The engine swap is a tried and true part of hot rodding history. Back in the day, pulling the boat anchor six out of your father’s Chevy and slapping a Cad, Olds, or Buick motor in was hot stuff, just like plunking a warmed up Lincoln flathead V8 in your Deuce was hot stuff as well. As times have changed and engines have evolved, other swaps have dominated the landscape, none moreso than the all conquering LS-Chevy engine in everything trend of the last decade.
That being said, there are lots of guys out there who are thinking outside of the box, like hundreds of miles outside of the box with engine swaps. Recently we’ve seen a dude shoving a 3.5L Chrysler engine into a boxy VW van, photos of a Norwegian guy who stuck a Toyota 2JZ engine in a Ford Focus, and even one of our own BangShift guys who is installing a 3.5L Cadillac V6 into an old Alfa Romeo Spider! Is everyone here on crazy pills? On the other end of the scale there’s that ’55 Chevy with the big Allison engine in it, Jay Leno’s tank car, and as shown below in the greatest engine swap photo of all time, EJ Potter’s Allison powered 1963 Dodge Dart Wagon.
Surely, there are projects and cars running around in all corners of the world sporting weird drivertrain combos. We need to know about them!
Today’s question: What’s the weirdest engine swap you’ve ever seen?
Probably the weirdest I’ve seen close-up was a SBM into a 240Z. I never heard the story as to WHY but it was being done in a commercial shop I was visiting.
My V8 Vega sported a 215 aluminum Buick (I actually built a couple of those) and my ’80 Chevy PU got a Buick 455. Do those count?
My buddy Dan did a 215 Buick in his little Lotus – the one that looks like a tow truck. The 180 headers gave it a really striking appearance.
Dan
An International Harvester Scout 152 four-cylinder in a botched gasser-style ’37 Willys Model 37 Coupe.
The Willys was apparently V8-powered at one time, resulting in a kink in an unboxed section of the frame (all but about 9″ of the frame had been crudely boxed . . . and the front leaf springs had been WELDED directly to the frame (no hangers)).
Other strange stuff I’ve seen . . . Crosley 4 into a Cushman scooter . . . 440 Mopar into a Dodge Raider (Mitsubishi-built SUV) . . . Flathead into a Pinto . . . 2.3 Ford OHC into a Camaro . . .
…in a ’32, LINCOLN>>>> NOT
A friend’s dad owned a body shop. He customized his 58 Ford pickup back in the 60’s complete with tons of body mods and a metallic pearl gold paint. The truck came with a 292, but that replaced with a Dodge 340/904.
Never saw it completed, but my nieghbor put a Chevy 4.3 V-6 in a Datsun 260Z.
I contributed by selling him the engine.
I saw a Hayabusa in a ’32 Ford Street Roadster at Bonneville last week. 123 MPH.
302 chevy in a vega. a camaro rebuild and clone would be worth thousands more. Another oddity in building is not the strange facts, but value that could be gained and retained.
3.9L Dodge Dakota V6 in a ’72 Swinger. Peppy little thing.
Heard of, but never saw, a 1.6L VW diesel swapped into a ’70 Duster. Got stoopid excellent mileage.
Small displacement, industrial 2 cyl diesel in a Ford Fiesta. Again, more stoopid excellent mileage.
A few weeks ago, an LS-powered Honda S2000 passed me on the highway, but not before it pulled up right beside me without me noticing, downshifted with a thunderous growl through the exhaust, and then sped away — startling me half to death. It all happened so quickly, but sounded absolutely amazing.
I love creative engine swaps. While I’m generally a purist and like seeing brand continuity between engine and car, I can totally appreciate a well-engineered cross-brand swap that performs well.
My machinist runs an old Manx high jumper buggy with a Honda CRX motor and transmission, complete down to the cat. I thought it was strange at first, but it moves…
I can also appreciate a poorly-engineered cross-brand swap that performs well. HA!
Its not wierd until you deviate from reciprocating, internal combustion engines.
The guy that stuffed a turbine in a VW bug was pretty cool
http://thereifixedit.failblog.org/2010/09/20/white-trash-repairs-mad-science-monday/
501 cid Caddy engine in an old-style VW bug. There used to be a huge write-up on the internet but I can’t find it any more.
BTW, EJ Potter (the Michigan madman) set the bar for motorsport insanity and is a personal hero of mine.
Wow, kinda surprised that no one thought of this: Ferrambler, a Ferrari V-12 STUFFED into a ’60 Rambler wagon! Pretty cool stuff!
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=248929&showall=1
We put the Supra 2JZ in Spectre Performance’s ’70 Ford Maverick………..it’s a really bitching car!
Hayabusa engine in a VW Rabbit
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rStg4PWmxvk&feature=related
That confused FWD prostreet Chevelle that was in all the mags decades ago. My Dad put a 400/TH400 combo from a Catalina into a 72 Cheyenne.
Not the weirdest but one of the coolest. Steve Mag’s 500 caddy into a chevette. Can you guys get a copy of that from him for Bang Shift?
http://www.hotrod.com/featuredvehicles/113_0703_2000_volkswagen_beetle/
“just like plunking a warmed up Lincoln flathead V8 in your Deuce was hot stuff as well.”
When and where did this happen???????
Well 10 years ago we came real close to bolting a FWD 500 ci eldorado into the back of a dodge minivan, had 90% of the stuff to do it…
lacked space…
A guy around here had a 12A in a spitfire years before GRM thought of it. My uncle wanted the 2nd Gen camaro/firebird IFS on his 55 crown vic, so he swapped the subframe in… with the Poncho 400 still attached.
The pictures from the vicksburg car show had an OLD waukesha fire engine mill in one of the more strange “rat rods” I’ve ever seen – the cool thing about that deal was that the engine was huge by large and slow – like red line at 2500 or thereabouts slow- but the guy figured it out with gearing and the thing would run down the road at highway speed with that old flat head chugging along at low speed…. your eyes and your ears don’t believe eachother when he passes you by.
There was an ad for someone who had swapped the entire engine, transmission, and front suspension from a Mazda 626 into an early 70’s Baracuda on Racing Junk but haven’t been able to dredge it back up.
Does putting a Buick 4.1L V6 into my ’64 Riviera count?
Several come to mind; 350/350 into stockish 70’s Corolla,VW trans with 1.8 Toyota on REAR of Mazda 323 Hatch! Rotary into Chevette, and Rotary into Vega-both suppossed to be easy to accomplish. Rotary with VW trans in fiberglass Manx type buggy!
I bought a 74 AMX that surprisingly had a 460 Ford big block under the hood. I parted it out….The grill went to Serbia!