The 427 Corvette Is Back, Thanks to Lingenfelter

The Corvette has been “America’s sports car” for decades but like anything, some versions are more coveted than others. Preferences are part of nature but certain expectations come with a title like America’s Sports Car; mainly, that the car will indeed be sporty. Lingenfelter has long been one to help ensure that, and its latest set of upgrades for the C8 has finally made the midengine Corvette acceptable in my eyes.

Every good Corvette needs an engine displacing 427 cubic inches. The 427 has been an off-and-on again option since 1966, when the first 427 big-blocks were dropped between the fiberglass fenders on the assembly line in St. Louis, Missouri. The on-again, off-again relationship with the sacred seven-liter was worth celebrating multiple times, but the direction in which Chevrolet has indicated it is headed with the eighth-generation Vette means that any hopes of listening to a 427 lope through the quad exhaust of a C8 is a pipe dream.

The team at Lingenfelter decided that couldn’t be and created the “Eliminator Spec” 427, which is drop-in ready for the C8. The engine is based on the LT2 that can already be found in the C8, and displacement is bumped from 376 cubic inches to the magic number by re-sleeving the block, swapping the crank, and tapping in a set of 4.125-inch Mahle pistons. Thanks to some cylinder head porting and a custom camshaft from COMP Cams, the naturally aspirated package makes a smooth 700 horsepower and 600 pound-feet of torque while still playing nice with the stock, eight-speed DCT.

The package requires you to stroke a check for just under $30,000, but the price does include installation, so you aren’t left with a cheap engine hoist and your friend’s set of box wrenches. Is it the cheapest way to make 700 hp in a C8? Probably not. Lingenfelter’s reimagined LT2 also puts out just 30 more horsepower than the LT6 in the Z06, and you don’t get the extensive chassis and brake upgrades of that flat-plane monster. Sometimes numbers matter, though, and for some Corvette faithful those numbers are 427.

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