What Is the Weirdest Engine Swap You’ve Ever Come Across?

Bonus points for anything Eastern European.
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Engine swaps can go one of two ways, and there’s almost no in-between. Either the new heart slides right into its recipient vehicle without a hitch, or there’s a massive fabrication job waiting for the person unlucky enough to have signed up for the project.  

Of course, the first thing that comes to most people’s minds when they hear “engine swap” is the legendary LS engine that has been found in so many GM vehicles over the years. The formula’s pretty straightforward: Pull old engine, slap in an LS, go fast. In fact, swaps using the engines are so common that it takes something special to really make it interesting.  

Spend as much time scouring the internet for car news as we do and you’re bound to come across things that just don’t add up. Take this Porsche Boxster, for instance, whose owner had a truly interesting engine swap in mind. The car somehow holds a Toyota 1UZ V8 behind the seats, but just barely. 

After a debate between The Drive’s staff on how something could actually be possible, we started talking about the strangest engine swaps we’d ever seen. A Toyota V8-swapped Porsche Boxster is unique, but it can’t possibly be the wackiest swap out there. It’s not hard to find super wacky swaps like the one below, but we’re more focused on the swaps that might actually work on a daily basis.

That brings us to today’s question: What’s the weirdest engine swap you’ve ever come across? Let us know in the comments below, and bonus points for anything eastern European.

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Chris Teague

Contributor

After working in the technology and software industry for several years, Chris Teague began writing as a way to help people outside of that world understand the sometimes very technical work that goes on behind the scenes. With a lifelong love of all things automotive, he turned his attention to writing new vehicle reviews, detailing industry trends, and breaking news. Along the way, he earned an MBA with a focus on data analysis that has helped him gain a strong understanding of why the auto industry’s biggest companies make the decisions they do.