Callaway Just Supercharged the Exact Chevy Engine the Feds Are Investigating for Blowing UpCallaway Cars and Waldoch Crafts picked an interesting week to announce a supercharged Silverado.The two shops went public on August 25 with the 2026 Chevrolet Silverado "Launch Edition," a run of 100 serialized trucks that pairs Callaway's SC602 blower package with Waldoch's suspension and trim work. Five days earlier, NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation had opened an engineering analysis covering 997,743 GM vehicles built for the 2021 through 2026 model years, all of them fitted with the same 6.2-liter L87 V8 that sits under the Launch Edition's hood.Nobody planned that. But it's the first thing a buyer should think about, so let's start there and work backward.The engine, and the asteriskCallaway's SC602 package takes the L87 from 420 horsepower at 5,600 rpm and 460 lb-ft at 4,100 to 602 horsepower at 6,000 and 560 lb-ft at 4,500. The hardware is Callaway's GenThree TVS R2650 Roots-type supercharger with its TripleCooled three-element intercooler system, plus a high-flow intake, a low-restriction stainless exhaust and Callaway's own engine control components and calibration, which the company says keeps the truck emissions-legal in all 50 states.Related ArticlesBugatti's One-Off Veyron 'Restoration' Buries the Real Story: It Fixes the Car's Worst Ownership HeadacheA Wrecked Chevelle SS Restomod Is Still Sitting on eBay, and the Price Barely BudgedAdvertisementAdvertisementThat's a 43 percent power increase on an engine block that federal regulators are currently studying. GM issued Recall 25V-274 in April 2025 for connecting rod and crankshaft manufacturing defects in L87s built between March 1, 2021 and May 31, 2024, covering roughly 597,000 vehicles. The remedy was either an oil viscosity change or a full engine replacement, depending on what the inspection found. ODI has since logged 499 complaints of engines failing after that remedy, including 26 that had already received replacement engines, plus 191 failure reports on L87s built after the recall window closed. GM told regulators it had received 6,953 post-remedy complaints of its own.To be precise about it: a 2026 truck is inside the investigation population but outside the original recall population. The defect hasn't been established for these engines. But a prospective owner is buying a boosted version of a motor whose bottom-end reputation is actively being litigated in a federal docket, and that's worth knowing before signing.The practical hedge is documentation. Callaway and Waldoch each back the Launch Edition with a three-year, 36,000-mile limited warranty that supplements GM's factory coverage rather than replacing it. And under the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act, a manufacturer can't void factory coverage simply because aftermarket parts are installed. As the FTC puts it, the burden falls on the manufacturer to show the aftermarket part actually caused the failure. In a rod-bearing dispute on a supercharged truck, that argument is going to be expensive on both sides. Keep every oil change receipt.How this gets sold at a Chevy dealerThe clever part of this program isn't mechanical. Every Launch Edition starts as a 6.2-liter RST pulled from Waldoch's bailment pool, which means the trucks sit in inventory Waldoch holds under GM's Specialty Vehicle Manufacturer arrangement while remaining inside the factory delivery system. Upfitters like Fontaine Modification have described the same structure on the commercial side: the dealer orders a finished vehicle, not a stock truck plus a shop visit.AdvertisementAdvertisementFor the buyer, that's the difference between financing a modified truck and financing a truck. One invoice, one VIN, factory warranty intact, no awkward conversation with a credit union about a $30,000 parts receipt.Callaway has run this play before. Chevrolet gave Callaway RPO code B2K in 1987 so twin-turbo Corvettes could move through the Chevy dealer network, which made Callaway a Specialty Vehicle Manufacturer in GM's eyes. Nearly forty years later, the mechanism is the same and the paperwork is better.Callaway also has a long history of doing the regulatory homework. CARB issued the company Executive Order A-297-2 for its 1991 twin-turbo cars, certifying them as a small-volume manufacturer under California's own standards. That matters because California requires an exemption from state anti-tampering law before an add-on part can legally be sold or installed on an emissions-controlled vehicle. Plenty of 600-horsepower truck packages quietly skip that step. This one claims not to.The chassis stuff, and one number nobody mentionedThe Launch Edition drops instead of lifts: coil-over front, double-adjustable dampers at all four corners, and a lower ride height. Double-adjustable means compression and rebound damping can be dialed separately, which is race-car equipment on a half-ton pickup and notably beyond what Callaway's published RS lowering package describes. Brakes are Callaway's big-brake kit with six-piston front calipers, 15-inch slotted rotors and braided stainless lines.AdvertisementAdvertisementWheels are 22-inch Callaway-Waldoch alloys on Toyo Proxes ST III rubber in 305/45R22. Run the math: that's 833.3mm of overall diameter. Chevrolet's own 22-inch RST fitment is 275/50R22, which works out to 833.8mm. They matched the rolling diameter to within half a millimeter, so the speedometer, ABS wheel-speed inputs and transmission shift logic all stay honest while the contact patch grows 30mm wider. That's engineering discipline most upfitters skip, and it's the kind of thing that saves an owner a diagnostic headache three years in.Fair warning on the tire itself: Toyo rates the Proxes ST III at 2.0 out of 5 for winter handling within its own truck lineup and backs it for 40,000 miles. In a 305-width low-profile on a lowered truck, expect to beat that treadwear number and plan a winter set if you live somewhere with actual weather.What it costs and what it meansNeither company published a price. Given the RST 6.2 is crew-cab 4x4 only in Chevrolet's configurator, and given the parts list, the arithmetic isn't hard even without a window sticker.Related ArticlesA Corvette GM Tried to Bury Just Matched a Factory Ferrari, Dollar for Dollar, at Pebble BeachDefender Dakar's Big Number Is the Same One the OCTA Already HadAdvertisementAdvertisementOne more consideration for buyers: insure this thing on an agreed-value policy, not actual cash value. Callaway ships an authenticity documentation package with serialized interior and VIN-etched underhood plaques for exactly this reason. Callaway's own owner testimonial page includes a customer who reports that his authenticity paperwork moved a total-loss settlement from $50,000 to $99,000. Standard policies value the Chevrolet. They do not value the supercharger.The Launch Edition is a send-off for a truck generation that's about to be replaced, and Pete Callaway framed the partnership as a beginning rather than a one-off: "This is more than a one-time project—it's the beginning of an exciting partnership." Both companies say GM-based specialty SUVs are next.Colors are Summit White, Black, Sterling Gray Metallic and White Sands. Orders go through authorized Chevrolet dealers in either network.Images Via: Waldoch Crafts Inc.