I’m expecting it like I expect the sun to rise in the east in the morning: Someone, somewhere, is going to lay out why a 1985 Chevrolet Chevette should have any other engine besides an LS1 V8 underneath the hood. Go ahead and say whatever it is that you were going to say, but you’re wrong. The Chevrolet Chevette is a PERFECT location to stick the hot-rodding world’s most hated engine. It’s the size of a Coke can, has about the same curb weight, and excepting the lone freaks who worship these cars, nobody really wants them. It isn’t hard to locate a basic LS1 (in this case, a 1998 block) and it certainly isn’t hard to bolt said Chevy to a World Class T-5 transmission. Twice the cylinder count, over three times the displacement, and a rocking manual trans hooked to two seats and a steering wheel? Sign us right up, we will be standing there, helmet in hand, to rock the daylights out of this butchered GM T-car. And the seller is straightforward: it’s a hack job, but it’s functional. You know what else fits that bill? Just about every Roadkill project car. There is a six-point roll cage to make sure that you are collected up into a neat pile once things go bad, and there are new brakes at all four corners so if you do end up balling up this Chevette, chances are pretty decent that the fault lies with you. It’s ill-advised, overpowered, and we are in lust. But surely, someone is going to want another engine in there…right?
Craigslist Link: 1985 Chevrolet Chevette
That’s easy – a huge diesel attached to the crusher that will consign this piece of shit to oblivion….
Chevy Hatin’ Mad Geordie, I love you, man!
That’s an easy one, pull the LS and put in a man sized hamster wheel. Then introduce Geordie to his own personal slice of Hell.
let’s start a money drive for that very thing!
No mate – I got kicked out of Hell for being to badly-behaved…
It’s hard to think of anything that would improve over a cheap LS swap… maybe a Mazda rotary. Maybe.
turbo+R26B
Ecotec 2.0 Turbo
I to agree on the Ecotec 2.0 turbo or even a supercharged version.
That must be a handful to drive with the LS in it.
leave it like it is and smoke every mustang. just make sure the mustang isn’t leaving a car show.
Get weird with it. How about a Northstar V8 or Shortstar V6 with some form of forced induction,
HEMI …. (|:-O<
460 ford. Just because
F the haters. It’s perfection.
that’s nucking futs!
500 Caddy. Hot Rod did it years ago and it was AWESOME!
Ford 2.3 turbo.
“Let me be frank, it’s a total hack job.”
That was a direct qoute from the link! Total POS!!!
2.0 Ecotec supercharged
Look at it from the issue of what fits with the stock suspension and steering rack placement: Not Much. GM Dropped the ball instead of getting Isuzu to do a twin cam EFI version to compete with the Corolla GTS. Beleive it or not, the handling is not far off from the fan-boi favorite.
Hooker Headers used to make a 3.8L V6 conversion kit. It included brackets to re-locate the steering rack. Yet a number of people say the handing is uber scary.
I had considered a Built up Ford 2.3L Trubo swap at one time. As a 2.3L I-4 & T5 would fit in the stock holes.
I even thought about bolting in a 82-84 S-10 1.9L Isuzu I-4. Yet findibng a running one is an issue. Plus I don’t think it would last with a turbo.
Does an LS fit with the stock suspension? No goofy hack mods?
I like Chevettes, and would love to have a Turbo 3.8L in one. Except I would probably use a number of S-10 parts on a home built suspension cradle.
A turbo’d straight 6.