This is one of those cars that you hate to let go because its just so much fun to drive!  Anyone who has ever owned one of these will attest to this as this car is the tightest, smallest, widest, chassis 2 seater, hatchback that has ever existed and they are becoming fewer and fewer out there.

So let me go over the details so you know why I swapped an LS2 into this car as many BMW aficionados are pulling out there hair just reading this.

I was going on a road trip and 5 minutes into it I hydroplaned into a wall and totaled the car as per the insurance claim.  Hagerty car insurance is amazing and gave me what I had the car valued for,  less 2500 and they let me keep the car so we rebuilt it.

First we replaced the hood, front passenger fender, and the bumper, and bumper shocks.  The rear bumper was fixable and the rear panels were not damaged, only the front.  The chassis was not twisted or bent.  

After the body shop fixed everything and repainted the car we went through it and took it to the track at Sebring.  I enjoyed this car the most when on the track and she ran great but I wanted more power and since it already had a rebuilt title, I figured why not.

So we bought an LS2 V8 out of a GTO Pontiac with a 6 speed transmission and performed the swap with Sikky engine mounts, steering arm, and headers.   The car has 2.5" exhaust tubing all the way back and has an H pipe.  We had the drive shaft custom built and it can hold up to 600 hp.  The dual exhaust are pretty much tore through as this thing is pretty loud, sounds like a vette but it does have mufflers on it.

This was one of the easiest swaps and it fits like a glove inside the engine bay.  The wiring was challenging but all the gauges work with about 10% difference but they work.

AC works and although these cars AC never worked great, it works and blows cold.

We beefed up the engine with Brian Tooley Cams, lifters, rockers and new intake so now it makes 450 to the rear wheels and probably more if you retuned it.  Honestly 450 in this little car is more than enough and I like to keep my cars reliable so I'm not breaking driveshafts and other stuff.

Now I have tracked this car and gone through it as anybody who has done an engine swap knows, you have to find the weak links and fix them and we have done this on this car.

We added a reservoir for the clutch as they were shared on this car before rendering the clutch and brakes useless under extreme conditions.  Obviously we use DOT 5 for the brakes and with the dual reservoirs the car works as it should 

We added larger cut and slotted brake discs on the front of the car and now it stops on a dime, best brakes of any car I own.

We added a power steering cooler to the line so the power steering doesnt over heat under extreme conditions

I needed to add the large vents on the hood to keep it cool under extreme conditions and these look great and cool even better.

The car already had adjustable coilovers front and back.

The wheels are custom made Vossen wheels 19 x 11.5 in the rear and 19 x 8 in the front.  Tires are Pirelli in the rear 295/30 and the front are Kuhmo 225/35

The car comes with another set of Apex racing wheels that have racing tires for the track

I have owned this car for 5 years as I bought it in 2019 and it has been an amazing car but now its time to sell it and let someone else enjoy it.  

I can tell you that on the track I was able to keep up with a Porsche Cayman GT4 for a little over half a lap and anyone that knows those cars knows that you won't find a better track weapon for 150k than that car.  And my little home grown LS swapped BMW kept up with it until the straight away!  

Please if you have any questions don't hesitate to call me, Andrew 

Thanks for reading and looking at my listing.