Guy switches out engine of 1971 Rolls-Royce for Corvette

A guy who got a 1971 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow as his first car is now putting a Corvette engine in it.

TJ Lamb, host of YouTube channel Magna Cars, was lucky enough to call the classic car his own at age 17.

He’d been besotted with the beauty ever since he saw it in the Elton John biopic Rocketman.

However, it wasn’t much good on the road – so something had to change.

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What was going wrong with this 1971 Rolls-Royce?

Even after repairs costing $9,000 had been carried out on the car, it began causing grief for Lamb.

On his fourth drive, smoke began billowing out of the hood.

It was all downhill from there, as Lamb outlined in a previous video.

After years of trying to sell it proved fruitless, Lamb decided it was time to do things a little differently.

Years went by, and Lamb went through several different cars including a F150, Porsche 944, and Audi A4.

But it all came back to the dream – to LS swap his very first car.

For those who don’t know, an LS swap means switching out a vehicle’s engine with a General Motors LS V8 engine.

When it comes to improving a car’s power and quality, this is a fine choice.

The Silver Shadow was picked up from storage in Montana, USA and brought up to Calgary, Canada.

Whilst Lamb headed to SEMA for the weekend, the DRVN Society got to work.

Once Lamb realized they’d already made a start on taking his car apart, he was shocked.

How would it be looking once he returned?

How is the Silver Shadow looking after going to the shop?

With a budget limit of $15,000, Lamb was apprehensive about whether the repairs would prove more costly.

Right from the get-go, some issues are presenting themselves.

As the mechanic explained, the power steering bracket was hitting the suspension bracket, so some planning and parts was needed.

But the good news is that the project was running ahead of schedule and staying below the budget line.

The Silver Shadow’s transmission was switched out for a GM transmission (4L60), even though the mechanic conceded it could have been possible to get the former to work.

However, he explained his rationale for the switch.

He said: “Keeping the [original transmission] may have been a win, but we think it would have caused drivability issues for you in the future.

“And we didn’t want that for you whilst you’re cruising. We want you to have nice road trips.”

There’s nothing quite like a good old fashioned American road trip, is there?

One Tesla driver took it to the next level when he drove his Cybertruck from Florida to the Arctic Ocean and back.

This was the first time the DRVN Society have given a 1971 Rolls-Royce Shadow Silver a LS switch – a challenge that the mechanics described as ‘fun’.

At this current stage, the project isn’t quite done yet, but is well on its way.

To see the process for yourself, head over to Magnacars‘ YouTube channel.