Fourdin Auto Sport took a European-market Chevrolet Matiz and swapped in a Corvette Z06 LS7 to the tune of 550 HP. This just might have to be our WTF engine swap of the day.
Swapping large displacement V8s into small roadsters has always been a favorite thing to do when we're bored in the States, but the idea of swapping a 7.0 liter Corvette Z06 LS7 into a small economy car has never really caught on. The guys at Fourdin Auto Sport in Europe must have either gotten really bored or drunk one day and decided to try their hand at the swap. We don't get the super small Chevy Matiz here in the States, but if we did, we're sure a few enterprising young enthusiasts would try just the same.
Corvette-Powered Chevy Matiz At Monza:
The Chevy Matiz originally came equipped with a measly in-line 3 cylinder squirting out an embarrassing 65 horsepower; enough to net you some pretty good gas mileage we're sure. In July of 2007, the Fourdin team set out on a 13 month, 1,500 hour adventure to squeeze the 7.0 liter behemoth in the little clown car. The standard 1 liter engine could reach 60 mph at a crawling pace of just under 22 seconds, but the meaty, snarling 7.0 liter 550 horsepower V8 will get you there in an exotic crowd pleasing 3.7 seconds and will continue on to a terminal velocity of 162 mph.
Yves Fourdin, the project lead and Fourdin Auto Sport founder, had this to say:
"The realization of this project is the result of brains, passion and time. We did it without engineers and without computers, but as a close group of friends with a lot of passion for motorsport. The detail level of the car is therefore absolute. After more than 1 500 hours of work, we are proud of the result."
It just goes to show that without enough brains (and likely enough Heineken), you can turn any little econo-hatchcrap into a insane screaming beast. We want one, like yesterday.
[via autoblog.nl]