Everyone knows that the stock U.S. 1.8 liter power plant is hopelessly inadequate. Most Scorpions I've seen have some kind of engine performance upgrade. As soon as I could, I obtained a 2.0 liter Montecarlo engine for my Scorpion. That engine has been in the car for the car for the last 10 years or so. It gave a big improvement in torque at the expense of roughness at higher revs. It was even fun at the track, although in the passing zones I was always all the way to the right, waving just about everyone on by. And the transaxle gearing gave me a near-useless first gear and excessive revs at freeway speeds. My opinion was that the chassis could handle significantly more power. I love the Pinninfarina design and mid-engine handling, and so was reluctant to sell it in favor of something else. Besides, I'd need at least five Scorpions to equal even the down payment on a Ferrari 355! My other car is an Alfa 164LS, which has a wonderful V6 that could be made to fit into the Scorpion engine bay. However, the Alfa engine is big and heavy, and I was afraid it would ruin the balance and handling of the Scorpion. I almost bought an Integrale engine, but the deal fell through. Then I was referred to Barry Waterhouse from BWE in London. Barry told me about a Thema power plant swap he'd completed some years ago. The Thema engine is basically a detuned Integrale engine, with the advantage of Bosch as opposed to Weber fuel injection. Barry lined up a used Thema turbo power plant for me, and the project was underway.

I chose to install the engine with its own transaxle, which gave me much better gearing. The 8 valve Thema engine is rated at 165 hp stock, but is capable of more than 200 hp without internal modifications.