Look away purists, the Honda K-powered Ferrari 308 project has come to life with its first start after the K24 motor spluttered to idle for the first time in its new home. Not a typical sound you’d expect to hear coming from the 80s prancing horse.
Stanceworks have been in the process of K-swapping a Ferrari 308 GTBi with a few other JDM modifications to bring the best of both worlds between Italy and Japan. The original V8 has been replaced by an equally powerful K24 motor but forced induction is able to push the power up to ludicrous territory. 745 kW is the end goal for the team which should make this a time-attack weapon to be reckoned with.
The built K24 motor comes to life with a raspy tone dominating the soundwaves. It may not sound like a typical Honda motor to keen listeners since the Vtec system synonymous with Honda models boasting this engine has been deleted.
As can be expected, other components like the ECU are not stock and bespoke for the K-powered Ferrari 308. Most importantly, the brains of the engine can be tuned in-real time so you will notice a man equipped with a laptop fiddling with the parameters of the idle speed and air-fuel mixture to get the optimal setup.
Unfortunately, the motor isn’t coupled up to any cooling system so this was just a short burst to ensure the motor is running correctly before it got too hot and had to be shut down. That will be the next project for the Stanceworks team in a myriad of loose ends the car still needs completed.
Many things are still missing or need to be resolved, such as the wiring loom strewn across the passenger footwell and rim fitment so it will still be a while before the K-powered Ferrari 308 competes at time attack events at local racetracks.
