We Build It, Small-Block Chevy

The first and last time I helped assemble an engine--an Olds 455 big-block destined for duty in a jet boat circa 1980--it blew up on its maiden voyage. The owner forgot to order oversized pistons to fit the bored-out block, but I also neglected to notice their "relaxed fit." Since then, I've farmed out my engine rebuilds. So my gut tightened when the assignment came down from HQ to build an even more ferocious engine: the 500-horsepower LS7 small-block set to make history in the forthcoming Corvette Z06. I shuddered to think of the aluminum and titanium shrapnel my haste, ineptitude, or carelessness might detonate with this monster-motor.

But when team Motor Trend (Todd Lassa and John Matthius assisting) arrived at GM's Performance Build Center in the northwestern Detroit suburb of Wixom, we were relieved to learn we'd essentially be attending LS7 boot camp to reassemble a training engine that had already been bolted together and disassembled many times. We were assured it would never be foisted on an unsuspecting public.

The LS7 and Cadillac's v-series supercharged Northstar V-8 are hand-assembled in the 100,000-square-foot PBC, with one technician assembling an entire engine in roughly four hours. It's expedient to build low-volume products in this fashion, but there's also a marketing hook. Other ultrahigh-performance engines from AMG, Ford's SVT, and others are built this way. GM even chose the location of the faculty in part to someday allow owners to fly into the Wixom airport, see their engine being built, and take a test drive at the nearby Milford Proving Ground.

The folks crafting these engines are all UAW-designated, journeyman experimental engine builders. Most have 20-plus years experience and many enjoy turning wrenches on the weekend, like our boot camp sergeants, Eric Gardner and Carl Newton. Gardner directs his off-hours mechanical-engineering talents to building his Tracker up into a Wrangler-slaying extreme off-roader; Newton is a NASCAR and NHRA fan who has crewed for drag-racing teams.

Backstopping this talented workforce is the same rigorous quality gate system GM uses on its mass-production lines. As we'd soon demonstrate, this assembly procedure is largely idiot-proof.