Motor swap

Sleepers are interesting and everyone seems to define them a little differently. Personally I feel the best sleepers are the ones that are not entirely batshit crazy and have yet to make the changes that often reveal the cars true nature (ie cages and drag radials).

Some people build cars and some people assemble cars and personally I have no issue admitting that I assemble cars, meaning that my car is comprised entirely of off the shelf parts and is easily re creatable. The goal of course is to one day be like Jeff who at the age of 19 has already proven himself a car builder by creating a vehicle worthy of accolades from enthusiasts world wide.

On the silver screen DeLoreans (Doc Brown's anyway) are a mechanical marvel worth turning into a time machine powered by stolen plutonium. In reality by the time they finished jumping through all the hoops required to go from idea to production vehicle they ended up as stainless steel disappointments.

For something that is comprised of a chassis and motor that are worlds apart this Lamborghini v12 powered Ford Model T actually doesn't look all that alien. Photographer Chris Rowe's caption of the vehicle 'Like Powering an Elise with a Viper engine' is pretty accurate as I suspect both swaps would yield the same smokey results if you were to stomp on the gas pedal.

This Miata is the automotive equivalent of the KFC 'Double Down' sandwich. It takes a sound concept (in this case a v8 Miata) and doubles it up into something that isn't very visually appealing and ultimately extremely hazardous to your health. With two Chevy 350s out in the open air and a frame that looks ready to give in on itself safe this probably isn't. But loud, over the top, and obnoxious it certainly is.

The requested 'Turbo Dodge' Theme Tuesday has honestly been one of the most challenging I have tried to pull together because I am trying to not just post the obvious SRT-4 or fudge the lines by posting only Conquests (which are really Mitsubishis anyway). In my search for ground scraping Dodge Omnis and Daytonas I stumbled upon this SRT-4 swapped Chrysler Town and Country that is completely stock inside and out other than the drive train.

I've seen and (and normally posted) quite a few crazy builds so I am getting pretty a custom to bizarre combinations of car and motor but this particular one caught me wayyyy off guard. Fabrication aside the owner/builder deserves a round of applause for just getting through the amount of hate that comes along with telling people you are going to dress a 97 Mustang Cobra in 94 Acura clothes.

When I first saw photos of this car I thought perhaps someone had crossed a Chevette with a Pacer and stuffed a big intercooler into the front of it. But after a quick search I learned that it is a 1977 Mazda 323, or Great Little Car as it was apparently called in North America. Before coming across this particular one (which looks to have a boosted spinning Dorito power plant under the hood) I never really had a reason to look into these.

I can honestly say this isn't a swap I ever expected to come across. While I've seen a handful of Japanese power plants in American cars (and vice versa) I never expected to see one in a traditionally styled high boy roadster. However Solo from Go with Solo changed that with his blog post yesterday. He spotted this bright yellow American/Japanese union at the recent Nashville nationals and while incredibly unorthodox the motor actually seems right at home.

People who build sleepers have to be some of the most creative and dedicated car people period. The dedication it takes to do something ridiculous to your car but keep it as stock looking as possible so as not to give away your secret is nothing short of incredible. Sleeper builds are always creative, interesting, and motivating. Motivating because after seeing the fabrication skills someone went through to get their idea to work it makes doing simple bolt-ons seem like nothing worth complaining about.

When I read a thread title on Maxbimmer this morning talking about an Electric e30 I nearly choked on my Mini Wheats, my immediate first thought was 'I would rather an eta(325e) over an electric e30!'. However curiosity got the best of me and I clicked through anyway and read the folllowing: "Rimac created a 900-horsepower beast that can hit 60 mph in 3.3 seconds, top out at 174 mph and – depending on how much he flexes his right foot – travel for over 100 miles on charge."

Saw this in the 'Post Insane or Unique Engine Swaps' thread over on VW Vortex and it had me a little confused. I've never seen, or heard of, a Wartburg before. However after checking out Wiki it sort of makes sense as they were a car of East German manufacture that never made it's way to Canada. Their 'claim to fame' was the fact that the motors only had 7 moving parts (three pistons, three connecting rods and a crankshaft).