Ford would. And did. It was a 3.4 Liter DOHC 4v V8, made 235HP if I remember right.

Damn, DEI37 beat me to it. Plus the Lincoln Continental is on the same platform as the Taurus, and has a DOHC 4.6 V8 putting out 260HP. It's detuned somewhat (puts out 280-300hp in other applications), most likely for torque steer and/or transaxle durability issues.

Now there's an idea--take a late 90's Taurus wagon, drop in a Continental drivetrain, beef up the tranny, and get the engine back up to the power output it has in other cars (intake/exhaust/chip most likely)..that'd be a heck of a sleeper!

hmm a good street sleeper.
Id go with a honda accord 4dr, back 1/2 it and fit some 275/50 street slicks on it. put reg 255/50's on the front the mod the front suspension to hold a 434 sbc. Who'd expect it. with some loud pipes and a bunch of decals everyone would think just another kid in a hopped up honda. Or just leave it in primer ;)

lol nobody would mistake the can of angry bees that would usually come out of such a car for the low grumble of a SBC. You'd be seen coming a mile away. :)

NO2 + SR20DET Stage IV big turbo conversion (+500HP) w/ low restriction intercooler & exhaust, NISMO brakes, springs, trans & clutch attached to a dorky 1995 vintage Nissan Altima w/ beat paint, fart can muffler, stupid ironing board sized rear wing, NO2, Nitto & APC stickers everywhere, "xenon" headlight bulbs & the gaudiest 18" spinners I could find.

Heh, heh, heh............

No one expects a rice burner in the above external condition to actually be fast.

soundmotor

Tru dat! ^^

Perhaps along these lines?

http://tanetane92.web.infoseek.co.jp/053051.jpg

soundmotor

a near sleeper I drove (not mine) was a early '60s Austin Healey Sprite ( the bug eyed one) with a 327 chevy, 2 4 barrel holleys 3/4 race cam, rollers, custom headers, 4 speed trans, cut down positrack rear end. the only thing that gave it away were the carbs on the hood, and with a cover they were not obvious( unless you knew what a sprite should look like) the big problem with it was it shredded the right rear tire all the time ( torque would lift the left side of the car, not off the ground but enough)

and before someone asks I don't know how he got it in there, speculate ( well am certain) custom mounts and reworked body. If I remember right it would run in the neighborhood of 12 second quarters.

I saw and drove this in the early '70s once,left the country before I could find more out about it.

on another note, get a late 50s nash rambler, drop in as many cubes as you can replaceing all running gear at the same time. you'd have a big heavy UGLY but fast car

I think it's in this month's HotRod magazine ...Jay Leno's "sleeper" Olds Toronado with a Lingenfelter twin turbo big block ...I think it was a bb not sb. Of course most of us don't have unlimited resources like he does but I thought it was cool anyway.

If you're interested in more:

http://www.seriouswheels.com/top-196...o-Jay-Leno.htm


my edit: and I believe it is based on a small block

My fave sleeper was the 11 sec Escort. 5L Mustang engine, miata tranny with RWD conversion.

What makes the Cutlass ideal for this??? I have a '96. BTW, I thought you could get a special ed. of the car that had an L67 of the floor.

Cutlass rwd Conversion
 

I gave this some thought a while back. The w-body is not engineered for rwd, therefore the rear suspension is not very strong and as with most fwd cars there is not much of tranny tunnel. I've come up with a couple of ideas found surfing the net. These would give more room in the engine bay and better weight distribution.

1) Use a curved "rope drive" torque tube and rear transaxle from a 63 Pontiac Tempest like Jay did on his v-12 Corvair. See it at www.corvaircorsa.com/V-12-01.html . Very cool conversion. Don't know how I would hang the transaxle and suspension though.

2) Torque tube with manual transaxle and torsion tube suspension from a 944/928 Porsche. As with the 928, the 944 transaxle can also handle the power and torque of a v8. Found info at renegadehybrids.com they do v8 Porsche conversions.

The only thing stopping me from persuing this is time and money. :(

Back in 1987 a friend of mine wrecked a 71 challenger with a 383. We took the motor trans and rear end and stuffed it in a plymouth reliant K station wagon. We were young and stupid. We had no idea that you had to beef up the unibody to support the power. It only took 4 weeks to destroy it to the point it actually broke in half. We had jumped the car a few times prior to the engine swap so maybe it wasn't the best car to put the motor in but it was fun and faster than anything I have driven since. I wouldn't drive it that fast if I had the chance to now. Like I said we were young and dumb. It was one hell of a sleeper. The best part is that we were seen in the original car prior to the swap and it had crappy exhaust so no one thought twice until we stomped the gas.

LOL one of those things with that power....that is the super sleeper.

78 Caddy with a 502 and some street carver suspension is my ultimate ride

I got that issue and I also watched them build that thing on Rides....man I would love a car with 1100+hp :lol:

I would use an old levin or such. Drop a spoon crate in.