Chevy Lumina APV / Pontiac G6 GTP

Thanks to Jordan for submitting this build, and for emailing me a nice little intro to the project. So nice, in fact, that I’m just going to post it here…
“Built for the Grassroots Motorsports $2016 Challenge and a great example of scope creep. Originally, the build was going to transplant a newer version of the van’s engine into its tired and rusty chassis. Instead, the van body was placed onto the late-model, wrecked car.  I have to say, the low-slung look of the raked-body van looks amazing.”

I wholeheartedly agree! Click here for more chassis-swap builds.

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Porsche 911 V8 RSR

You have to give it to Hal, he sure is sticking it to the man! Not only does he shove a V8 into the rear of his Porsche, he actually cuts up his own fenders and fits his own wide body kit without having to fly someone half way around the world to do it for him. But in all seriousness, this is a great looking car with an engine that many won’t approve of, but makes a lot of sense if you want some affordable and reliable power in your P-car. Purists look away now.

Click here for more Porsche builds.

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RAMPAGE – 2nd Gen Camaro

Have you heard of the Rampage Camaro? Of course you have, it was arguably the biggest hit of SEMA 2014; a second generation Camaro with a full slathering of motorsport technology and fabrication bestowed onto it by the wizards at Roadster Shop. And what’s better than seeing pictures of a glossy finished car shining under stadium lights? Pictures of that same car in bare metal with little to no panels bolted to it! I actually found this build through another featured build. I was browsing for updates on the red MKII Supra (whose owner works at Roadster Shop), when I saw him post a link to this build within his own thread. See, it always pays to look through the archives, you never know what you’ll find! I honestly had a lot of trouble figuring out which pictures to use for this post, as I found myself wanting to save pretty much every damn image from the thread, so I hope you enjoy the visual banquet that is this build as much as I did. It might not be achievable for most of us, but it’s nice to dream and peek into the upper echelon of car building once in a while. Who knows, you might find an idea or two for your own build?

Click here for more Roadster Shop builds (there are four so far including this one).

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Project Thunderbolt LS3 Miata [video build]

If you’ve been following my “What I’m Watching” series, you would have seen me post about Tom’s Turbo Garage on more than one occasion, including this very project I’m about to share with you again. What can I say? I love Tom’s work, his videos are enjoyable, informative, and funny, not to mention he’s great at wrenching on a plethora of projects in his amazing home garage. His latest project, Project Thunderbolt, sees him installing an LS3 V8 into an NB Mazda Miata/Mx5. Even though I’ve posted about this before, I wanted to do a proper on-going entry about this car, where I’ll edit and post new videos as they’re released, much like Project Binky (which I’m gagging for an update on!) Tom is releasing new videos every two weeks, so you don’t have to wait very long to get your fill.

Check out V8Mazda.com for more information about the project.

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J-ROD ’67 Chevy Nova

Every time I hear “Chevy Nova”, all I can think of is “I remember you used to drive that crappy blue Chevy Nova. What are you driving now?”…”Same crappy blue Chevy Nova”. Now, if you’re a bit younger than me, you might need to look that one up! The Nova in this feature is not blue, and DEFINITELY not crappy. What it is, is a high calibre pro-touring build that started out as a quick re-paint, but quickly snowballed into a full SEMA award winning build.

Thanks to Kelly for submitting. Click here for more Pro Touring builds.

P.S. Thank you to all those who replied to my question in the previous post, I was overwhelmed with the amount of response and pleased to know that the site-hosted builds are appreciated.

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BUILT from eBay [video build x4]

So, I’ve become a bit of a YouTube junky lately. My almost nightly ritual consists of plonking myself down on the couch with a hot coffee, firing up the iPad, plugging in my over-ear headphones, and catching up on all of my favourite subscriptions. Some of those include /DRIVE, HoonTV, Jay Leno’s Garage, Marchettino, Mighty Car Mods, Motor Trend (Roadkill and Dirt Every Day), and of course Petrolicious. For too long I imagined YouTube’s sole existence catered to wannabe celebrities uploading videos of themselves doing something stupid in the hope of going viral. Now I’m more than aware that it’s become quite the replacement for television, with professionally produced channels releasing regular content aimed at specific demographics, making their viewers crave new content just like you would for Breaking Bad or Game of Thrones.

It was during a browsing session that I stumbled across a 10-part series called “BUILT from eBay”, which chronicled the process of four different shops (aligned with 4 different magazines) building four different cars using parts bought only from eBay. While the concept is pretty transparent as being one big commercial, the content is quite entertaining. Hell, you get to see four completely different cars being built without having to read a single word, what’s there to complain about?

Click here for more video builds.

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Triumph TR6…or Z06?

Firstly, I feel I need to apologise for the amount of LSx builds on the front page, as I generally like to aim for a bit of variety on the site. But hey, if people keep stuffing them into cars in interesting ways, I have to keep featuring them! This one is a bit more than just an engine swap, though, because the owner has transplanted a lot of the underpinnings of a Z06 Corvette into his unsuspecting Triumph TR6. The most significant part of this build is that we learn the owner and builder is actually wheelchair bound, yet this proves no boundary to him as his enthusiasm and dedication to his car shines through, making the most of his situation and enjoying his passion to the fullest. So next time you’re feeling lazy or making excuses about your own project, have a read of this thread. My hat is tipped to you, Sir.

Thanks to Peter for submitting.

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LSx powered E36 BMW

Ahh, the humble LSx swap. Some people might think that LS-swaps are overdone, played out, or whatever your buzzword of choice is. But I guess if you provide a range of compact, affordable, reliable, and easy to tune engines, people are going to use them! Personally, I’m all for them, they look great and appear more than willing to accept power additions, either naturally or artificially aspirated. The LSx in this build is being used to power an E36 BMW, and while the swap itself is interesting enough, it was a small detail of the build that drew me in, and by small I mean one little accelerator bracket. Yep, that’s all it takes! It’s a small part but it was done so neatly that it gave me a feel for the rest of the build and made me want to read more, and I was rewarded with a whole lot of attention to detail.

Click here for more BMW builds. Click here for more LS-powered builds (there’s over 10 of them!). Continue reading “LSx powered E36 BMW”

Roadster Shop C-10 [video build]

One company I’ve loved following online for the past few years is Roadster Shop. In fact, I’ve featured a couple of their builds before, which you can view by clicking here. While cruising around the Pro Touring forums, which I like to do regularly, I noticed they were undertaking yet another new build. This time, they’re teaming up with Craftsman Tools and putting together a really nice Chevy C-10 pickup, all documented via some slick videos that detail each stage of the process. Apart from the videos there are also high quality images in the thread, which you’ll find at the bottom of the post.

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’69 Chevelle / ’99 Nascar chassis

What better way to update your classic Chevelle than by sliding a modern Nascar chassis underneath it? Sounds easy, right? Well for some people it is, like Doug, who set out to create his ultimate ’69 Chevelle after never quite getting over the loss of his first one back in the mid 80’s. The fond memories of a first car seem to always stick with us, no matter what the make or model.

Want another Nascar chassis-swap build? Click here.

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