Randy (or anyone), did you catch Rides lastnight on TLC? It made me think of this project... they took the motor and driveline from a Lexus GS430 (4.3L V8) and threw it into an IS300. They also took a manual tranny from a Supra and threw it in there as well. It had around 315 - 320hp, and they showed it off at SEMA.

Anyway, not exactly what you are doing, but it reminded me of this thread.