What’s It Like Testing Mercury Racing’s 750-HP Small Block Crate Motor?

Mercury Racing is better known for marine engines than street cars, which makes this 750-horsepower small block an unusual crossover. Built around GM’s LS7 block but topped with new dual-overhead-cam heads, it revs to 8,000 RPM and ships as a turn-key unit ready to bolt in. Here’s what the spec sheet – and a test drive – actually reveal about it.

What was it like? Pretty amazing!! And a lot of fun!!

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A crate engine that revs to 8,000 RPM sounds more like a race-only part than something you could drop into a street car and drive home. Mercury Racing built exactly that — a small block based on GM’s own LS7 architecture, but reworked with dual overhead cams and enough valve area to make the donor engine barely recognizable. A company known mostly for marine performance decided to bring that same obsession with high-RPM output onto pavement, and the number on the spec sheet is hard to ignore. So what does it actually take to make a small block V8 spin that high and still hold together?

An LS7 Block Wearing Someone Else’s Heads

Officially called the SB4 7.0, the engine starts life as GM‘s LS7 block before Mercury Racing tops it with newly designed aluminum DOHC heads carrying 32 total valves — four per cylinder. Running an 11.7:1 compression ratio and spinning toward an 8,000 rpm redline, it’s rated at 750 horsepower and 570 lb-ft of torque.

Priced and Built Like a Turn-Key Race Motor

At 498 pounds, it ships as a complete, turn-key package with the ECU and tune already sorted, plus the alternator, AC pump, pulleys, and belts needed to drop it straight into a chassis. It runs on 91-octane pump gas and 6.5 liters of 15W-50 oil, works with either a manual or automatic transmission, and carries a price tag of $32,995.

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