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.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPA1...rvette-z06-ls7-engine&feature=player_embedded
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.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0G0...rvette-z06-ls7-engine&feature=player_embedded
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.