There’s something especially satisfying about a 5.7L LS punching above its weight. Let the other guy explain how much displacement he’s packing. You’ve got a tachometer to exercise.

The Brian Tooley Racing 5.7L Red Hot 580HP Power Package gives the smaller LS a serious naturally aspirated attitude adjustment, with a combination built to keep pulling upstairs. BTR reports 580.9 horsepower at 7,425 rpm and more than 450 lb-ft of torque. That’s enough to make “it’s just a 5.7” sound suspiciously like a setup.

Red Hot, Right Where the Tach Gets Interesting

The recipe pairs BTR CV1 canted-valve cathedral-port cylinder heads, an LS1 Stage 2 V2 camshaft, and a TR1 Trinity intake manifold. Red Hot puts the emphasis on upper-rpm horsepower, giving the 5.7L the breathing capacity to stretch its legs well beyond 7,000 rpm.

Think lightweight muscle car, an ambitious restomod, or a street/strip project whose owner considers the on-ramp a highlight of the commute. This is the sort of combination that makes you look forward to the next gear change—and immediately wish the straightaway were longer.

A Combination With a Plan

Alongside the heads, camshaft, and intake, the package includes fuel rails, Delphi LS7 hydraulic roller lifters, lifter trays, chromoly pushrods, MLS head gaskets, and header gaskets.

Anyone who has built an engine knows how quickly a shopping cart can become an expensive collection of good intentions. The appeal here is having the major pieces selected to work together. The heads, camshaft, and intake all need to agree on what kind of party you’re throwing.

With Red Hot, the invitation apparently says, “Bring rpm.”

Pick Your Preferred Level of Trouble

Red Hot has company. BTR’s 5.7L Power Package lineup offers four combinations with different personalities, from a more torque-focused street setup to a naturally aspirated package that clears 600 horsepower.

Figures and configurations are from BTR’s individual package listings; the 605HP package’s published dyno result is 604.0 horsepower.

The choice comes down to how you want the car to behave. The LS1 X3 makes its peak power earlier and delivers the strongest peak torque of these four tested combinations. The SBE packages move the action farther up the tach, with BTR positioning them around stock-bottom-end 5.7L performance.