(Story by Tony Sestito)
Now this is an interesting project that I’ve been following for a while. It has been passed around between three people, each with different visions of what to do with it. The project in question: A discarded Ferrari with an empty engine bay. A blank canvas, if you will.
This Ferrari started its life as a 1976 Dino GT4, and somewhere along the way, it lost it’s V8 drivetrain and ended up a derelict shell. While still a Ferrari, it was not as desired as many of the classic, earlier models, so it found its way into the hands of a crafty guy who swapped in a Subaru WRX STI engine and transmission. He even named the thing The Fubaru.
Said guy had to get out of the project, and sold it to guy #2, who held onto it for a bit and wanted to continue with the Subaru plan, but decided that it was too much of a project and sold off the Subaru mill and the body separately. Again, the poor Ferrari ended up a derelict shell and was listed on eBay.
Enter guy #3, Grassroots Motorsports Forum member Voorhen. Guy #3 is a college student at McPherson College, and is pursuing a degree in Automotive Restoration. After securing the high bid on the forlorn Ferrari, he enacted a plan to get this thing back to its former glory. To do that, it needed a drivetrain. He decided on giving it the horsepower injection it deserves in the form of a Gen III 4.8L Chevy V8 and a nice, big pair of turbos!
In between classes and working on school project cars, he has mounted the V8 in the chassis, fabbed up headers, and mounted airbag suspension to the car. At first, he was going to run a factory LS6 intake manifold, but has since had a change of heart and switched to a individual throttle body setup and some hand-fabbed plenums for that exotic look.
He hopes to have it driving under its own power within a few weeks. I’m hoping this third owner will finish the car and turn it into the pavement pounder it’s shaping up to be!
fark yeh! Wasn’t a fan of the subie idea but twin turbo’s on an LS, yep. The `piss off’ factor is high on this one too….LS motor haters will hate, Ferrari fanboys will hate even more (just waiting for a CK response..) But realistically its a good move too – Fezza motors don’t have particularly long lives…guy I know works in a high end car resto shop that do Ferrari’s and Lambo type stuff and he reckons 40 – 50,000 miles on average before they need a fair bit of work, valve guides , rings, bearings etc
Is there no end to this sacrilege ?
This car should have been called a FUBARU!
What sort of idiot sends valuable time and money putting in a hunka Chevy shit when, for a fraction of the cost he could have sourced a genuine Ferrari motor from a different car.
The men in dark glasses and long black cars will be eating his liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti
Thhhhhh Thhhhhhh!!
I thought all Dino’s were 6 cylinder cars from Ferrari. Named after his deceased son.
GT4 had the V8.
Twin turbo LS power rules!
I would have been just as happy with a dry-sumped, cammed, ported, polished & seriously pissed off NA 4.8.
Going TT it’s going to be stupidly fast but I doubt a 70’s suspension, even a Ferrari suspension, is going to keep up with the engine. Brakes or tires, either.
So in effect, it’s in danger of being a drag race car that can’t hook up and wants badly to spit it’s ring gear through the back cover.
I hope I’m wrong.
I agree Tom. Luckily though, at the school he is attending, he will learn what suspension and brakes he will need to adequately handle the amount of power that this engine will supply. I met the guy once, he is a genius when it comes to forced induction platforms!
I havent post for a while same era of red tone did it for me yet it was an oddball GT4O0GT that and poster F40 F50 but hence the 400 nameplate was badged with A TH400 GM trans straped To V12. Yabadaba do
I think its cool. Nobody gives two shits about GT4s