While many consider Wankel rotaries to be the king of high-RPM production engines, Ben Strader from EFI University has stamped a claim to that title for the LS V8 with his “Project Spinal Tap”.
Despite being derided as old, out-dated, and low-tech development of crazy LS V8s has not slowed down, and Spinal Tap takes the pushrod engine in a wild new direction.
The name comes from a scene in the spoof documentary This Is Spinal Tap where the fake heavy metal band shows how their amplifiers “go to 11”, and Strader has now built an LS V8 which does that.
Or, if you want specific numbers 11,230rpm! This naturally aspirated powerhouse is full of amazing tech and shows just how far production-type engines have come in the last 22 years since the LS1 debuted.
![]()
Iain Kelly
Contributing Journalist
A love of classic American and European cars drove Iain Kelly to motoring journalism straight out of high school, via the ownership of a tired 1975 HJ Holden Monaro.
For nearly 20 years he has worked on magazines and websites catering to modified late model high-performance Japanese and European tuner cars, as well as traditional hot rods, muscle cars and street machines. Some of these titles include Auto Salon, LSX Tuner, MOTOR, Forged, Freestyle Rides, Roadkill, SPEED, and Street Machine. He counts his trip to the USA to help build Mighty Car Mods’ “Subarute” along with co-authoring their recent book, The Cars of Mighty Car Mods, among his career highlights.
Iain lends his expertise to CarsGuide for a variety of advice projects, along with legitimising his automotive obsession with regular OverSteer contributions.
Although his practical skills working on cars is nearly all self-taught, he still loves nothing more than spending quality time in the shed working on his project car, a 1964 Pontiac. He also admits to also having an addiction to E30 BMWs and Subaru Liberty RS Turbos, both of which he has had multiple examples of. With car choices like that, at least his mum thinks he is cool.
About Author
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
