Network
Late Model Engines (LME) has an excellent track record of being on the leading edge of LS and LT engine building technology. Continuing to build on their reputation, the LME team is bringing another industry first to their LT2 C8 customers. LME has sleeved the factory block and produced an aftermarket crankshaft that combines to make the LT2 390 cubic-inches instead of the factory 377 cubic-inches. No other company to date has offered this type of build to the public. And if you’re anything like us, more cubic-inches are great!
Late Model Engines' newest offering, the first 390 cubic-inch stroker LT2 that's capable of 1,500 horsepower!
This increase in size comes with its own unique obstacles. Firstly, the valley isn’t vented into the crankcase, which is common in previous LT and LS engines. Instead, the LT2 utilizes a secondary oil pump to evacuate the oil in the valley. According to LME, “The easy thing to do would be machining some holes for venting purposes. The reason we can’t do that is the top oil pump wouldn’t have any oil to pump, leaving the bottom pump to do all of the work.” Because of this, the solution they came up with is installing standoffs in the valley. This allows the crankcase to vent into the valley and valve train areas while still holding oil in the valley.
To solve the venting issue LME installed these standoffs to keep oil in the valley while still allowing venting into the crankcase.
As the old saying goes, necessity is the mother of invention. Unfortunately, solving one obstacle only brought up another. Properly venting the crankcase into the valley area caused the entire system to need venting. As a result, LME designed new billet valve covers with breathers. “The surface area of the standoffs in the valley matches the -10AN breathers in the valve covers,” LME explains. Aside from looking like jewelry with their polished mirror finish, LME says the valve covers allow for “clean ventilation and no aeration of the oil.”
LME's all-new billet valve covers for the LT2 are a thing of beauty. These valve covers feature multiple -10AN breather locations to allow for proper venting of their stroker LT2.
Throughout the design and build process of their LT2, the LME team worked closely with Late Model Racecraft (LMR), performing R&D on the platform to ensure all of the bugs had been worked out. As a result, LME is now offering its exclusive LME 1,500 horsepower LT2 in both short- and long-block packages.
Get in touch with the team at LME if you’re looking to reliably increase the power and performance of your C8! The LT2 world of engine building is getting bigger with LME!
