The Lamborghini Jarama sprinkled a little olive oil on the Maserati Quattroporte and ate it like a little gnocchi (in spite of the Maser's vast bulk) in yesterday's Choose Your Eternity poll, triumphing in a near-unprecedented 80-20 ass-whupping. Apparently the Maserati was just too easy for our voters, and we totally understand. That's the reason we're going with a couple of projects featuring crazy international engine swaps today, because there's nothing as cool as a car that will be a tire-roasting deathtrap, yet never worth even a quarter half of the money you squander invest in it!
The early 3 series cars are fun, no doubt, but what if your driving style mandates a pushrod V8 and associated sliding-backwards-out-of-a-cloud-of-smoke glory? You could work all manner of complicated turbocharging voodoo by simply opening your wallet and pouring its contents over the BMW four or six... or you could do what this crazy individual has done: Yes, folks, it's a 1983 BMW 3 Series with Chevrolet LS1 V8, and the Buy It Now is a ridiculous $4,500. Four and a half grand! It looks like a lot of the work wasn't done with Sawzall and hoseclamps, which could well mean that you'll just have the usual nightmarish somewhat troublesome details to work out with the swap. It might even handle acceptably, what with the engine set so far back. Thanks to Thunder for the tip!
Come on, everyone is dropping LS1s in just about any car you can think of- they'd be rolling their eyes down at the local engine-swap bar (what, you don't have an engine-swap bar in your neighborhood?) were you to rumble up in an LS1 3 Series. No, you need boost and plenty of it, with a Toyota 1JZGTE stuffed into a family station wagon! Say, this 1989 Volvo 740 wagon with twin-turbocharged 1JZGTE engine, for example. You can tell the time is right to make a persuasive sub-asking-price offer on this fine Swedo-Nippon machine, because the seller laments: "with a few recent problems I've been forced to abandon all projects and just get something that is not going to take up my bank roll." You see? It's an easy project, and you happened to come along at just the right time to snap it up! Don't worry about the wiring harness, which the seller- in a fit of un-Craigslist-like honesty- describes as "pretty ****ty," since you'll sort out the glitches in a matter of minutes. What could go wrong? Thanks to Mr4Runner for the tip!
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