes over 1,200 horsepower — you don’t have problems with crackage and all the other things you will have with a stainless fabricated header.”
Diverting our attention briefly from the forced induction system, Morris highlights the Innovators West balancer. This beautiful, billet aluminum, Sfi rated, and fully rebuildable balancer is designed to stand up to the high frequencies and demands of an engine like this.
Getting back to the induction, the primary player is the Bullseye Power street 80 mm billet turbocharger. This American-made package features a version three compressor housing and a T6 turbine section. To manage all that pressure Morris turned to TurboSmart for dual ProGate50 Lite wastegates, and the Race Port blow-off valve. “What we want to do is be able to control our boost down in some of the lower levels, which is why I wanted put two gates on it versus the single gate,” explained Morris.
In the next phase of build Morris will address the fueling system with injectors from Fuel Injector Clinic, fuel rails from Fast, ignition module and more. Stay tuned as they wrap things up, and sign up to be eligible to win here!