Back in 2003, just months ahead of the debut of the all-new C6 Corvette, GM pulled the wrapping paper off of the Cadillac XLR, a Corvette C5-based sports coupe. Using Cadillac’s proprietary line of Northstar engines, the XLR never really gained the market traction executives hoped for. By 2009, the XLR was put up on the chopping block, and hopes for another Corvette-based Cadillac are slim to none.

With a higher price and less horsepower than the new Corvette C6, even with a supercharged Northstar engine, the Cadillac XLR is not missed. But neither have they disappeared from public view, and as this YouTube video shows, there are still those trying to give the XLR the engine setup it deserves. How much better would the Cadillac XLR have done if GM had given it a 400 horsepower LS3 from the get-go?

Sure, the LS3 didn’t debut until 2008, just a year before the XLR went out of production, but that is besides the point; the underpowered, over-teched Northstar powerplant killed an otherwise cool Caddy. Some Middle East engineers have undertaken the project of performing a LS3 swap on this contemporary Caddy roadster.

The addition of a supercharger to the Northstar V8 only took then XLR-V from ‘meh’ to adequate.

The swap includes the use of a Corvette C6 rear differential, as well as a bevy of modifications to the engine to increase horsepower from 400 ponies to 521 at the wheels, with 469 pound-feet of torque on tap as well. This is in a car that made 320 flywheel horsepower stock; that is close to double the original output.

As our editor was quick to point out, this project appears to originate in Saudi Arabia based on the license plates, and probably belongs to an oil baron. In a bid to burn as much crude oil as possible, this LS3 has TrickFlow 235 heads, with a Spin Monster camshaft, and a Halltech ram air induction system. Unfortunately the video doesn’t show the finished product in action, but we’ll keep an eye out for just such a video to surface. Stay tuned…