Two Porsche 911s at SEMA swapped their flat-sixes for a Ferrari-built V8 and a Chevy LS2

Porsche has never put a V8 in a production 911, yet two of them at the 2026 SEMA Show in Las Vegas have lost their flat-sixes to one. A 1978 911 SC nicknamed Porrari runs a Ferrari-built Maserati V8, and a 2007 911 GT3 carries a General Motors LS2 small-block. Eneos, the Japanese oil company, sponsored both builds.

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Porsche has used V8 power in the 928, the Cayenne and the 918 Spyder, so the engine itself is no stranger to the brand. Autoblog suggests packaging and cooling in the rear-engine layout, along with weight distribution, may explain why the 911 never got one from the factory.

Porrari: a Quattroporte V8 in a 1978 911 SC

Jimmy Oakes built the 1978 car around a flat-plane-crank F136 V8 taken from a 2007 Maserati Quattroporte, an engine Ferrari built for Maserati, which is where the Porrari name comes from. Racer reports it makes 400 horsepower, more than double the original output, and a 996-generation Porsche gearbox mates to it through a Kennedy Engineered Products bellhousing. The air-cooled car needed a cut front tub to fit a radiator and fan, and a 10-gallon Radium fuel cell replaced the stock tank. Autoblog’s SEMA report adds that Maserati and Ferrari’s close engineering relationship ended in 2023.

The credit list on the Porrari reads like a roll call of specialist shops. Wired by Trap built the harness, a Link ECU G5 Voodoo Neo 6 runs the engine, James “Bopper” Moran made the headers and exhaust, and Accurate Fabrication in Bristol, Connecticut, built the roll cage. Stance coilovers replaced the original torsion bars. Eneos backed the project and supplied engine and transmission lubricants, according to Racer and The Shop.

Individual throttle bodies come from the S65 V8 in the BMW E90/E92 M3, with adapters and trumpets 3D-printed by Ding Dong Drift. The body was widened for RAYS VRX-10 wheels, 17×9.5 inches in front and 17×10.5 in the rear, and four-piston Boxster Brembos handle braking. A carbon-fiber roof from EP9 Autosport and a roll cage round out the chassis.

Oakes said the build was never about the easy route; the goal was to make people take notice and then show how it was done. Shunsuke Kuniyuki of Eneos praised the project as an example of innovation and craftsmanship from builders who challenge the status quo. The car first appeared in June 2026 at the Formula Drift round at Stafford Motor Speedway in Connecticut, according to The Shop.

The finishing details carry their own list. The Porrari rides on Accelera 651 Sport tires, wears Porsche Guards Red paint and uses a carbon-fiber roof from EP9 Autosport. The original gas tank gave way to the 10-gallon fuel cell, and the full chassis restoration came before the V8 went in, so the car is closer to a ground-up rebuild than a quick engine drop. The Shop describes it as a project that began with a complete restoration of the chassis.

The LS2 GT3 built for drifting

Faruk Kugay’s 2007 GT3 is the second car, and its flat-six was already gone before the LS2 arrived: the car previously ran a Subaru STI EJ25 flat-four. The GM LS2 was chosen for its compact pushrod design and strong torque, which helps keep the rear tires spinning in a drift. LS3 cylinder heads and a dry-sump oil system keep lubrication steady under sustained lateral loads, a Porsche 996 Turbo gearbox sits behind it with a custom two-way limited-slip differential, and a hydraulic handbrake, a Wisefab steering-angle kit and a widebody conversion finish the drift package.

The two cars show opposite ideas about what a V8 should do. The Ferrari-built engine in the 1978 car has a flat-plane crank and an 8,000 rpm redline, a high-revving character that suits a track-minded street car. The LS2 in the GT3 is a pushrod engine prized for low-end torque, the quality that keeps rear wheels spinning through a drift. Both replaced air-cooled or flat-opposed layouts with a larger, heavier engine, and both builders had to solve the cooling, gearbox and mounting issues that come with it.

The LS family’s appeal to swappers is well documented. Autoblog’s history of the pushrod LS V8 notes that the 6.0-liter LS2 arrived in 2005 in the Corvette C6 and fifth-generation Camaro, that the LS2 and LS3 made upwards of 400 horsepower, and that the short pushrod design lets the engines fit bays that overhead-cam V8s cannot. Between the two builds, the sponsor’s footprint stands out. Eneos, a Japanese oil company, backed both cars, which fits a pattern of lubricant brands funding unusual drift and track projects as marketing. At SEMA the cars share floor space with thousands of products, and an engine swap that breaks Porsche’s rules is a reliable way to draw a crowd.

SEMA 2026: November 3 to 6 at the Las Vegas Convention Center

The show runs through November 6 and, per its preview coverage, has passed 1 million net square feet of exhibit demand with more than 2,000 brands. Tom Gattuso, SEMA’s vice president of events, calls it the place where business gets done, and the public-access day falls on Friday, November 6, followed by SEMA Fest that night. Autoblog’s own summary is that unusual engine swaps can work with enough time and effort. Whether Porsche ever tries a V8 in a 911 itself is a question neither builder’s story answers.

This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.

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