Blueprint Engines in Kearney, Nebraska has been making crate engines for cars for more than 40 years. The Blueprint division called Origin Engines develops “purpose-built industrial engines.” The commercial motors range from a 3.6-liter four-cylinder gas mill for uses like power equipment and forestry to a 23.9-liter V12 diesel for real heavy duty. Someone on the Blueprint automotive side apparently got the idea to put a GM LS head on Origin’s 3.6-liter and run the numbers to see what resulted. Blueprint like the idea so much that it took the 3.6-liter four to the same Performance Racing Industry show in Indianapolis where Ford was debuting Megazilla, the company saying it had an engine looking for a market. The Drive reports that the engine makes 340 horsepower and 500 pound-feet of torque “with a modestly sized turbo.” PRI attendees liked the engine so much that Blueprint now believes there’s a market and has started a list of hand-raisers.
Let’s make clear that this little guy still only exists on a drawing board, meaning the numbers are also only conceptual. However, the 3.6-liter is real, wearing a head from Ford’s 302 small block V8. Blueprint told The Drive that it’s the heart of a generator sold by an unnamed major manufacturer. On top of that, the 3.6 is already available in an EPA-certified package and can run on natural gas and propane in addition to pump gas. We would assume that with Blueprint having been around since 1981, the engineering team understands how to run the software running output simulations when switching from the 302 head to the LS head.
Blueprint told The Drive the quoted torque figure comes on from 1,800 rpm. The naturally aspirated 2.7-liter four-cylinder in the Toyota Tacoma makes 159 horsepower and 5,900 rpm and 180 pound-feet of torque at 3,800 rpm. The turbocharged 2.7-liter I4 in GM full-size trucks — once described as “pushing the limits of the four-cylinder engine” — makes 310 horsepower at 5,600 rpm and 430 pound-feet of torque from 3,000 rpm. Going way back in time, the turbocharged 3.0-liter I4 in the 1993 Porsche 968 Turbo S made 301 hp at 5,400 rpm and 368 lb-ft at 3,000 rpm.
On Facebook, Blueprint said people who stopped by the PRI booth told the company they could see the engine going into “pontoon boats, midgets, S10’s, early Jeeps, and more.” With a lot of work to be done to get the engine ready for road use — the concept is still working with the industrial cam — powersports and off-road rigs might the be best, easiest answer for applications. That hasn’t stopped the comments from being full of restomod ideas like 1980s Toyota pickups, the Suzuki Samurai, Jaguar XJ, Chevrolet Vega, TJ Wrangler or Mazda Miata, and we have to admit the Opel GT comes up more often than we would have expected. If you’d like Blueprint to finish the job on this one, feel free to send them a note at [email protected] to register your interest.
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Keyword: Blueprint Engines' 3.6-liter turbo four gasser makes 340 hp and 500 lb-ft*