Katech has been an automotive industry leader for more than 40 years. The company builds premier performance engines and vehicles for the aftermarket, as well as corporate markets. They became known for developing engines for General Motors’ Corvette Racing team that was a dominant force in both the U.S. and global GT racing circuits for decades. Known for pushing the limits and extracting every ounce of power from an engine, we were not that surprised when they decided to tackle the LT engine series from GM.
The LT engine has some similarities and differences when compared to the LS platform in many areas. While both engines still utilize two-valves per cylinder and a single cam, the biggest change and most challenging for tuners is the direct-injection system. Tuners and manufacturers alike have been trying to figure out the best method of adding more fuel to the cylinders in search of high-horsepower figures. Katech was one of the first companies on the scene with a solution to the fueling dilemma with larger injectors and a secondary direct-injection fuel pump.
A few years ago, the team was able to make 700 horsepower with a naturally-aspirated 427 cubic-inch LT. However, they were not done and started digging into the LT platform with the purpose of making more power.
One of the most significant changes that Katech made was to the cylinder heads. The company scrapped the factory castings and developed the LTK heads for Gen-V engines, which exceeds the limitations of the factory production castings. These heads are designed to get the maximum performance out of the engine in high-horsepower applications. Along with the new cylinder heads, Katech also added a custom camshaft, pistons, Holley Hi-Ram intake, Katech high-flow oil pump, and E85 fuel. These modifications allowed the team to reclaim the Gen-V LT engine dyno record.
The 427 naturally-aspirated engine cranked out an impressive 806.1 horsepower at 7,600 rpm and 639 lb-ft of torque at 6,000 rpm, surpassing their previous record by some margin.
If you would like more information on this combination or the new LTK heads, be sure and check out Katechengines.com.