Image via Larry Chen/YouTube
Never have we even heard of someone shoehorning a Ford Raptor’s engine into an old Mercedes sedan. But we have footage of a crazy build where someone did just that with a 190E. For purists that’s absolute sacrilege, but we think this is the sort of thing we want to see more often.
Check out the Nigerian sportscar one man is on a quest to bring to market.
After all, the original AC Cobra was the result of taking a tight British chassis and marrying it with a brutal American V8. Doing that with what many consider one of the better German chassis of that time only seems to make sense, at least to us and the guy who built this machine.
He told Larry Chen, who documents the build on his YouTube channel, that this isn’t a true Evo but instead just has the body kit. We kind of figured that from the get-go since most “Evos” we see at shows, etc. aren’t factory Evos. It still looks cool and this thing rips harder, so whatever.
To fit the Raptor’s twin-turbo V6 under the hood of the 190E, this guy had to go crazy cutting up and discarding all kinds of stuff like the firewall and shock towers. He had to remove the stock suspension, which honestly probably wouldn’t have worked well with the additional weight and power anyway.
Speaking of power, if you can’t tell this guy didn’t leave the Raptor motor and turbos alone. It’s making 525-whp in its current configuration, but that number might increase as the owner keeps tuning the powertrain, including maybe dialing up the boost beyond the mere 20 lbs. he’s running.
Up front is an SN95 Mustang’s suspension and subframe. In the rear the guy went with a Subaru STI setup. He said he did this not only to make things fit and to handle the power, but also to ensure parts availability in the US. That’s pretty smart.
This guy says the F-150 EcoBoost engines are going to grow in popularity for swaps. That might mean not every built Mustang is running an LS in the future – imagine that!
Check out the video to see this build in action and learn more about it.
Images via Larry Chen/YouTube
