Am I the only one who thinks a swapped 86 is no longer an 86?
 

Not to bash those who do an engine swap- not at all. I guess this applies to all swapped cars. But once the heart of the car is swapped it ceases to be the same car. I don't think a BRZ/FRS/86 that has had the FA20 swapped out is still an 86.

At what point does the nature of the car change so much that it turns into a different animal altogether?

The 86 in particular is designed to excel at handling and balance.. throwing a giant v8 completely kills what the car stands for. I respect what people do to their own cars but I just cant agree on engine swaps. Unless the car I designed to have a v8. Just get a v8 camaro or challenger.. or a lower model and v8 swap it. Not an 86..

Sent from my SM-N930V using Tapatalk

No. I have brought that up several hundred times. People think I am bashing when I say that it isn't but I am not. You are correct that at some point too much has been changed to say it is still a certain car. I tend to draw that line at the engine but you could conceivably take it as far as turboing or major suspension changes as well. To many changes and it is just a shell of the original. In many cases though the new Frankenstein (the literary type of Frank not the movie one) version can be much better at certain things than the original.

Not a Corvette:

http://www.corvetteblogger.com/image.../120412_2b.jpg

Not a Pinto:

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com...6e0507ab87.jpg

Not an Impala:

http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t...4-lowrider.jpg


Not a FRS:

http://www.engineswapdepot.com/wp-co...h-A-2JZ-01.jpg


All extremely cool and not "ruined" just changed but no longer the car the badging says they are. They just look like them.

I have no concern at all if somebody swaps an engine since I have zero sentiment in maintaining the "soul" of the car or any of that mystic car culture stuff. What bugs me is when somebody swaps and then claims to have the fastest drag time (or any other thing like that) for a Twin. It is no longer a Twin at that point and should not be claimed to represent them.
Back in the 70s I had a built engine in an old 64 Econoline van that would stomp on most Mustangs or Camaros of the time. Would it be even slightly accurate for me to say that 64 Econoline vans were faster than muscle cars?

yes. Just because.

I'm with you on this one. The combo body/engine makes the car.
I can live with someone swapping an engine form the same manufacturer. Like replacing a Dodge 383 with a 440 or something but I just hate Frankenstein cars, i.e. swapping a different brand motor. A Chevy with a Ford engine or whatever car with the mythical LS1 engine swap. It is just not right.

If it doesn't have an 86mm bore and an 86mm stroke, it is indeed, no longer an 86.

Well that would be a stretch. I won a lot of money from Mustang owners with that thing (on a closed course in Mexico) since the Econolines were one of the slowest vehicles ever made.
They only built them with a small six located in a box between and half behind the front seats.

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com...4aceee108a.jpg

I crammed a totally built 351 in that box sort of like this:
http://dougjenkinsgarage.com/blog/wp...3/100_0031.jpg

It would lift the front wheels for 50 feet on launch and there was not much on the street that could touch it. Didn't turn worth shit though and since you were sitting slightly in front of the wheels it was a really weird feeling when you turned. Oh, and it was a two speed automatic!

http://www.falconclub.com/reference/63/63-econoline.jpg

LOTs of engines have that config. That's how you get a square half liter.

But no, @guybo. No longer the same car.

I wanted to drop a v8 into my 240Z but I went back to college instead. :(

You could put a 3.0L 6-cyl with 86 bore & 86 stroke in it and still call it an "86".

It's just an argument towards purism. If you have a goal in mind and swapping the engine out would achieve that goal more efficiently than adding boost, why not? If the form factor of the chassis you're changing is favorable but the engine isn't, then with enough money you could do something about it.

Consider the WRX, it's no longer called an Impreza. I however still think of it as such regardless of marketing deciding that it was a whole new animal and that's just because of the older models.

In short, these arbitrary lines drawn between models of cars is pretty pointless, and the chassis or original chassis is the only meaningful way of determining what to call a car. In the end the BRZ could just be a Subaru RS, nobody would bat an eye. It's a waste of time to decide just how many modifications make a car something else entirely.

http://i.imgur.com/kg0OG8l.jpg

So this is a model T?

http://st.hotrod.com/uploads/sites/2..._t_bucket-.jpg

Sure, but if you don't put one into your 86, it's no longer an 86.