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Ford’s DOHC Coyote makes as much as 480 horsepower and weighs less than an iron 302 – but it measures roughly 29 inches across, and a 1965 Mustang’s shock towers were never asked to make room for that. CJ Pony Parts walks through the control packs, clearance calls, and hidden costs that decide whether this swap becomes a weekend win or a two-year money pit.
A wrecked Yenko/SC Camaro gave up its 1,150-horsepower supercharged V8, and it landed in a third-gen Camaro that cost less than a decent set of tires. ScrapLifeLee’s salvage build has pulled 2.6 million views by asking the question auction catalogs never do: how much of a Yenko is the badge, and how much is the engine underneath it?
Pontiac never let 1981 Trans Am buyers have real horsepower and a manual transmission in the same car — the factory forced a choice. This owner refused to accept that trade-off, dropping a 400-horsepower crate small-block and a four-speed stick into a genuine WS6 Trans Am. Recorded in POV binaural audio so you can hear exactly what the factory never let buyers experience, this build answers a forty-year-old complaint.
A 1970 Ford Mustang SportsRoof gets a complete heart transplant on PowerNation’s Detroit Muscle, swapping its original small-block for a supercharged 5.0-liter Coyote V8 paired with a Tremec TKX five-speed transmission. The build leans on ARP fasteners, Detroit Speed headers, and a custom belt-drive system to make the modern powerplant fit a decades-old engine bay. Viewers in the comments debated the real cost of the swap, with one builder pricing out a $305 header alternative to the show’s $3,500 name-brand set. The result is a classic fastback built to run with cars its original engineers never had to worry about.
Westen Champlin’s Mustang build didn’t start with an engine — it started with a family of rats living in the engine bay. What followed was a fully built 2,000-horsepower big block, a fabrication job that pushed the Mustang’s chassis to its limits, and a viral moment involving an unexpected Camaro joke. With more than 11.5 million views, it’s become one of the biggest builds this channel has ever released. See how a rodent eviction turned into one of the year’s most talked-about engine swaps.
Every part in this 1968 Mustang restomod came from a junkyard Ford Explorer — the V8, the rear end, even the transmission. No Bolts Left Behind breaks down the real dollar cost of the swap, chapter by chapter, and viewers say the honesty is rare in restomod content. One commenter put the builder’s labor alone at $20,000. See the full parts-bin formula and what it actually costs to build it yourself.
Backyard Barn Finds sits down with Joe Cool of Joe Cool’s Shop for a full breakdown of what an LS swap actually takes — and the comments split hard between viewers calling it the most honest advice they’ve seen and viewers convinced a shop owner will always push the pricier option. Watch to see both sides of the LS swap debate before you spend a dollar on your own build.
Jarred and his dad pulled the V8 out of a 1966 Ford Mustang and replaced it with a turbocharged Honda K24A engine, built with a 67mm turbo, a Nissan 350Z transmission, and standalone KPro tuning — all in their own garage. The swap has split viewers between calling it blasphemy and calling it genius. Watch the full build to see which side you land on.
Vice Grip Garage’s 1973 Plymouth Duster is losing its famously indestructible slant six and weak 904 automatic, but what Derek drops in their place isn’t the Mopar-correct choice anyone expected. A 351-based stroker, paired with a heavy-duty 727 TorqueFlite, sends this budget-performance fastback in a direction that’s already sparking debate among Mopar loyalists in the comments. Longtime fans are also reminiscing about their own Duster and Dart memories along the way. See exactly what Derek chose to build this Duster around, and why it’s dividing the Mopar faithful.
“Tater,” Westen Champlin’s 1968 Dodge Charger, has taken plenty of abuse across his build videos, but stuffing a supercharged Hellcat engine rated near 1,500 horsepower into its 58-year-old unibody pushed things further than usual. The swap leans on aftermarket Holley EFI to run a powertrain that chassis was never designed for, and it shows almost immediately once real torque hits the driveline. Fans in the comments are already calling Champlin an honorary member of the Hemi brothers for what happens next. Watch how far belt slack and 1,500 horsepower can push a vintage Mopar before something gives.
Dalton pairs a rust-riddled 1967 Buick Skylark with a Pontiac LeMans engine on a strict $2,500 budget, turning what looks like scrap into a running muscle car. Pole Barn Garage’s low-buck formula has built a loyal following, including viewers who say the builds genuinely motivated them to get back to their own garages. Watch the full transplant come together.
This LS engine teardown starts with the same uncertainty every rebuild does — you never quite know what years of neglect actually did until the first bolts come loose. Viewers ranging from lifelong diesel technicians to first-time builders have weighed in on the technique, debating everything from head bolt removal order to a cheap salvage-yard 6.0-liter with an oddball factory quirk. Watch to see exactly what comes out of this engine, one bolt at a time.