Let’s face it, there are a lot of cool engines out there slaving away under the hoods of undeserving cars and trucks.
Sometimes, they are allowed to cut loose and get to play at someone else’s party. That’s what we’re looking for today, engines that once did dull duty in one car, and that were then liberated when dropped into another. What do you think is the best exciting car to use a dull car’s engine?
Image: Wikipedia
Hooniverse Asks: What's the Coolest Exciting Car to Use a Dull Car Engine?
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Playing off your example, I’ll go one further with the Lotus Evora. At least the ‘Yota engine used in the Elise motivated the hot version of the final Celica, a car with sporting pretensions. And the engine itself wasn’t dull at all.
The 3.5L is a fine engine for a Camry or a Sienna. It makes good reliable power for those who need a little more motivation in their beigemobiles. It doesn’t belong mounted amidships in a high-performance semi-exotic. Not without substantial changes, that is. Sure, there’s a supercharged version, but the NA mill makes nearly the same power as it does in the Toyota equivalents.
Edit: I really should read the text, not just the headline. Witness my shame. I’ll try again momentarily. -
Mopar’s 273 was never exciting – even in Barracuda form (although I think they did make a 275 hp version for NHRA). But a Ghia 450 SS – oh me oh my
http://images.hemmings.com/wp-content/uploads//2013/04/1966Ghia450SS_01_700.jpg-
Dodge D-Dart had those specifications.
http://bringatrailer.com/2014/11/20/claimed-factory-lightweight-1966-dodge-d-dart/ -
Well, being a part of the LA family of motors (273,318,340,360) does allow for some
interesting parts swaps for better performance. I ended up with a set of 360 heads and a
340 aluminum dual plane intake on mine.-
My GTX got smoked by an Aspen with a built 318 – I have nothing but love for Mopar smallblocks (granted he also had a line lock, pinion snubber and traction bars, but he still ran away from me)
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Ugly as it was, the Mosler Consulier GTP was pretty speedy, and propelled by a Chrysler K-car 2.2L powerplant.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9d/1990_Consulier_GTP-LX%2C_John_Fitch%27s_car_%28fR_low%29.jpg/1920px-1990_Consulier_GTP-LX%2C_John_Fitch%27s_car_%28fR_low%29.jpg-
I think we can pack up shop today, we’re not going to get a better answer.
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1984 Dodge M4S ” wraith” – did it use the same engine as well ?
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I had thought about posting M4S, but it was a prototype never intended for production, and the engine was significantly modified from ones used in street cars.
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But it made it to a movie.
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VW Beetle engine, Shirley? 😉
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ok
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The early Ford Windsor 260″ V8 had only seen duty in family cars before Ol’ Shel tweaked one of them to 100hp/cid and stuffed it under the bonnet of a little British roadster.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/24/Shelby_AC_Cobra%2C_CSX2000.JPG-
100 HP/CID x 260 CID = 26,000 CID. Impressive, indeed!
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Maybe those obscene prices really are justified.
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May’ve been off my meds this morning.
Or, I was raised on liters, where the magic hipo number is 100hp/l. Or, it used to be. Now you can get better than 100hp/l in a damned milquetoast family vehicle.
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i8 – turbo 3 from the Mini.
http://blog.caranddriver.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/11_i8_Workshops.jpg-
Sir, there is nothing wrong with a turbo I3.
http://33.media.tumblr.com/c9d17bf7a88d9cd7d3aceaf1435f9e1e/tumblr_inline_mkynp488Gg1qz4rgp.jpg
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Someone put a 100HP PRV motor into this and thought it was alright:
http://s.hswstatic.com/gif/1981-1982-delorean-dmc12.jpg-
I see you read the question the same way I did initially.
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I approve.
*depends on your definition of exciting.-
It may never have been intended as a Lotus drive-alike but it looked like a damn spaceship when it came out.
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I think they intended better, but ran outta time. And money. But curiously enough, NOT out of cocaine.
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Priorities!
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Cocaine, time, money. Pick two.
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“Looks like an aeroplane…without wings!”
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130! Which, granted, paired with 2800lbs still means it’d be outdragged by a modern day Corolla.
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https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/14/500eng6.jpg
Of all of the iterations of the Rover V8, The mid-90s TVR 5.0L has to rank up there as the most wild for an otherwise staid motor.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1f/TVR_Griffith_500.JPG -
http://media.caranddriver.com/images/09q2/267376/2008-caterham-7-superlight-r400-photo-266213-s-429×262.jpg
Caterham have used everyones boring, or at least less adrenaline pumping car engine over the years (as factory cars too, not just kits), take your pick:
Ford Pinto/CVH/Zetec/Duratec
GM XE
Rover K-Series
Suzuki three cylinder turbo.
Mind you arch rivals westfield have offered most of those and the Rover V8 too. -
The short block was used in the VW LT van and in an Audi 100. In the 924, it got a substantial tune-up (culminating in a turbo) and a slippery case, making it a GT-ish autobahn cruiser, and fun on the backroads. Usually, this was not used in favour of the 924, but I am proud that my fellow hoons allow me to use this for an honourable mention!
http://www.flussigmagazine.com/uploads/3/3/9/1/3391580/3184819_orig.jpg -
Cool car, dull engine, but said coolness was so independent of the engine that this might be cheating.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f0/1974_Citroen_D-Special_02.jpg-
Imagine that snake pit of an engine bay filled with the engine from an SM. It would be… an SM engine bay.
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Annoying Miata nerds like to call their automobile of choice, “The Answer”. With respect to today’s question, that may be appropriate. The NA 1.6 was a derivative of the mundane 323 mill.
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Not so! The Miata engine was the same as the turbo motor from the Mazda 323 GTX, but without the turbo, and with a lightened crankshaft and flywheel. It even has the piston oil squirters and oil plumbing for a turbo built into the block. So you could say that it was an exciting engine made more dull and put in an exciting car. And it’s relatively easy to make the Miata engine more exciting with the addition of a turbocharger.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mazda_B_engine#B6ZE.28RS.29-
I’d say the GTX and Miata engines are both mundane Mazda B-series engines with modifications to make them exciting, not the other way around.
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You caught me. I skipped the step where the 323;s 1.6 became the GTX;s turbo’d unit. I like poking fun at the Miatisti that much.
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Mustang SVO.
Corvette.
Every V8 muscle car. Truck motors in all of ’em.-
Minnkota or Motor Guide trolling motor?
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The first-year Chevrolet Corvette: Stove Bolt sixes, anyone?
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The Alpine A108
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e4/Alpine_108_02.jpg/280px-Alpine_108_02.jpg
Based on the Renault Dauphine
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/89/Want_it%3F_%286438706249%29.jpg/280px-Want_it%3F_%286438706249%29.jpg
I chose the earlier Alpine because the better known A110 is based on the far less boring R8 Gordini-
Very nice! Along the same lines we have the Kharmann Ghia. Looks fantastic, is powered by a Beetle engine.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b7/MarignyMay07KarmannGhiaFrontSide.jpg
The Melkus R1000 is much the same, with a Wartburg engine:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/37/Melkus_RS_1000_-_P1060905.JPG
We could just as well include the way more common Wartburg 311 coupé:
http://autoclassic.de/sites/autoclassic.de/files/bilder/artikel/5096.jpg
Only 67 Volvo P1900 were made, the glassfiber car inspired by the original Corvette. Powered by a 1.4 litre engine:
http://st.motortrend.com/uploads/sites/5/2014/06/Volvo-Sport-P1900-roadster-front-right-side.jpg-
For that matter…
Mr Porsche himself with his developments.
http://www.eudrivers.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/600-Ferry-Porsche-356-and-Beetle.jpg
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https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cf/Noble_m600_Goodwood_festival_of_speed_2010.jpg
The Noble M600 uses a Volvo V8 developed by Yamaha. The engine is found in the last-generation XC90, a resolute people-hauler.-
Yamaha involvement makes every engine not dull. Also:
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I’m surprised Ford’s 2.3L “Pinto engine” hasn’t been mentioned. The Pinto was not a completely dull car, but it was also an economobile. However, that engine (with a turbocharger) found its way into Mustangs, the Merkur XR4Ti, Thunderbird TC, and the Mustang SVO.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f0/Ford_Pinto.jpg -
The Noble M400 (and quite a few of their other models) used the V6 out of a Ford Mondeo, with the addition of twin turbos.
http://roa.h-cdn.co/assets/cm/14/47/546b586f2d07c_-_no-bull-noble-lg.jpg -
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b3/Red_240SX_II.jpg
Sure, let’s take a great little sports car and toss a truck motor at it!
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/LGtB3B-Gikc/maxresdefault.jpg
For that matter, whatever the hell the Slingshot is, it isn’t dull, even if the HHRs and Cobalts from whence that its Ecotec sprang were.-
I dunno, mine had an SR20DET from the factory 😉
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This was the first car that came to mind for me but I figured most younger people wouldn’t remember what an atrocity that pairing was. “We’ll just throw in a truck engine: those stupid Americans won’t notice.”
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She was the definition of dull until they gave her a hair dryer.
http://images.gtcarlot.com/pictures/51580995.jpg
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