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I was very happy to see this one pop into my inbox, not just because it’s been a while since the last electric build, but because an S2000 is a very unlikely candidate for an electric engine conversion.
Thanks to Tito for submitting. Click here for more electric builds.
Residing amongst the sea of first-gen Camaro’s on the Pro Touring forum lies this very special bug, one that I’ve had my eye on for a few years. After owning an assortment of muscle cars, the owner realises his childhood dream of owning a V8-powered VW Beetle by buying one already complete. Once he takes a closer look, though, he decides the circa-1980s construction methods weren’t up to his standards, so begins the tear-down and rebuild in a more modern Pro-Touring style.
Thanks to Martijn for reminding me about it. Click here for more Beetle builds.
This build is only in it’s early stages, but it is of such an extreme nature that I just had to feature it straight away. I think it’s one of those projects that will get a lot of exposure very quickly, and then I’d be all butt hurt about the fact I didn’t feature it sooner (as has happened in the past), so here it is. It’s quite simple really, the car is a Triumph Spitfire, and the engine is from a helicopter. Yep, nothing to it…
You might recall in July of last year I featured a tube framed Porsche 914 with a WRX engine transplant. While title of this post may have you thinking this is a similar build, they’re actually quite different. This particular car starts out as an already competent Auto-X car, with the owner, Britain, wanting to ditch his Porsche powerplant in favour of a turbo flat four from the Subaru stables. The build thread closely details the process of the engine conversion, followed by the tear-down and re-work of the suspension using Lotus geometry, with a lot of home-grown fabrication from Britain (the owner, not the country).
Click here for more Porsche builds.
A few months ago I took a step forward in this little hobby of ours and bought myself a Mig welder. Since then I’ve made a few custom parts and brackets, added some new metal to my radiator support panel, and even helped a mate plug up some holes in his engine bay. I was starting to feel pretty proud of my accomplishments; then I received an email from Cameron about his Peugeot 205 build and I came crashing back down to reality. You see, Cameron studied Motorsport Engineering and now works for Ford in the UK as a suspension systems engineer, so he knows a thing or two about how cars work, especially his Peugeot 205. The plan for this little hatch is a space-frame chassis with double wishbone and push-rod suspension, front engine (ish), rear wheel drive, ~350bhp and carbon panels for a target weight of 600kg including the driver. Be sure to keep an eye out for an update in the future when the car is closer to completion.
AW11 Toyota MR2 built for Rallycross purposes in Finland, powered by Honda’s K20A.
Click here for more Toyota builds.
Click here for more K20 builds.
Thanks to Sergio for submitting.
I still vividly remember excitedly sitting down to read one of my new issues of Street Machine Magazine as a kid, it must have been around 1997. I turned one of the pages to lay eyes on what I thought could only be a wild concept car or a one-off custom creation. But a concept car it was not, this was the full production model of the Plymouth Prowler, a throwback to 30’s open-wheel hot rods, made to modern specifications during Chrysler’s retro design phase. But there was just one thing wrong, it was powered by a V6. A V6!? How on earth could the beancounters have let this atrocity take place, oh the huge manatay! Luckily, this isn’t a new and used car review website, so the car gracing this page isn’t as it came from the factory. Trey did what Plymouth didn’t and made his own Hemi-powered V8 Prowler, the way it should have been all along.
I just did a quick search and noticed I’ve only ever featured 3 Skyline’s since this site’s inception, and the last one was over 2 years ago! I think this one is more than deserving enough to get the marquee back on the front page. It’s an R32 GTR which becomes devoid of it’s RB26DETT straight-6 and AWD drivetrain, instead being fitted with a VQ35HR and 6-speed from a 370Z with a turbo strapped to each bank. I have to admit, the real reason I wanted to feature this car is because I’d find myself continually visiting the thread just to look at the picture of the engine, it’s combination of wrinkle red paint, black plastic, cast and polished metals, silver and gold reflective heat material, AN fittings and exhaust heat wrap is automotive art to my eyes.
Over the past 3+ years that I’ve been running this site, there’s been a few builds out there that are so popular they get submitted to me by multiple readers, and this thread falls into that category. However, the submissions weren’t even necessary this time, as I have been lucky enough to follow this build since the thread was first created. Kevin, the cars owner, is a one man building machine, doing everything on this little BMW, from fabrication to bodywork, rust repairs to paint, and now the currently-in-progress F20C engine conversion. I’ve personally enjoyed every update of this well-photographed thread, and hope you will keep following it.
Porsche’s seem to be blowing up the internet lately. Between RWB, Singer, and most recently Magnus Walker, there’s been a constant stream Porkas on every auto blog out there for the past few years now. But hey, this is Build Threads, so you know if you see a Porsche here there’s going to be something different about it. So how about a full tube framed 996 with a 5-cyl ABY Audi powerplant?
Thanks to Linus for submitting.
