#Ls1

We’ve all heard the jokes before. Muscle cars only drive in a straight line; they’re petrified of corners.

We are back with this week’s instalment of AutoGuide’s interactive weekly feature ‘Commute, Toy or Destroy’.

An owner from Campbell, California is getting rid of his old BMW 528i on eBay. Nothing special right? Wrong! That’s because this immaculate E28 has undergone a heart transplant that removed its wheezing 2.8-liter inline-6 for GM’s LS1 V8 engine plucked from a Chevrolet Camaro and mated to a 6-speed transmission.

This year marks a major milestone for the Chevrolet brand. This fall, marks the 100th anniversary of the automaker and, the company expects to build its one-hundred millionth small-block V8 this fall. Chevy is not sure which engine will mark the 100 millionth number, nor does the company know where it will end up (Corvette? Auction?), but it should roll off the assembly line some time this fall.

Shoehorning giant engines into small cars is nothing revolutionary. The goal of achieving a ridiculous power-to-weight ratio has always been on the minds of automotive enthusiasts, and this project is a great testament to how far creativity goes. LS1 engine enthusiast, LS1Blazer on ls1tech.com, went and swapped in a 401-hp LS1 motor into a Geo Tracker. Yes, that Geo Tracker.

The old age debate of imports vs. domestics, four-cylinders vs. V8s, high-revving horsepower vs. low-end torque… the argument continues to rage on despite a whole new era of simple hybrids. And while we won’t see many GM enthusiasts swapping in a Honda S2000 powerplant into their domestic machine, there have been plenty of import enthusiasts taking big V8 muscle and shoving it into their engine bays.