2000 Chevrolet Corvette C5 - Project C5x Hits The Dyno

Over the last several months, we have been talking about our new Project C5X that is being sponsored by Mid America Motorworks. When we last left off, we used Project C5X to show you what to look for when buying a C5. Now it's time to start making some changes to the car and transform this totally stock C5 into a ground-pounding C5, and, hopefully, produce some solid numbers with some basic power adders, and later, plug in some brand-new technology that is affordable.

All of our work will be done at Next Level Performance. Their objective is to give the customer the best performance value, using the latest technology available for high-performance cars, trucks, and SUvs. They perform basic performance upgrades, including intakes and exhaust, appearance upgrades, and also offer a full line of head/cam packages, superchargers, twin turbo systems, bigger brake packages, different wheel/tire combos, custom tuning, and suspension packages.

Next Level Performance has a partnership with Horsepower Sales in Pompano Beach, Florida. Centrally located in the southeast Florida tri-county area, Horsepower Sales is also a full-service performance shop currently performing installations of head/cam packages, engine swaps,superchargers, headers, exhaust, suspension,wheel and tire packages, and so on. Many drag racers utilize Horsepower Sales and know them as the title sponsor of the Corvette Challenge at Moroso Motorsports Park.

Due to this new alliance, all these performance upgrades are available with Next Level Performance tuning and expertise, as well as Next Level Performance's extensive LSx engine-based experience over the past seven years with different naturally aspirated and forced induction packages. As you can see, Next Level Performance is just the place we need to upgrade Project C5X.

We ran two baseline runs for Project C5X. The first run netted a maximum power level of 294.8 hp with maximum torque of 300.9. We let the car cool down a little and then ran another pull. The second run netted a max power level of 295.0 hp with a maximum torque rating of 306.3. The car in its original configuration performed solid for its age and mileage. Now we will start adding some power adders, with a new intake and a high-flow exhaust on the short list, which will be covered the next time.

Stay tuned for more action with Project C5X in the coming months. It is going to get wild rather quickly!