Your next project car needs a twin turbo Hayabusa V8

The world of Engine replacement is comprehensive and covers everything Swap one inline-four for another To Stuff a three-blade Wankel into a DeLorean. We are used to seeing L.S after L.S And K-exchange after K-exchange Nowadays, but behind all those pages of YouTube results lurks something cooler: engines like this twin-turbo Hayabusa V8which was built for open vehicles but was intended to be installed in any chassis imaginable.

Custom open-wheeled cars aren’t usually my thing – I’m the modified Subaru and Honda girl on the team, the home-built stuff was kind of a blind spot for me. Maybe that’s why I missed this billet block, which combines two Suzuki Hayabusa heads on a single crankshaft, making for one of the coolest engines I’ve ever seen.

While this V8 is clearly and openly based on Suzuki’s work, the folks at JFC Racing have done some work to make it more car-friendly. The engine is available as a 2.8-liter twin-turbocharged or 3.0-liter naturally aspirated engine, but even the smaller displacement option outperforms any factory Busa. The larger grinder is also boring and both options have upgraded internals. This means the NA option produces 460 hp and 280 ft-lbs of torque, while the turbo model produces 785 hp and 505 ft-lbs.

This is an absolutely tiny engine for this kind of performance, and it’s a wonder it hasn’t evolved from purpose-built racing machines like the Radical, Wolf and Lola. JFC claims an ND Miata kit is in the works, but the expected delivery date for that is “2024” – the clock is ticking to see one of these works in a street-legal production car. But even without official support, why doesn’t this exist? Don’t we see this in MGs?

If you have a project car that needs an engine, install one of these JFC V8s. Then send me the video because I’m curious to see what it looks like under the hood of a Civic. Better yet, let me drive.