The venerable 5.3L LS truck engine proves itself yet again in this video we found on YouTube, featuring a cool early Nova wagon at work on the dyno. The Nova is powered by a stock aluminum 5.3L L33, that’s been updated with a mild LS6 cam and yellow valve springs to match. But that’s not even close to being the most interesting thing about this Nova wagon’s power plant.

We are far more intrigued by the two 60mm turbos stuffing air directly into the intake manifold, and the cool blow-off-valves that you can watch seal up as the turbos start making boost. The best numbers the Nova manages after the first few runs of the dyno session are “just” 617.8 horsepower, and 563.7 pound feet of torque at the rear wheels, with just a little over 12 PSI.

After a bit of tweaking, and upping the boost to 14 PSI, they come back and make 690 horsepower and 595 pound feet of torque. But they know there’s even more still left in it, and they go back for more. They up the boost a bit more, and their reward is an earth-shaking 800 horsepower and 685 pound feet of torque.

It pretty certain that the little 5.3 can’t live forever at that kind of power level, but this is just another great example of just how hearty even the little LS engines are in stock form.