For a long time, we’ve seen American V8 swaps into non-American cars as a bit of a disaster. We’ve seen Chevy 350s stuffed under the hood of all sorts of cars that were already perfectly cool from the factory. Yes, they may have tons more power but often the swap makes a mockery of the engineering (and handling) that went into the vehicle’s design in the first place.
That said, meet the BRZ06 from Weapons Grade Performance. The aftermarket tuners started with a Subaru BRZ and bolted a General Motors LS2 V8 from GTO a under the hood. Surprisingly, the removal of the factory 200 horsepower boxer four-cylinder left more than enough for the 400 horsepower 6.0-liter V8.
“Other than mocking up our own motor mounts, transmission mounts, and oil pan, the swap was fairly straightforward,” admitted shop owner Doug Ross. The only thing the shop wasn’t able to figure out was the electronic power steering or the tachometer.
Subaru was very proud if its near 50:50 front-to-rear weight distribution. The guys at Weapons Grade Performance claim that the LS only adds around 80 pounds of additional weight in the front end, so the handling isn’t too wildly compromised from the doubling of horsepower.
Have a BRZ? Want to double the horsepower and nullify your warranty? For $3,000, you can get the basic swap package, including motor mounts, transmission mounts, driveshaft, oil pan, and clutch master cylinder. For $9,000, though, you can get the full package, which includes “all of the above, plus an exhaust system, cooling system, wiring harness, and everything else you need except for the actual engine and transmission,” according to LSXTV.
We like the idea and we appreciate that the Weapons Grade guys had the gall to go through with the swap. But it’s still a bit Mickey Mouse for our taste. No tach? Really? C’mon.
Had they swapped the Suby boxer for a Lexus IS-F V8 and gotten all the bits working again, they’d really have our attention. For now, though, they’ve got an imperfect – albeit clever – answer to a question that few people were asking.
