THE boys at Castlemaine Rod Shop have just revealed the new engine they’re planning on shoehorning into the front of their ‘Real Deal’ LC Torana: a 5.7-litre Ferrari V12!

The Rod Shop crew had been keeping us in suspense for the past few months about what engine they were going to slot into one of their most recognisable cars, after selling the 1500hp, 565ci supercharged big-block Chevy that was previously in Real Deal to American YouTuber Cleetus McFarland to use in his TOAST burnout car.

“I was looking to change up Real Deal, and Cleetus wanted a new engine for his burnout car, so we worked out a deal and it gave me the reason I needed to do something different with the Torana,” says Castlemaine Rod Shop co-owner Heath Waddington, owner of Real Deal.

“We wanted to do something really different from all the LS and Barra stuff out there, and then we started looking at Ferrari engines for sale here in Australia. Now we have one.”

The 5.7-litre V12 is from a 2006 Ferrari Scaglietti, which is critical, as it’s one of the few V12 Ferraris to use a front-engine layout rather than the typical mid-engine arrangement of most Fezzas. It was also only available with a six-speed manual, so the Rod Shop team will have to sort out their own flexplate to suit the Powerglide ’box they plan to use.

In standard trim, the engine makes 397kW (532hp) and 588Nm (433lb-ft), and at this stage Heath and the Rod Shop boys plan on leaving the engine standard. “We’ll be working with Haltech to help get it running in the car with EFI, and the idea is to create more of an all-rounder than just a burnout car,” says Heath.

The Rod Shop specialises in steering, brake and engine conversion kits, so it’s perfectly kitted out with the right staff and engineering equipment to get the Ferrari V12 into the Torana’s engine bay. “The machine shop will be working through what we need to do to make it fit, and to make life easier, we’ll be using the same Powerglide set-up we had in the car before, and the rest of the car is already set up ready to go with the diff, brakes and suspension,” Heath says.

The boys have barely started the project, but the reaction has already been big. “The emails were off their head this morning,” Heath says. “We’re getting a lot of overseas attention from Europe as well.”

There isn’t a specific deadline for the project, but we’re expecting to see the car go together pretty quickly. “It’ll be a case of sooner rather than later with the build,” Heath confirms. “We’re going to run a full exhaust under the car, and I can’t wait to see that big red Ferrari engine popping out of the bonnet and hearing the V12 sound coming from the Torana.”

There’s no doubt we’ll have more stories about this project as it comes along, and you can follow the build process on the Castlemaine Rod Shop YouTube channel here.