“Bigger, bolder, badder.” That’s what you’re met with when looking at the ZZ632/1000 Big Block engine on Chevrolet’s website and it’s a perfect way to sum up the marque’s all-new monster crate engine.
The ZZ632 crate engine was recently debuted as the American manufacturer’s next and most powerful naturally aspirated big block engine with astonishing outputs 745 kW and 1323 N.m from the factory. This behemoth of an engine is a V8 motor that has 632 (10,3-litres) cubic inches of displacement. It really does earn its “Big Block” title.
It’s a tough and brawny engine – it has to be considering the unearthly power figures; the tall deck bowtie block is cast iron with a fully forged roller assembly. Its crankshaft and connecting rods are forged steel, the camshaft is comprised of a billet steel hydraulic roller that’s coupled with high-flow spread port cylinder heads and the the pistons are forged aluminium. The point is that everything in this motor is designed for maximum power in an extreme application. Chevrolet says that it is intended for race use, but it goes without saying that a handful of petrolheads at Hoonigan will try to throw something like this into a 3rd generation 1988 Chevrolet Camaro for fun, and that’s exactly what they have done…
Their beautiful rendition of this Frankenstein-Esque Camaro began its life three weeks before its debut at America’s largest automotive show, SEMA 2021. The entire build centred around the ZZ632 motor as a result of Chevrolet asking the team to see what they could do with the motor. In the short span of three weeks, the team took a stripped-out Camaro chassis and gave it a serious pacemaker and a few other goodies. The geniuses behind the amazing work of art, Suppy and Alex, dive into what makes this engine what it is and how they managed to get the car up and running. Watch the full breakdown below on the Hoonigan youtube channel.
Words; Ryan de Villiers
