Making 1,000 Horsepower
A rock-solid bottom end is critical to handling this amount of power. Upgraded rods and aftermarket pistons are essential if you want to effectively achieve 1,000 horsepower without worrying about burning through a piston.
At this level, a good camshaft with increased lift is necessary to open the valves as far as possible to let the tremendous air flow needed to support 1,000hp. Tuning can play the biggest role in a 1,000hp engine that lasts versus an 800 horsepower engine that doesn’t. If everything is operating correctly, these motors will last and hold together at this power level.
People constantly point to tuning as the key and probably single biggest factor in reaching 1,000 horsepower safely and consistently. The injectors that the process is controlling will be 50 to 60 percent over stock, which is a tremendous amount of fuel. Dual CP3s are necessary to support that much flow.
To keep up with the necessary air flow, a high-flowing 70mm, 72mm or well-tuned 74mm single turbo can get you there. For trucks that are on the road or built for drag racing, twins are the best way to achieve this power level.
It is extremely important to keep your EGTs low cool at this power. Running a good water/methanol system with multiple nozzles or adding nitrous will help keep EGTs under control, but monitoring them should always be in the back of your mind.