well... heres my line of reasoning. so it doesnt sound so off-the-wall.
The main impedement to geting large power figures out of a focus (atleast from my line of thinking, and how i have been 'brought up' i guess you could say, without trying to sound like a hillbilly), is lack of displacement. now im not saying that ford should run out and stick 3L V6's in foci or anything, but plain and simple, to get hassle-free, daily-driven, reliable performance, how can you beat a large displacement V8? now i am in no way implying that small displacement, high-output engines are un-reliable, but it requires a great deal of work to get a 2.0L anything to make 250HP. and its damned near impossible to get it to make 260ft.lbs of torque (at anything below 4500 rpms anyways, as i have seen some turbo'ed setups that made upwards of 280, but it was at allmost 5000 rpms).
So anyway, a few years ago we got the Aurora, then a couple years after that we got the focus. and i was looking for a larger-displacement engine with a similar driveline to swap in to it in the distant future. i concidered the SVT Contour, the SHO taurus (V6, and V8), but then i remembered that the Aurora had a V8 in it (i didnt really know much about the car because i never drove it, and had never worked on it, i just rode in it with middle-aged drivers who would NEVER open the thing up)... BUT the problem is, it is too big to fit in the focus' engine bay (i think anyways, i havent actually measured)... well... what would be cooler than a mid-engine, RWD, Focus with a V8? (again, in my line of thinking). and it would not be that hard, in theory, to arrange the driveline and operate it... now actual implementation is whole different story, but in theory, this is a novel idea, in my opinion.
Now i know cross-brand swaps are frowned upon, but i have to admit. this is the only GM engine i would ever think about swapping IN to ANYTHING. much less my poor little focus.
but anyways, thats the method to my madness. just so you know.