Teh Car Blogz

I understand the appeal of an old, creaky rare project car. I really do. The joy of the hunt as you track down that elusive NOS water pump, perhaps the cracked cam belt or crank position sensor. The joy and satisfaction you get when you crank the key on your 30 year-old obscure French car and the engine actually turns over has got to be second to none.

Sometimes, though, you get into the problem of the law of diminishing returns when it comes to project cars. Do you really feel like dumping $10k into an engine rebuild for your DeLorean, and then have a 130hp V6 that runs well? What, exactly would the point be? Sometimes you just need to say “fuck it” and start with a nice, blank slate. And by blank slate, I mean a Small-Block Chevy engine.

350 cubic inches of iron block (or aluminum if it’s an LSx) pushrod, 16-valve goodness. Tons of torque, glorious roaring V8 sound, and cheap as a song to get in a junk yard. Here are a few cars that, to me at least, are just begging for a small-block swap.

1) Volvo 780 Bertone Coupé

The Volvo 780 Bertoné is an exceedingly rare car. Produced between 1986 and 1991, this low-roof 2-door Volvo was based off of the 700-series architecture, but was built by Bertoné in Italy. In total, only 9,500 or so were built over a 5-year span, making a 780 citing a rather rare incidence. All the basics are there for a sweet hot rod. Rear wheel drive, front longitudinal engine location, 4-wheel independent suspension and 4-wheel disc brakes, and a huge engine bay. The only problem was that the 780, a rather exotic looking car, was saddled with Volvo’s state-of-the-art 1980’s engines - which isn’t saying much. It originally only came with the B280F V6 (a joint design between Volvo, Renault, and Citroen) with 148 horsepower - not exactly sufficient for a 3400 lb. car. Later models came with a B230FT, a single-cam 2.3L Turbocharged 4-cylinder with 175 or 188 horsepower - again, better, but hardly sufficient for true hoonage potential. The only remotely interesting factory version was the Coupé Turbo available only in the Italian market. Due to their taxation rules, engines over 2000cc’s at the time were taxed at a much higher rate, so Italian 780’s had a high-pressure turbo 2.0L B-series with a 16v head and 190 horsepower. But other than that, snore.

So 780 owners, rejoice, for there is hope: point your cursors at www.jagsthatrun.com and restore faith in your project. Before and after shots below

2) 2nd Gen (FC3S) Mazda RX-7

Now before all you axe-wielding Rotards coming knocking down my door and crying “Sacriledge! Burn Him At the STAKE! GRRR, DIE MOTHERFUCK*R!” Let’s all think about things logically here. From the factory, the high-winding 13b wankel rotary under the hood of the RX7 makes a grand total of 148 horsepower and a gobsmaking 130 lb-ft of torque. Although it’s a fun engine (8000 rpm redline, sounds like a really angry vacuum cleaner, will spit fireballs during upshifts if it’s bridgeported…) the downsides of the rotary far outweigh the upsides, to me at least. They have no low-end power, the torque output is ridiculously low, they suck gas like it’s going out of style, and they consume oil by design. They also tend to blow up and overheat all the time. The turbo versions make good power (between 185 and 205 horsepower depending on the model year) but all the problems are more exacerbated - expect a turbo rotary that is driven hard to return 15 miles per gallon on a good day. To put it simply, no thanks.
Also, when a rotary goes pop, it’s not exactly cheap to replace. New apex seals, porting, bearings, all that jazz- rebuilding a 13b can be upwards of a $6000 dollar job. And then you have a 148 horsepower, no-torque, fuel-sucking RX7 again.

It’s no surprise, then, that RX7’s with Chevy V8 swaps are becoming more and more common. It makes quite a bit of sense. The LS-series V8’s with aluminum blocks aren’t considerably heavier than a fully dressed 13b, and they make TONS more power - at least 305 crank horsepower from the factory.

If you can’t fit a newer SBC into your budget, though, an LT1 or an L98 will do just fine. While they are heavier than the later aluminum block LSx motors, it’s still a huge step up over a non-turbo 13b. Plus, the aftermarket for small-block Chevy’s is ridiculous; it’s been in production for more than 50 years now, and people have been pulling more power out of them for just as long. Just basic modifications to an LS1 or LT1 produce significant gains - a nice camshaft, some headers, an intake and a full exhaust with an ECU reprogram can easily net you 400 wheel horsepower on an LS1. Stuff that in a 2nd-gen RX7 - which weighs a good 400 to 500 lbs less than an F-Body - and you have a recipe for cheap, reliable, monsterous speed.

Real engine in RX-7 Pictured below:

3) Porsche 914/4

The Porsche 914 is, in many ways, an ideal performance car. It’s mid-engined, so the weight is centralized for better handling. It has four-wheel independent suspension and weighs about as much as a popcorn fart, so it’s not hard to get them to go around corners well. It’s a Porsche, so the ladies love it.

The big problem was what came under the hood (do you call it a hood?) from the factory. The 914 was Porsche’s “base model” in the 1970’s, and came equipped with a slightly tuned version of VW’s air-cooled horizontally opposed four cylinder. Which actually sounded quite like a popcorn fart. Although they did sell a six-cylinder version, it was still only a 2.0L flat six with 120 horsepower. Not exactly exhilarating.

No, what the 914/4 really needs to perk up it’s attitude is 350 cubic inches of throbbing Chevy engine. Luckily for you, the market has already catered to this obvious lack of power. Hit up Desert Hybrids out in Arizona for your swap kit. http://home.earthlink.net/~adbuch/ and for your viewing pleasure, a 914 engine bay stuffed chock full of huge honking Chevy V8. Mmm, want.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 11th, 2008 at 10:46 pm and is filed under Car Theory, hot rods. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.