We hope you’re just as excited as we are to see how far Granatelli Motorsports’ Chevy SS comes at this year’s SEMA Show.

With only three months left until the famous SEMA Show in Las Vegas happens, we’re counting down the days the right way with companies like Granatelli Motorsports. Who by the way, is building one badass 550 horsepower, naturally aspirated 2015 Chevrolet SS.

We got the chance to speak one-on-one with the owner of Granatelli Motorsports, Joey Granatelli, who gave us an exclusive look into the details of what has been upgraded, and what is yet to come, for the big debut in November.

Before we head into the details of that 550 horsepower SS, we thought we’d take the time to mention that Granatelli is not only focusing on its SEMA build as much as possible, but its new wheel line as well. The reason the wheel line is important, is because the SS featured here will be sporting those wheels, dubbed the KG Spider Wheel Line. (we’ve been told KG stands for Kompression Wheels and Granatelli Motorsports)

With one look at the car’s exterior thus far, we had to ask more. Our first question for Joe was how they planned to achieve 550 horsepower naturally aspirated, to which he replied: “The engine that we’re building will essentially be a stock block, however we’ll be upgrading to Mahle crank, pistons, rods, and our own upgraded camshafts. We’ll also be replacing the stock cylinder heads in-favor of our own unique, in-house CNC ported LS3 heads.”

Don’t get too comfortable with the look of this LS3, as this is Granatelli’s before picture.

To be clear, we’re big fans of naturally aspirated engines. There are a lot of benefits to them: for example, you’ll never have to experience boost lag, power is nearly instant, and of course, they’re more reliable. But with forced induction typically being the more cost-effective route for adding power, we were curious why Granatelli chose the naturally aspirated route.

“Some guys want a supercharger, some don’t. It’s become a trend to slap a supercharger on an engine and leave it alone, but the thing about it is there’s something to be said for a 500 horsepower naturally aspirated motor. We want to offer our packages in both forms for this vehicle, and we believe this one will be a little more aggressive. For the power it makes from the camshafts and our CNC ported cylinder heads, (and other goodies we’ll mention later) we’re proud to say this is a 500 horsepower package that doesn’t require 7 pounds of boost.” said Granatelli.

Here’s a closeup for your viewing pleasure of GMS’s in-house made coilover system, which is currently being used on their SS.

With power levels covered, we couldn’t help but be curious what Granatelli and his team had planned for their SS’ suspension needs. We asked Granatelli how he felt about the platform, and if the vehicle’s wheel-hop is comparable to some of the SS’ competition. Granatelli responded: “We really haven’t had any issues with wheel-hop, or suspension issues in general so far as we’re in testing. We’ve only needed to change the trailing-arms, the tie rods, and the springs. Those were the only three pieces contributing to any wheel-hop at the moment. We’ve found that on these newer platform cars: the Camaro, the SS, and the Mustang for example, that they’re excellent from the factory. The coil-over combination we use on our SS is our own GSM brand.”

Granatelli doesn’t plan on changing much of the drivetrain, either. We asked if they had plans to switch the half-shafts or any internal transmission parts. He informed us both the half-shafts and the transmission are extremely strong from the factory as well, stating that at this time, the reality was that they didn’t need it to be changed, especially when they’d have to change the rear differential housing. He also explained that the factory transmission uses the ZL1’s transmission mapping, which they have full confidence in it’s capabilities for the SS.

While we definitely got some amazing information to begin with, we have to admit – we’re really excited to see what Granatelli Motorsports has in store for this SEMA built Chevy SS. With 550 naturally aspirated horsepower to the crank, how can that not sound fun?

Stay tuned, as we’ll be keeping you updated throughout the build process all the way until we reach this year’s SEMA in November.

If you read the article all the way until the end, then congratulations! Here’s your prize: a small sneak peak at what Granatelli has planned for its SS.