Back in the 1980s Porsche was not looking to cater for the sedan (aka Panamera) or SUV (Cayenne and Macan) segments and was still fully focused on the classic sports car market. But it needed something more attainable than its iconic 911 series and thus introduced in 1982 the Porsche 944, a front-engine rear-wheel drive midship model sold in coupe and convertible versions, with both naturally aspirated and turbo engines onboard.
The Stuttgart-based company quickly escalated things into delivering some of its largest inline-four powertrains for the 944 series, turning them into buttery-smooth GTs in the naturally aspirated form and brutally crazy badass cars in turbo guise. Which, of course, led to the model becoming the company’s biggest success at the time, paving the way for the sales records of the Boxster and 997 911 Carrera age.
General Motors’ renowned LS series of power mills, on the other hand, are quite the Average Joes of the engine-swap niche. They have become virtually ubiquitous thanks to their incredible versatile nature. They can bring ample power to the table and can fit almost any engine bay, irrespective of the era! Seriously, one can never be truly innovative if you go for a GM LS-swap.
Until you see this Porsche 944 Turbo with its new LS3 onboard, that is. Notice the 944 Turbo moniker retained by the black example presented by the Roads Untraveled YouTube channel. It has nothing to do with reality anymore, because the LS3 fitted snugly under the hood is all natural and all aspirated.
Right now, you might be feeling a little baffled. On the one hand you have a pristine-looking Porsche 944 Turbo that looks utterly delicious – and thus could feel stabbed in the back knowing the classic German sports car awesomeness' has been tainted with an American muscle car engine.
On the other hand, just by looking and especially hearing for a couple of minutes the LS3 944 Turbo hard at work, minding its own 500 hp business will make you eat any foul words you had previously prepared.
Yes, it’s unholy to fit an American V8 in the engine bay of an in-line four German sports ar. But it sure feels and drives better than you could imagine. So, engine-swap case closed. Carry on, lots more to see and love in the video embedded below.
Aurel has aimed high all his life (literally, at 16 he was flying gliders all by himself) so in 2006 he switched careers and got hired as a writer at his favorite magazine. Since then, his work has been published both by print and online outlets, most recently right here, on autoevolution. Full profile
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