CORVETTE OWNER REALLY KNOWS HIS ENGINE

By Brianne Pfannenstiel, KansasCity.com - Greg Howell is positively giddy. The Mission Hills man's voice is filled with excitement as he recounts his experiences from the day before when he helped build the engine that will go in his brand new ZR1 Corvette.

He's one of only 10 people in the world who have taken advantage of Chevrolet's new program that lets customers go to Michigan and join an engineer for the process of building their car's engine.

"It was so exciting," he said. "I'm still pretty psyched up about it."

Howell built an LS9 6.2L 638-horsepower supercharged small block with titanium connecting rods.

Not a car person? That means it's fast. Very fast.

Howell said this is the first Corvette in years that would be able to go head to head with Ferraris and Lamborghinis as far as speed and power.

When he first started hearing rumours about the new Corvette model several years ago, he knew he would happily continue driving his rusty 1999 Suburban for a few more years if it meant he could save up money for his dream car.

After laying down the down payment on the car, signing on to help build the engine was a no-brainer, despite its $5,800 add-on cost.

He said he had done some work with cars in the past, but nothing as extensive as building an entire engine.

He arrived at the plant in Michigan early one day last week and met Ron Hein, the engineer who would guide him through the process. Hein has nearly 30 years of experience under his belt and even built the engine inside the first ZR1 Corvette that currently sits in the factory showroom.

"This guy was compulsive," Howell said. "Whenever I would set a ratchet or socket down and it wasn't exactly how he liked it he would move it over a quarter of an inch. The precision's uncredible."

Eight hours later, he was done with a process that normally takes the engineers about three hours. His engine will soon be shipped to Bowling Green, Ky., where the final assembly occurs. He hopes to pick up his shiny new toy sometime in May at the National Corvette Museum, where it will be photographed for him as it goes down the line.

Tom Read, GM Technology Communications representative, said in the past, the company had allowed journalists to come to the plant to help build an engine. The idea eventually caught on and customers got the option starting with the release of the 2011 model.

"Corvette people are a very passionate group that always wants to be connected, you know, connect themselves with their vehicle," Read said. "This is a way, you could say the ultimate way, to connect an owner to their vehicle by allowing them to participate in that build process."