It Ain't Blue! ROUSHcharged Chevrolet Silverado Caught!
By: Mike Levine Posted: 01-31-08 00:00 PT
© 2008 PickupTruck.com, Brian Williams for Brenda Priddy & Co.

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Update #1: 02-27-08 13:29 PT

Rumors about the future of Roush's performance parts and customization efforts for the Chevrolet Silverado continue to provide fodder for truck gossip, because the Roush brand has long been associated with Ford products.

Asked for an update on the rumored Roush Silverado (see original story and pictures) and Roush's announcement last year that the tuning house planned to sell superchargers for Chevy's half-ton pickup, Joe Thompson, Roush Performance's vice president and general manager, told PickupTruck.com, "There have been rumors that the (Silverado) program has been cancelled but that's not the case. The truck may not show up Roush branded but we'll make sure the Roush association is known."

Mr. Thompson also said work continues on the Silverado supercharger, in cooperation with General Motors' Service and Parts Operations (SPO) division.

"We have a prototype system already working. The (production supercharger) is about to go on sale this summer, in May or June," says Mr. Thompson.

While the brand the supercharger will be sold under isn't finalized, the GM engines it will be paired with are. The Roush engineered supercharger will first be offered for GM's 5.3-liter Vortec V8 and later for the 6.2-liter Vortec V8. There won't be a supercharger for the outgoing 6.0-liter Vortec Max V8 (as was speculated in the original story, below).

Performance figures for both superchargers aren't available yet, so stay tuned.

In May 2007 longtime Ford tuning house Roush Performance Products broke twelve years of tradition by announcing it would expand its armory of high performance powertrain components to include options for General Motors cars and trucks. The initial GM hardware list included handheld tuning computers and cold air intake kits.

Roush also said its engineers were working on a new ROUSHcharger supercharger for 2007 and up Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra full size pickups, similar to the 450-hp and 500-lb/ft (plus 5.4-liter V8) unit housed in Roush’s Stage 3, 500RC, and limited edition Nitemare Ford F-150 pickups. No date was given when the GM ROUSHcharger would be available.

Then, last fall, an unauthorized camera phone picture of a confidential Roush document escaped onto the Internet. It was a picture of a Roush tweaked body and wheel kit for the Chevrolet Silverado.

Now it looks like it’s all come together for Roush and Chevrolet.

Brenda Priddy's crew just caught this ROUSHcharged Chevrolet Silverado out for a drive. It’s a dead ringer for the Roush modified Silverado in the picture leaked last year. ROUSHcharged labels on the sides of the hood’s power dome are almost certainly confirmation it has the long-awaited Roush blower mounted on the engine. We suspect it’s the 6.0-L Vortec Max V8 that’s factory rated at 367-hp and 375-lb/ft but will hit 500-hp and 500-lb/ft with the ROUSHcharger. It also has at least one other significant hardware change – dual exhausts out the back.