Specialty Vehicle Engineering drops a Corvette engine, a 6-speed manual transmission, and 1000 horsepower into a rear-wheel drive Silverado to make the performance truck we never knew we needed.
Modern Muscle
Ed and his team have taken their extensive history of modifying production vehicles to GM’s newest full-size pickup. Starting life as a $39,495 single-cab work truck, the team at Specialty Vehicle Engineering replace the 4-cylinder TurboMax engine and 8-speed automatic with a 6.2-liter aluminum block V8 and 6-speed manual transmission.
The internals of the V8 are upgraded to handle the 1000 horsepower created by the supercharger on top. Forged 1538MV twisted steel crankshaft, forged steel rods, and forged aluminum pistons with upgraded cylinder heads help ensure durability. Each order can be tuned for 91 or 93 octane fuel.
Upgraded Suspension
This is not just a power upgrade as the YENKO/SC® Supercharged Silverado also gets a stainless steel cat-back exhaust, YENKO badged 6-piston Brembo front brake calipers with 16.1-inch rotors, 2-inch lower progressive rate front springs, and a 5-inch rear lowering package complete with Fox performance shocks. Lightweight forged aluminum wheels wrapped in Nitto performance tires help put the power down, while a larger diameter heavy-duty rear sway bar assembly and heavy-duty traction bars round out the suspension upgrades.
Further YENKO branding, both inside and out, completes the package.
Specialty Vehicle Engineering stands behind its products with a 3-year, 36,000-mile engine and supercharger assembly limited warranty and a 3-year, 36,000-mile non-powertrain component limited warranty.
Specialty Vehicle Engineering offers upgrades for Silverado, Yukon, Tahoe, Suburban, Escalade, and even 2500 and 3500 HD pickups from Chevrolet and GMC. For more information on the performance truck, and to order, you can contact Specialty Vehicle Engineering.
The Significance of Yenko
The Yenko branding on this Silverado is not random, but also recalls the history of modified Chevrolet products. Don Yenko, owner of Yenko Chevrolet in Pennsylvania, started modifying Corvairs in 1966 and Camaros in 1967. He began selling his creations, which he also took racing through sanctioned SCCA events, and Yenko-branded and modified cars have since become some of the most coveted classic Chevrolets in the modern era.
Who Is Specialty Vehicle Engineering?
Founder and enthusiast Ed Hamburger got his start with a performance parts company in 1970, mostly working with drag racing Chrysler products. Ed became one of the first Chrysler Direct Connection Performance Parts Distributors in the country. Hamburger’s Oil Pans, founded in 1975, became a dominant player in NASCAR Cup Racing and NHRA Drag Racing, but the Oil Pan Company was sold in 1995 and the Chrysler performance parts business was sold in 1988.
The company now known as Specialty Vehicle Engineering was founded by Ed in 1987 as SLP, or Street Legal Performance, a name well known to fans of the Chevrolet Camaro and Pontiac Firebird. SLP was the very first company in the performance parts industry to develop and manufacture totally integrated and emission legal performance packages for vehicles in all 50 states.
From his extensive racing background and strong ties with General Motors, SLP became part of the GM regular production option on the brand’s two pony cars, producing the fourth-generation Camaro SS and Firebird Firehawk in its 140,000 square foot Montreal facility until the end of that vehicle production line in 2002.
Over the next couple of decades, Ed and his team would build modifications for just about any General Motors vehicle, from the Pontiac G8 to the line of full-size pickup trucks and SUVs. SLP changed its name officially in 2014 as the aftermarket manufacturer began branching out into Dodge and Jeep products.
