Ferrari Mailing List: Engine swaps

[Rick (rolindsay]

Hello Friends,

I'm just back from Pennsylvania where I attended the Radnor Hunt Concours with Phil Tegtmeyer. Not a single engine swap on the show field. Lots of classics though.

Pretty hard to believe how cavalier we talk about swapping engines in a Rolls or Bentley. After all, the engine is the heart of that (or any) car! Perhaps we should ask a Spitfire pilot if they'd prefer a Chevy lump over that Merlin? Or maybe a 427 in place of that high maintenance V12 in the Daytona? 

With all that said, I must confess. In my even-more-stupid youth, I once put a Chevy engine in a Jaguar Mk II. It did run kinda-okay but sounded like an Impala. Sold the bastardized Jag for $1500. The buyer had a 3.8 liter XJ engine ready to retrofit.

Engine swaps are bad. If all you want is 'go', buy a Corvette and keep your classic unmolested. 

2 cents please.

-rick

Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE Smartphone