You’d Never Know This Chevy Sonic Has a V8 Until You Turn the Key

Date October 21, 2025
Category
News
You’d Never Know This Chevy Sonic Has a V8 Until You Turn the Key

Believe it or not, this isn’t the world’s first V8-swapped Chevy Sonic. Cleetus McFarland has one with an 8.8-liter Chevy big block, and PMR Motorsports built an LS3-powered Sonic rally car a few years back. However, I must say that this is the most unassuming example I’ve seen… until the builder turns the key.

His name is Nathan Hoy, and he goes by @nate_the_ls_guy on Instagram. You might be one of the 3.3 million people who have seen his initial video of the car back in August, but if you’re not, I’ll give you the rundown. He took a Plain Jane economy car with a Bowtie on the front and tossed in a stock Chevy truck engine. He calls it the SuperSonic, which, y’know, is great.

Specifically, he swapped out the old teensy tiny four-cylinder for a 5.3-liter LM7. It’s a big, heavy iron block that’s connected to an unmodified Turbo 350 automatic. There aren’t any high-dollar parts here—he says he bought the wiring harness off Amazon and the driveshaft off eBay—but you can bet it’s a heck of a good time for only $5,000 in parts.

Hoy had to do some cutting to the Sonic’s inner structure, as you could probably guess. He says he chopped the K-frame in several places to make room for the radiator, which he stole from a VW Scirocco, as well as the transmission. And because he installed a front-sump oil pan, he was able to mount the steering gear rack in line with the spindle knuckles, which made it way easier to sort the steering geometry. Hoy also acquired some Chevy Equinox springs to wrap around the stock struts in hopes that it’ll bear the increased load of the engine a bit better.

Those skinny tires wrapped around the factory wheels (which, I believe, are 17s) don’t stand a chance at putting that power to the ground. From what I can tell, though, that’s kind of the point. It’s a show-and-tell build that rips sick burnouts. Hoy mentions that he installed a set of cast-iron shorty headers, so it’s a real joy to look at and listen to.

Future plans for the build include trading the transmission for either a Saginaw four-speed or a General Motors T5 manual. Whichever one doesn’t go into the Sonic will likely find a home in Hoy’s AMC Pacer that’s also LS-swapped. Clearly, this dude has a type, and I’m totally OK with it.

Got a tip or question for the author? Contact them directly: caleb@thedrive.com

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