When you have a fleet of project cars as large as the one we do for Carnage, it can be hard to keep track of where all the machines are at. So in this episode, Scotty takes a wander through theworkshop to give us a rundown on how all our cars are tracking.

First up is the Lexcen wagon, our turbo 1UZ V8 sleeper project. Right now the car is without an engine, as the 1UZ is still sitting in short-block form while we wait for G-Force Race Solutions to finish fitting a beefier set of sticks to the original quad-cam heads.

Once we have those back, Scotty can build the engine with all-new gear, and the really exciting bit is that we just got a turbo for it! Zane Heath from Maxx Performance sold us a Pulsar GT42 to feed the Toyota V8, so rest assured we’ll be looking to put this car together really soon.

Our other 90s Holden is a fan favourite: the ‘Supermang’ VN Berlina. It ran 12s earlier this year at the Holden Nationals, and we thought the car had come through that ordeal unscathed. However, once we got it back to the workshop, it was pretty obvious the standard M90 blower atop the L67 V6 was toast. So we need to find a new blower for that combo. In the background, a 4.2-litre stroker V6 is being built to take the Berlina to the next level.

The OG Carnage car is the ‘Turbo Taxi’ FG Falcon. After kicking off this whole YouTube deal for us five years ago, it’s set to make a return. Right now, the stock-bottom-end LPG Barra that’s in it is ready for the morgue, so we’ve bitten the bullet and got a set of H-beam rods and JE pistons that Scotty will be putting into another Barra, which will (hopefully) futureproof the Taxi’s next engine as we hunt for that elusive 10 on LPG.

One Barra-powered car that’s all full of win for us is the Mazda MX-5 we call Lightning McBarra, which is just coming off of an awesome weekend at Summernats Slam at Heathcote Park Raceway. It ran a fistful of nine-second passes without breaking a sweat.

We’ve decided to develop the car further and go hunting for eights, so we’ll be throwing an Enemies Racing rear anti-roll bar kit in it, stripping a bunch of weight out and adding a touch more power before we head back to the track soon.

Our second-quickest car is The Trolvo, our 1JZ-swapped Volvo 240. In last week’s episode, we upgraded the turbo to a Pulsar G35. We found the old three-inch exhaust choked that turbo, so we had Maxx Performance make a full four-inch system for the Swedish brick, and you’ll see it back on the dyno in an upcoming episode very soon.

Our Big-Block Barina is just that – a 90s Holden Barina packing a larger 2.0-litre engine from a Holden Calibra. It’s been a super-fun circuit car for us, but Scotty wants to take it back to the drags with a shot of giggle gas to see what it can do down the quarter.

Mr Dodgey is a 1963 Dodge Phoenix we did a quick 440 Mopar big-block swap on. About six months later, we threw a set of Edelbrock heads and a hot new flat-tappet cam in it on the showroom floor at MotorEx, but sadly it ate those on the drive home after the event.

Since then, it has sat gathering dust in the back of the workshop. Our plan is to resurrect it with another big-block, so fingers crossed Scotty can squeeze that in by year’s end.

One project that’s actually out of Scotty’s control is the green LC Torana hiding next to Mr Dodgey, and that’s because it’s owned by our editor Andrew Broadley.

Avid Carnage viewers would remember Broads’s green Torana from a mini-series we did in 2019, where we swapped a Harrop blower onto the stock Holden plastic V8 on the floor at MotorEx, shortly before Broads ran an awesome 11.3 down the strip with the newfound stonk.

After that, the engine had a hiccup, so it was sent off for some major love. Now the project has snowballed (as they all do), with a Haltech, Castlemaine Rod Shop nine-inch diff and AllFast Powerglide all about to find a new home in the green machine. Then, 10-second street car!

The last car on the list is one you’ll actually be seeing back on your screens really soon: Scotty’s dad’s VE Valiant ute.

Scotty spent a decent portion of last year building a 318 Mopar small-block for the ute and fixing it up ready to get back on the road. After a successful day out at Mopar Nationals earlier this year, he’s looking to get it registered, upgrade the single-pegger to an LSD and then hit the road up to Queensland for Mopar Sunday at Willowbank Raceway in just over a month’s time.

So that’s where the majority of our projects are at right now, and as you can imagine, there’s no shortage of work to do. The good news for you though is that means there’s plenty of Carnage content still to come, so make sure you follow along on YouTube and our socials so you don’t miss anything. A massive thank you to our sponsors VPW Australia, Hare & Forbes Machineryhouse and Ryobi for making all this madness possible.