My car has about a 100k on it. Its been taken care from day 1. Gets driven hard from time to time but usually I drive it "normal" I was wondering if anyone knows how much power you'd lose over time or are these LT-1s built so well that you don't lose much or if anything.

 

I see people putting down good numbers on 150k+ cars all the time on here, so I'm assuming its very little loss. Of course if you drive it hard all the time, you willl probably start to experience ring wear and what not, and you'll lose compression slightly. But I think the average driver keeps it at a normal level.

 

I dont know about you but normal for me in an LT-1 isn't the same as normal for someone in a honda It's more like, well, its jsut harder than "normal" ha, but yeah there is a little bit of power loss, but i dont think its anything major, untill a head gasket or somehting goes, but otherwise the LT-1 is a pretty efficient engine as far as overall durability I.M.O. I wouldn't worry aobut it unlesss you are having real power loss problems.

-Mark

 

check for white smoke or a chuffing sound coming from the oil fill stem/cap area.. blowby=bad this would mean your rings are worn and aren't holding compression as well as it should be.

 

Well I tried the real test and I smoked a c5 vette last night from a 55mph roll. SO I guess the old Z still has what it was made to do!!1 This was all motor of course. Not a big defeat but a true test that the motor still runs as hard as it used.

 

It's an interesting question; how much power if any does an engine lose over time if the basic maintenance has been kept up? I don't know as well as most guys what the effects of wear will add up to in an actual hp number, but things do wear. Materials wear inevitably; for example, glass becomes weaker over time because water, among other things, is actually absorbed by glass. I suppose almost everything in an engine is metal but as a few little examples that could add up to decrease power might be: crud might build up in the fuel system and the injectors, crud builds up on the surfaces where the valves close (the valve train is designed so that the valve rotates a little bit in each cycle to reduce this effect, but I don't expect it's 100% efficient), if the timing chain isn't replaced it stretches a little which might effect spark timing a little, and with the piston rings, aside from blow by, I believe that the several rings are designed so that they slide along a little film of oil against the cylinder wall in a certain way, and so after they've worn a little bit there is probably slightly more friction in each stroke of the engine.
So little inevitable things like this must add up to some noticeable power decrease after time.