Go Supercharged with Engine Power 419 CID Supercharged GM LS3 Parts Combos

We’ve all been there. We set out to build an engine on a reasonable budget, but we get carried away and that budget goes straight out the window. That’s what happed to PowerNation TV’s Engine Power team when a budget LS3 engine project turned into an all-aluminum, 419 cubic inch stroker motor topped with a Whipple Gen-5 three-liter supercharger. It was worth the extra money as the 419 made 838 horsepower and 763 lb.-ft. torque with 12 pounds of boost. That’s two horsepower per cubic inch on 93 pump gas!

You can see the build (and learn about balancing rotating assemblies) on PowerNation TV’s YouTube channel and many of the parts used in our Engine Power 419 CID Supercharged GM LS3 Parts Combos.

Short Block
The foundation for the build is a factory LS3 aluminum block that was bored to 4.085 inches, align-honed, and notched for the 4-inch stroke Summit Racing™ Pro LS Crankshaft. The crank is forged from 4340 steel and has features like optimized counterweight placement to reduce twisting at high RPM and make balancing easier, lightening holes in the rod journals, and gun-drilled main journals for quicker engine acceleration.

The rest of the rotating assembly consists of custom DSS forged pistons with Total Seal AP rings and Eagle Specialties H-beam 4340 steel connecting rods. The AP ring set has stainless steel top rings that are profiled to very tight tolerances so they conform better to the cylinder walls and provide an excellent seal. That’s critical with boosted engines like this one. The Eagle rods are stronger and lighter than stock rods, and were fitted with the optional ARP L19 bolts with a tensile strength of 260,000 PSI.

Behind the Summit Racing™ Cast Aluminum Timing Cover is a COMP Cams double roller timing set. It has billet steel gears and a nine-way adjustable crank sprocket that can be set in two-degree increments.

Engine Power also added an Improved Racing oil galley barbell plug at the back of the engine. That may not sound like a big deal, but the Improved Racing plug is CNC-machined billet aluminum with smooth fillets and a bull nose tip to improve oil flow, has a second O-ring that forces 100% of the oil to flow through the filter, and has a threaded hole that accepts a 4mm x 0.7 threaded screw for easy removal.

Rounding out the combo are King XP-Series main and rod bearings, Dura-Bond cam bearings, and an ARP main stud kit.

Valvetrain
The LS3’s valvetrain starts with a COMP Cams LSR Series hydraulic roller camshaft. The cam is rated at 239°/255° duration @.050-inch lift and .624"/.624" lift with 114° of lobe separation. The cam is secured with a COMP Cams thrust plate.

A set of COMP’s Evolution Series hydraulic roller lifters transfer camshaft motion to the valvetrain. The lifters have an internal cartridge that houses the plunger and the hydraulic action of the lifter. This allows more precise lifter bleed-down rates because the moving parts are not affected by lifter body distortion. That means better performance at high RPM and quieter startup.

Engine Power used a set of factory LS3 aluminum heads for their build. Our combo includes a pair of Chevrolet Performance LS3 cylinder heads that spec out virtually the same as the factory heads—260cc intake runners, 68.4cc combustion chambers with 2.165-/1.590-inch stainless steel valves, and 1.290-inch valve springs rated for .570 inches of valve lift. The cylinder heads were sealed to the block with Trick Flow® by Cometic MLS head gaskets and ARP High Performance Series head bolts.

Since the new COMP camshaft has higher valve lift figures than the OE springs can handle, Engine Power replaced them with COMP Cams conical valve springs with an open pressure rate of 438 lbs./in. and 140 lbs./in. of seat pressure to handle higher lift cams.

The rocker arms are COMP’s Max-Lift BSR shaft rockers. The stock-style 1.7 rockers ride on a common shaft that bolts to the factory rocker arm stands. The design increases valvetrain stiffness for more accurate valvetrain timing. The rocker arms are secured with ARP Pro Series rocker studs.

The combo also includes stock-length (7.400 inch) COMP Cams Hi-Tech chromoly pushrods and an ICT Billet lifter valley cover milled from a solid block of aluminum to improve engine block rigidity.

Completer Parts
The Whipple supercharger did not come with fuel injectors, so Engine Power popped in a set of Holley Terminator X injectors. The high-impedance injectors are rated at 120 lbs./hr. and are dynamic flow-matched within 1% for precise, consistent fuel delivery. We don’t include it in this combo, but Engine Power used a Holley Terminator X engine management system to run the 419 on the dyno.

The ignition system consists of an MSD Street Fire coil pack kit, MSD Super Conductor ignition wires, and NGK Iridium X spark plugs. The Street Fire coils are direct replacements for OEMs and offer better performance thanks to more efficient windings and better materials. The Super Conductor wires have a helically wound core with a super-low 40-50 ohms of resistance per foot plus RFI suppression equal to a 1,500-ohm wire. That means more spark for the plugs with excellent protection for sensitive electronics.

The oiling system is based on a Melling high volume/high pressure oil pump and a Summit Racing™ Pro LS Cast Aluminum Oil Pan. The rear-sump pan is designed for LS swaps in popular GM muscle cars and classic trucks and can handle cranks up to a 4.125-inch stroke. It comes with an oil pump pickup, baffle, gasket, and hardware. Engine Power upgraded the fasteners to ARP stainless steel bolts.

Big horsepower and boost create a lot of crankcase pressure—enough to force oil through the PCV valve and into the air intake tract. That oil mist contaminates the incoming air, leading to fouled spark plugs, reduced combustion efficiency, and even detonation. Engine Power installed a Trick Flow® PCV Air/Oil Separator to keep that oil mist from entering the intake.

Engine Power also installed valve covers that hide the ignition coils. Our combo includes a set of Billet Specialties modular valve covers that hide the coils, wiring harness, and oil filler cap. Machined from billet aluminum, the covers have a top piece that bolts to the base with polished ARP fasteners and has holes for the ignition wires.

An ICT Billet coolant crossover kit, a Dorman stock replacement rear main seal cover, and ARP water pump bolts are also included in the combo.

SEE THE ENGINE POWER SUPERCHARGED 419 CID LS3 PARTS LIST