Mike Burroughs is giving his Ferrari 308 a Honda motor, and it’s an excellent idea – Roadshow [CNET]

January 8, 2021 Thomas Giboney technology

People are fascinated by engine swaps. Take the crappy, inefficient lump out of your Nissan 240sx or BMW E30, for example, and throw in a GM LS engine. There are entire corners of the internet dedicated to it, and it’s a perennially popular topic for bench-racing car nerds.

One engine swap that’s been growing in popularity over the last couple of years is the Honda K-series four-cylinder engine out of the Acura RSX and TSX. Still, of all the places people think of shoving Honda’s brilliant little powerhouse, the back of a Ferrari just isn’t one of them — unless you’re Mike Burroughs, that is.

Mike is the guy behind popular internet car culture site Stanceworks and also behind generally unhinged cars like the BMW E28 known as Rusty Slammington and his BMW V8-then-Ford-Coyote-powered 1931 Model A pickup truck. For his next project, he bought a Ferrari 308 GTBi and is going to give it a Honda heart transplant.

At first blush, this seems like an insane idea. Why would you pull a killer-sounding V8, built by Ferrari, out of an iconic car and swap in a Honda four-cylinder engine? As it turns out, there are a lot of reasons. Power is one. The stock Honda K24A2 engine makes more power than the Ferrari V8. It also weighs about half as much, has a reputation for being bulletproof, and has a robust aftermarket, which will allow Mike to turn the wick way up on the K-motor.

In this video, Mike outlines his reasons for making the swap and talks about some of his plans going forward. His decision is sure to make some Ferrari fans salty, but it’s sure to spark debate.