v8 engines

Self-described “Mr. Fix-It” Trent Whatley was tired of having to replace parts of his gas grill every year, so he decided to build a brand-new one out of a V8 engine from an old Chevy. First he spent about 15 hours painstakingly removing the guts from the engine with a plasma cutter and smoothing all the jagged edges. Then he sand-blasted it to remove rust and had it cleaned professionally at a machine shop.

How do you cram eight cylinders into a six-cylinder compartment? If you're Volkswagen, you create a new category of powerplants: The W8 is shorter overall than conventional V8 engines.