Hang out in a group of car enthusiasts for long enough, and the topic will invariably turn toward bench racing. Whether you have the money, time, space, and mechanical ability to do so or not, you mentally build a neat car with cool details and offer it to the group for them to judge its coolness. Sometimes those dream builds make it out of the proverbial group chat, but often they don’t. Whether you can commit to the build or not, or if it’s just going to stay here, it’s worth getting your idea out into the world. Maybe it’ll inspire someone else here to get started on their own project, or even pivot their own idea because yours is cooler.
For one reason or another, manufacturers don’t always put their best engine in their best chassis, even though they probably could. Thankfully, there are backyard engineers and home mechanics everywhere capable of shoving whatever engine they want into a car, including engines that came from other manufacturers, or perhaps even engines never available in cars at all, like a high-revving motorcycle engine swap.
Maybe your car didn’t come with an engine that would make it perfect. I want to know all about it. What’s your dream engine swap? Do you want to shove an LS into the back seat of a Geo Metro? Do you want to put a Honda K-series into an old Datsun Roadster? Do you want to EV-swap your Lincoln Continental? Let’s chat about it. Sound off in the comments below with your thoughts on engine and drivetrain swaps, and we’ll discuss it. Then, I’ll pick a few of my favorite responses to recap for everyone else next week.
Don’t let your dreams be dreams
I don’t talk about it much, but the first fun car I ever bought was a 1976 Triumph TR-7 with a Buick 231 V6 under the hood. The swap wasn’t done well, and the car was possessed with many demons. After acquiring it, I found out the car had significant rust damage, and the engine was much more worn out than I was promised. I pulled the engine and dedicated a winter of nights and weekends in college to rebuilding it. The car was eventually scrapped, but I still have that engine on a stand somewhere. I really should figure out what I’m going to do with it. That TR-7 was truly an abysmal car, and I probably should never have bought it, but it definitely helped shape my car enthusiasm and nurtured my love of engine swaps.
The car I’ve owned longest is my Porsche 912E (above), and it’s been plagued with ignition issues for the last three years or so. I often think about pulling that original 2-liter flat four and replacing it with something that makes a bit more power and revs a bit higher. While a sane person would probably go buy a used flat-six from a later model 911, that’s just too boring for my liking. Lately I’ve been thinking about building a Mazda 13B rotary engine to put in this little sucker. While the 912E was originally sold with about 88 horsepower, and a 2019 rebuild has it in the 110-hp range, I’d really like to see 150 or more for this little machine. A carbureted Formula Mazda 13B engine makes about 180 hp, and a modern Renesis makes just over 200. That should be plenty.
Think about how great a rotary would be in a Porsche chassis. It’s still unorthodox enough that it pique the interest of at least a few people at a cars and coffee, but it’s well-trodden enough territory that I wouldn’t be walking into the wilderness. It’s lighter, more powerful by a long shot, and it’ll run out the tachometer to more than 4,500 rpm (and it’ll sound good doing it). Maybe I’ll start amassing the parts to get this project done over the winter. And maybe I’ll talk about it more here in the near future.
