One of the most common complaints about the first-generation Subaru BRZ is that it’s underpowered. While some enthusiasts voice their grievances online, one took the matter into his own hands. He replaced the flat-four with a V8 sourced from a Chevrolet Corvette Z06 and turbocharged it to extract every last ounce of horsepower. His one-of-a-kind build is currently for sale on auction website Cars & Bids.
Released for 2013, the original Subaru BRZ and its Scion- and Toyota-badged siblings are among the most tuner-friendly cars launched in the past decade. This build illustrates the far end of the tuning scale: yanking out the flat-four and shoehorning a V8 into the engine bay would have been quite the feat, but the seller reportedly rebuilt the engine with parts like Summit Racing pistons before bolting it all back together. Interestingly, the engine exhales through a four-inch fender-mounted exhaust outlet; it sounds as awesome as you’d expect.
Horsepower and torque figures aren’t available, but the owner estimates both figures fall in the vicinity of 900. Keep in mind the stock BRZ posts 200 horsepower and 151 pound-feet of torque. Sending that monstrous output to the stock rear end (!) is a six-speed manual transmission pulled from a 2007 Infiniti G35. There are numerous other aftermarket parts installed to make a Chevrolet engine, a giant turbo, and an Infiniti transmission work in unison in an unsuspecting BRZ: like Tein coilovers, aftermarket sway bars, and brakes from a Cadillac CTS-V. Out back, there’s a parachute in case you need to slow down from triple-digit speeds (or pelt the BRZ from an airplane).
As of writing, bidding stands at $12,333 with three days left in the auction; we’re looking forward to seeing how much this BRZ sells for. It’s not too late to submit a bid if it looks like the kind of hot rod you want to try to tame on the road and/or on the track. Note that there is one big caveat: So many modifications have been performed on this coupe that odds are it will be difficult to make it street-legal in some states.