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The General Motors LS is the default engine-swap choice for a good reason. These V8s are readily available at low prices, they’re power dense with good aftermarket support for upgrades, and they can fit into pretty much everything. This swap, though, goes the extra mile in both creativity and difficulty. And it can be yours.
Currently located in Los Angeles and listed for sale on Facebook Marketplace, what we have here is a 1996 Geo Metro with an LS4 engine where the back seats would normally be. Yours for $16,500 (or best offer), this appears to be the same car that was featured in LSX Magazine in 2021. The seller says they bought the Metro four years ago, so the timing makes sense, and that they had the rear bodywork redone to improve airflow to the engine, which explains why the rear fenders look different than the ones in the magazine article.
Credit: Phillip Kopers via Facebook Marketplace
According to the article, the car’s builder bought the donor Metro for $200, but found $30 in the sun visor, so the actual investment was just $170, plus time spent cleaning out the car, which had been sitting in tall grass. The planned super bike engine was still too expensive, though, so in went the LS4 and a 4T80e transaxle. Yes, this LS was designed for transverse front-wheel drive applications (it was originally used in the Chevy Impala SS and Monte Carlo SS, Pontiac Grand Prix GXP, and Buick LaCrosse Super), so it was flipped around to power the Metro’s rear wheels.
An engine cradled and suspension from a Cadillac DeVille were used, but this left the 16-inch rear tires sticking out, hence the modified bodywork. With the Metro’s 93-inch wheelbase, stock front track, and lack of weight up front, the car can be a “handful,” as the article describes it. The engine was said to produce 290 horsepower and 310 pound-feet of torque when new, compared to the 55 horsepower and 58 pound-feet of torque from the 1.0-liter three-cylinder engine that came standard on these second-generation cars (a more power 1.3-liter four-cylinder was also available from 1998 on, by which time the Metro had acquired Chevy badging).
Phillip Kopers via Facebook Marketplace
The Metro is a type of car that has disappeared from the U.S. market. Offered in two generations—one from model years 1989-1994, the other from 1995-2000—it was rebadged Suzuki Cultus designed to offer cheap transportation and nothing else. It was one of the cheapest new cars around, and some versions delivered 50 mpg (based on period testing standards). In the days before hybrids, this is what fuel efficiency looked like.
Its small size and aura of cheapness have made the Metro the butt of many jokes, but people have found plenty of cool things to do with these little hatchbacks. And this LS swap is one of the coolest. It’s a poor person’s version of that other Metro with an engine where its back seats are supposed to be, the MG Metro 6R4 rally car.
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Stephen has always been passionate about cars, and managed to turn that passion into a career as a freelance automotive journalist. When he’s not handling weekend coverage for The Drive, you can find him looking for a new book to read.
