IT’S about to get very Swedish at Carnage HQ, but with a decidedly Japanese twist! On his quest to procure quirky, left-of-centre project cars to star on Carnage, front-man Scott Taylor snapped up a beep-beep Barina (which you’ve seen already) in a package deal with a 1983 Volvo 240 for a very reasonable price.

Both cars were unfinished projects, and both had been treated to engine conversions. In the Volvo’s case, there was an ex-Toyota Soarer 1JZ-GTE twin-turbo six-pot and A340 four-speed auto fitted – albeit loosely – between the rails. It’s a definite upgrade from the asthmatic 2.3-litre four-banger the car originally ran.

In this episode of Carnage, you’ll meet the Volvo – now dubbed the Trolvo – and learn of Scotty’s plans to finish off the conversion and turn it into a road-going street-and-strip rocket.

The 1JZ, like its bigger brother the 2JZ, is an engine very responsive to modifications; they’ve been known to make around 400rwkW on factory bottom ends. While the Trolvo is still sporting its factory CT12A turbochargers, they will likely be upgraded at some stage in proceedings.

Scotty has aspirations of driving the car to Red CentreNATS and back, and maybe we’ll even see it make an appearance at a Drag Challenge event in the future, but for now, bits and pieces like the intercooler and plumbing, tailshaft, shifter, engine mounts and sump need attending to.

Check out the episode, and be sure to let us know your thoughts on the new project in the comments!