Id never do it but I was surfing ebay and came across this: Ferrari 308 Chevy V8 Conversion Kit by Bob Norwood | eBay Anyone ever see a completed car?
There was one in Northern VA many years ago. Had a 327 (carb of course) and it ran pretty well - Car was hard both inside and out - Now with LS's being dropped into everything it does make you wonder about the possibilities ... even though the purest among us would not be pleased.
I think they'll be a lot different now that 308/328s are eclipsing 355/360s. Anyone who would butcher one of these now...
Made it to and back in my Trailblazer SS from Pittsburgh to Mid-Ohio race today. Barely. LS2 took a huge dump. 70k miles. I'm up in the air whether these engines are worthy. Right now; not so much.
Well, as the man says, "This is the ultimate for anyone looking to upgrade their car, go for more power or have a more economical exotic". now is the perfect time to "upgrade" your FERRARI to a ......Chevy!!! Si Signore!
Just stopped by and saw this and had to give some info. Back in 2007 a guy came on to the board and explained that he was doing a chev transplant into a 308. I guess the responses were pretty critical so he stopped posting. Being an old conversion type (cheveys into jaguars) I was interested on what he was doing. He got a 308 with a blown engine so made it a project car. He used a ZF transaxel from a Pantera and mounted the chevy longitudinally in the car and extended it 4". He did all his own fab work to mount the motor as well as frame work. He told me it worked out great and the car ran well and quick. Now looking at this Norwood kit this would be an easier conversion in my mind as all of the engineering was done to bolt up the motor to the gearbox and clutch/flywheel assembly. It would be interesting to see it done .
they seem to be pretty reliable, but with how many they have on the road, they are bound to have some failures. 70k is pretty low for it to have problems.
Swap Insanity: Ferrari 360 GT Powered by 1,000 Horsepower LS Engine - LSXTV The bowtie is a little much but otherwise woulb be fun to drive.
My last LS1 really started to fall apart at about the 90k mile mark (oil pump failed, cam was starting to flat-lobe, etc) All on a car that was a daily, not a race car. If I were going to rebuild the motor annually for racing, I wouldnt hate LS1s, but when you want to drop one in because it is "more reliable" I start to question your logic.
My 5.3 in my GMC truck has 76,000 very hard miles on it. headers, intake, built trans, stall converter, shift kit, etc. It's a daily, but I'm pretty hard on it. I am on my 4th trans, but I've not had a hiccup from the engine. Not to say they're the most reliable, but the LS based engines have a pretty decent track record when taken care of. I was going to do a cam and heads, but we just had a baby and I want to keep it as reliable as possible, so I've backed off a bit. I have a pile of parts sitting in the garage for it that will likely never get put on. TBSS manifold, cam, TB, etc. Some day maybe.
I don't understand why people do this. The heart of the beast is the engine; Pininfarina/Scaglietti build the bodies, Ferrari builds the engines. If they want GM "reliability" why not have it in a GM car, no matter which one? In any event the 328 QV engine is pretty reliable, itself. So again...why? Cheers, Rich
