Skip to content
Call

6.2L V8 · E85 (factory baseline on 91 octane)

2018 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 6.2L

Thirty-eight horsepower at the peak. The better number is underneath it: 43 more at 5,000 rpm and more torque everywhere a truck actually works.

Across the whole pull

+43 whp at 5,000 rpm, in the part of the rev range a truck lives in

Peak to peak, 366.9 hp became 405.0. The bigger change is underneath it: more power from the bottom of the pull, and the most of it through the midrange.

Factory calibration91 octane
366.9
388.8 lb-ft
DEFI calibrationE85
405.0
438.4 lb-ft
1002003004005003,0004,0005,0006,000rpmwhp+43@ 5,000
  • Factory calibration · 91 octane · 366.9 peak
  • DEFI calibration · E85 · 405.0 peak
Traced from the sheets on this page: each curve matches the peak printed on its own sheet to within 1.5 hp. Engine rpm is read from the scale the dyno software prints under the plot, which is rounded to 10 rpm. The shaded band is the difference between the first and last runs. The sheets, not this chart, are the record.
Wheel horsepower and torque read off the traced curves.
rpmFactory calibration, 91 octaneDEFI calibration, E85E85 vs the factory calibration
3,000200 hp · 350 lb-ft223 hp · 389 lb-ft+23 hp
3,500240 hp · 360 lb-ft269 hp · 403 lb-ft+29 hp
4,000288 hp · 378 lb-ft325 hp · 427 lb-ft+37 hp
4,500331 hp · 386 lb-ft372 hp · 434 lb-ft+41 hp
5,000356 hp · 374 lb-ft399 hp · 420 lb-ft+43 hp
5,500366 hp · 350 lb-ft402 hp · 384 lb-ft+36 hp

What the dyno read

Baseline
366.9
388.8 lb-ft
After calibration
405.0
438.4 lb-ft
Gain
+38.1
+49.6 lb-ft · +10.4%

Measured at the hubs on a Mainline ProHub in Corona, California, on E85 (factory baseline on 91 octane). Baseline taken on the factory calibration, on 91 octane.

Reading the result

A 2018 Silverado 1500 with the 6.2-litre V8, measured at the hubs on the factory calibration and 91 octane, then on our E85 calibration. 366.9 hp became 405.0, and 388.8 lb-ft became 438.4.

The peak is the smallest part of this. A truck spends its working life in the middle of the rev range — towing, merging, climbing a grade loaded — and that is where the calibration moved most: 37 hp more at 4,000 rpm, 43 hp more at 5,000, and between 42 and 49 lb-ft more torque everywhere from 3,500 to 5,000 rpm.

Why ethanol does this on an engine with no boost to turn up: the factory calibration on pump gasoline carries knock margin for the worst fuel and the hottest day the truck will ever see, and a high-compression direct-injection V8 lives right against that margin in the midrange, where cylinder pressure is highest. E85 resists detonation and cools the charge as it evaporates, so the calibration can carry more spark timing exactly there.

Above 5,500 rpm the two curves close up: 36 hp apart at 5,500 and 15 hp apart at 5,850, where the tuned pull ends. Up there this engine is limited by how much air it can move, and a calibration alone has much less to work with.

What this cost

E85 costs fuel economy, and on a truck that is a running cost you will notice. It is not at every pump, which matters more for a truck that tows away from home. The ethanol content of E85 moves with the season, which is why a flex-fuel sensor is worth having. And in California a modified calibration takes the truck out of emissions compliance.

The sheets on this page are the dyno software exactly as captured. They do not show the correction standard or the ambient conditions for each pull, and we are not going to fill those in from memory — they are being taken from the run files and will be published here. Until then, read these runs against each other rather than against a number from somebody else's dyno, and read how we measure for why that distinction matters.

The sheets

Every run on this page, as the dyno showed it

Uncropped captures of the Mainline DynoLog window. Colour is the run being shown; white is the reference run loaded under it. Open any sheet at full size and check the figures above against it.

Dyno overlay of a DEFI E85 calibration, 405.0 hp and 438.4 lb-ft, against the factory calibration on the same 2018 Chevrolet Silverado 6.2L
DEFI E85 calibration (colour), 405.0 hp and 438.4 lb-ft, over the factory calibration on 91 octane (white).
Mainline ProHub dyno sheet for a 2018 Chevrolet Silverado 6.2L on the factory calibration and 91 octane: 366.9 hp and 388.8 lb-ft at the wheels
The factory calibration on 91 octane on its own: 366.9 hp at 5,492 rpm, 388.8 lb-ft at 4,353 rpm.

Questions this result answers

How much power does an E85 tune add to a Silverado 6.2?

On this 2018 truck, measured at the wheels: 38.1 hp and 49.6 lb-ft at peak, and more than that through the midrange — 43 hp at 5,000 rpm. The gain is smallest near the top of the rev range, where the engine is limited by airflow.

More results