Our favorite LS swaps from LS Fest West 2023
After attending a few LS Fests it’s hard to be surprised to see one of the world’s most ubiquitous V-8s mounted into an obscure car or other conveyance. However, we were still impressed with the ingenuity and craftsmanship in many of the cars on display at LS Fest West 2023. Here are some of our favorite swaps from the event.
Steve Groenink’s 1973 Celica sat in a field for almost 30 years before he got his hands on it 13 years ago. It was reborn as a Pro Pouring build with a Lexus 1UZ swap, a pair of turbos, and a T-56 Magnum six-speed manual transmission. After winding up in a ditch with that build, Groenink rebuilt the car into the drag-and-drive competitor you see today. It’s powered by a 388-cubic-inch V-8 with LS3 heads, a Concept Performance LSR aluminum block, and aluminum rods. That fiendish build is mated to a two-speed Powerglide automatic transmission. A single Precision XPR 98mm turbo feeds it loads of boost to the tune of 1,163 hp—as measured by the LS Fest dyno. Groenink got eliminated just before making the drag race finals at LS Fest West 2023 but still managed to run a 7.93 E.T. at 189 mph when Las Vegas Motor Speedway’s density altitude was more than 6000 feet.
We’re not sure it really counts as a swap considering a kit car doesn’t come with any engine at all, but Chris Hein’s Factory Five coupe is very impressive nonetheless. After building the car on a budget, Hein rebuilt the car to compete in drag-and-drive events like Drag Week, Sick Week, and Rocky Mountain Race Week. A set of mirror-image Garrett turbos feed a stock 6.2-liter LSA long-block and help it produce more than 1000 hp. Hein shifts the car himself using a G-Force T-56 Magnum with a Tick Performance billet front plate and McLeod clutch. The car has run in the 8s and can rack up highway miles comfortably thanks to its air-conditioned cab.
Adam Rocconi, who goes by @WS6SIX6 on Instagram, bought this Trans Am for $900 when he was 17 years old. It originally boasted a tuned port 305, but now the car is now powered by an LQ9 from a 2004 Escalade that runs Holley Terminator X EFI. Of course, now the 6.0-liter V-8 has new heads and cam as well as an intake with eight throttle bodies from Redux Racing, so it’s making a lot more than its original 345 hp rating. The individual throttle bodies took some tinkering to sync up, although the snappy throttle response seems well worth the effort. Inside, the car’s original Recaro seats were reupholstered and looked amazing with the metallic brown exterior.
Of course, there were hundreds of LS swaps on display and we couldn’t see them all, let alone get the details on all of them, so here are some additional standout swaps that we managed to snap pictures of. Which one is your favorite? Let us know in the comments below.
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How about my 2006 Cadillac CTS with LS2? Kidding, It was built like that CTSV. Still my favorite car ever.
I did put an LS in my 97 BMW 318i about 6 years ago. Very fun car. Nothing stock about the engine though.
I recently saw a coyote squeezed into a near Fiesta. Very nicely done as well.
The 454BBC /THM400 in my ’87 Airstream 345 Motorhome (Chev P30 Chassis) is low mileage and still running well, but just a matter of a year or two before an LS (or LT?) swap happens. Just waiting on the right donor. Suggestions?
I would do a 4.8L truck swap, as it doesn’t have the problems of the 5.3 and has more than enough power to get that RV moving!
Thanks for the suggestion Sajeev. A 4.8 with forced induction perhaps, but the 34.5 ft moho’s around 17,000lbs, and I’d like to be able to tow my enclosed 8×20 aluminum car hauler with vehicle, bringing my total rolling weight to around 24,000 lbs and length to almost 62 feet. Seems a VERY tall order for even a boosted 4.8 (though a well sorted one would no doubt deliver better power than the original 36 year old 7.3l (454cu in) still moving it now.
Oh wow, that’s a lot more weight than I was expecting! Yeah a 4.8 would absolutely need boost for that application, but at that point I’d prefer an 8.1 (as its last/best in the line of Big Block Chevy mills) or a Duramax/Allison swap instead.
Those that are outraged, do you include the recent Cummings turbodiesel in a Lamborghini?
Have to agree with previous comments about the RX7.
The rotary is what makes them special.
Never understood the appeal of replacing it with a piston engine.
Growing up, my dad had a 1952 IH pickup he used for going to work. Second time it burned a valve, he talked with a friend who owned a wrecking yard. Next three months he and I put a 445 Wildcat running gear into the truck. When you pass a Trans Am at 140mph in something that looks like this, it’s FUN!
Speedometer error? Different laws of physics for the Matteis family? The coefficient of drag of a 1952 International Harvester pick up truck prevents a 445-ci Buick V-8 propelling it anywhere near “140 mph.”
You can pull more Gs on various amusement park roads without endangering others on public roads. Try booking open tracking time on a race course.
Hilarious the irresponsible nonsense this site sponsored by an automotive insurance company attracts.
Yeah, Mike, I hear ya. I know what it took to put my ’04 Holden/Pontiac GTO w/5.7 LS1 and the Tremec 6spd over a real (radar + GPS + calibrated speedo chase car verified) 140mph, and I started with good aero. It’s the tires, Mike- anything over 100 is simply hell on tires, and I didn’t even try until I had the track spec Eagles & OZ lightweight wheels so as not to die & kill my spotter. It’s not the 401 Nailhead or the lack of aero that sinks this “story”; can you imagine the maypops running on a kludged up mess like that? Sustained 80mph would have been a death sentence!
I’m in favour of “within brand” swaps. So the Firebird makes so much sense. It’s a simple swap, all the pieces required are available on line and in the end you don’t destroy the value of the car, if fact you may get your money out of it. That can not be said for LS swap in a last generation RX7.
All of them are completely stupid
That would be the short answer. Thanks.
None of these stand out for me. Back in the day the best swaps were small block to big block.
Also anything you could put in a VW Beetle. Todays engine swaps have zero appeal.
In 1980 Bought a 56 Austin Healey 104/Lemans with a factory stock solid lifter 289 hipo out of a 65 mustang and 4 speed in Newport Beach Ca , surprised many a 911 stop light to stop light
God, more “me too me too!” LS swaps.
They are like you know what……..everybody has one. I walk past LS swapped cars. Not interested. Booooooring!
It’s really sad to see all these negative comments towards fellow automotive enthusiasts. While an LS swap may not be your cup of tea, these swaps are fueling the aftermarket automotive industry. Try being nicer or go out and build your own hot rod.
Thank you for that, Chris. My GTO was born with the LS1, but I’m not going to down someone for using a great engine with outstanding aftermarket support if they engineer an LS into some other brand. My speed parts are cheaper because the LS is so popular. Bring on the swaps!
There’s a reason that people LS swap, it’s cheap and makes big power. I used to own an 89 trans am gta. It’s not like it was some rare mint low mileage car. The entire time I wanted to LS swap it. No point in wasting money on the stock 350 unless you go to a carb setup. I could do a junkyard 5.3, build it and slap a big ol turbo on it and destroy 80% of the cars on the street. The math just makes since.
I don’t get the hate over LS swaps…sure, it’s a cliché, but one that is incredibly successful and diverse and embodies an important element of our hobby.
Regarding the comments decrying the loss of originality, I can only look at so many me-too restorations that take a car back to completely stock. Gimme the creativity of that LS-swapped FD RX-7, MX-5, 911, and Lotus Elise, because for every one of those, there are thousands of bone stock examples to keep the purists happy long after their time on this earth has come and gone.
@Brandon Gillogly – Would love to see more of that crazy Speedster/Spyder mash-up with the GT-40 headers. Guessing it was a ground-up custom build and not a swap, but as Chris Harris would say – WOW! What a special thing!
Telling me what NOT to do with my stuff just makes me more determined to do it. The vitriolic LS hate seems to come from envy. And that Speedster/Spyder was my favorite of the bunch.
Tinkerah, I agree- and those headers are a work of art! I haven’t seen pipes that cool since the Hall modified Pantera with 180° unmuffled headers and a tunnel port 302 I saw at a show in LA about ’06. Spaghetti would be jealous!