I’ve seen Honda K-Series engine swaps in just about everything you can imagine. An Odyssey minivan? Check. A C6 Corvette? Sure. A Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo race car? You betcha. But until now, I ain’t never seen a 1931 Ford Model A with a turbo Civic Type R engine. Thanks to Tyler Hara for changing that.
We spotted this build on Instagram when @checkingoutcars posted it over the weekend. Hara replied to our comment on the post, explaining that he owns it and built the car from scratch. A quick bit of searching turned up quite the resume for this fella, as he’s currently the lead powertrain systems engineer for Czinger, an American hypercar company that’s been in the news recently with its 1,250-horsepower 21C V Max. Making the “K20C 31,” as Hara calls it, was probably a walk in the park compared to that car’s twin-turbo 2.9-liter V8 hybrid.
The engine fits like stock in the Model A’s bay, which makes sense considering most of these were built with four-bangers at the factory. (Too bad the original 3.3-liter only made about 40 hp.) Hara even made good use of the original grille opening, stacking a vertically mounted intercooler and radiator side-by-side. I’m not sure if that’s my favorite touch, or the fat exhaust pipe that comes off the turbo and dumps in front of the driver’s door.
The K20C, which makes more than 300 hp in stock form, sends power to the rear wheels as it’s situated in this car longitudinally. A quick peek inside reveals an AEM digital gauge display, but the rest of the interior is fairly free of any modern equipment. You won’t find any cheesy bucket seats or five-point harnesses—this is a Sunday driver with a bench seat, baby.
I get it if this isn’t your taste, but you have to respect Hara for putting together something so clean, especially when you consider the car has been in his family for roughly 40 years. It looks like a real labor of love, and one that he can enjoy on any day of the week in SoCal.
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