a couple of months ago, a viewer suggested this week’s very fun challenge, but we kept putting it off. leave enough comments, though, and we’re bound to listen.
the premise: find a car that would benefit from an engine swap and create something interesting, like this volvo 240 with a mustang powertrain. engine swaps can be extremely rewarding, but they can also be a total nightmare. each member of the ws crew had to come up with both the car in need and the engine replacement, cobble together some loose plan to get it all to work, and spend less than $20,000.
it probably won't surprise our viewers that two of the swaps involve chevy's ls line of v-8s. reliable, compact, and powerful, an ls is a smart and affordable way to upgrade a car's performance, often with minimal fuss. one goes into a 1995 land rover range rover to replace the buick/rover 3.9-liter v-8, and the other, a first-gen cadillac cts-v. at this point you are probably wondering, doesn't that caddy already have an ls? it sure does, but there's a better ls out there, and it should fit just as well, right? what could go wrong?
the rest of the crew has slightly more ambitious ideas, but with ambition comes a lot work. would you like to see a fiat x1/9 with a honda k-series? there's even a kit to help with the conversion; just be prepared to wait three to six weeks for delivery.
other projects include a scion fr-s that has dreams of emulating the toyota fr4586 drift car and a 1984 dodge mirada with a vinyl top and a mopar 6.4-liter crate engine. while this episode won't provide much advice on swapping engines, you do get to hear about the last boss wagon project c/d did and how the mirada performed in nascar. in other words, this is clearly a can't-miss episode.