Converting a FWD car to RWD

[seang]

It seems the only rear wheel drive cars available are either beat-up wrecks; or pristine, expensive ex-projects. However, there are lots of small, lightweight, FWD hoopties out there. How about something thats really inexpensive, runs like a bastard, is RWD, crude, brutally functional, and fun as hell to drive, is that too much to ask? The main hurdles here, (as far as I know), would be the transmission tunnel, steering rack clearence, rear suspension, firewall clearence, and mouting the engine to the subframe. The rear suspension could even be a live axle with leaf springs for all I care, as a matter of fact, I think that would be ideal in my case. No big v8 engines, preferably a nice cheap hopped-up 4cyl or v6 with carburettor, no ECU's! Mounting the leaf springs to the unit-body could be accomplished with c-channel or box shaped angle iron.
Modified by seang at 11:42 PM 2/1/2010

[seang]

I guess, depending on the victim, there might be clearence issues with the rear end. So it might have to be tubbed, kind of. Not a full on tub, because I'm not trying to make a drag car, but enought to fit the axle underneath.

[seang]

Another thing, my idea here is to preserve light weight, so dropping a unit-body-body onto a frame is out of the question unless it could be less than 2200lbs total. Do you see my vision here?

[ravera]

You DO NOT want leafs on the back of a light car. End of discussion. 4 point at the least. A light car will walk around on those leafs and you'll find yourself pointing the wrong direction real fast. Most FWD engine bays were meant for the engines to be mounted the wrong way, so unless you have something short as rotary you'll have to cut it up and fully fab the entire car. While you're at it you might as well graft a miata or similar RWD subframe for the back. After you're done with this if it's still not incredibly nose heavy it should work.

You want a cheap live axle RWD car? Get an old triumph.

[seang]

Funny you should say that. My dad's buddy died about 20 years ago, and his TR7 has been sitting behind another friend's garage for about the same time. 40,000 miles are on it. I almost bought this thing for $600, 2 times already. The bad things are; its an early Speke built model from 1976, and it has never had a car cover on it for some reason. It needs alot of work. I remember when I was really young how I used to gaze at that car when we would visit, now 17 years later, its in the same damned spot behind that guys garage. The engine oil was actually really clean looking about a year ago, although keeping the Triumph engine/transmission might not be the best idea given the bad rep.

[ravera]

The fact that it's a triumph and all the oil didn't leak out in a week says something about the motor.

[seang]

The fact that it's a triumph and all the oil didn't leak out in a week says something about the motor.

True that! Everything else did, though. Brakes and clutch are bone dry and seized, dash and steering wheel are toast. One good thing about the TR7 is the well bolstered bucket seats. Did you know the TR7 was the first car to use a plastic molded dash? The technology was ok, but the finish quality just wasn't there to back it up. I used to lust after that TR7 more than I do lately. A TR8 conversion would be special. If I had a place to store it for the years it would take me to restore it, I might go ahead with the project. GT6 is a cool car, alot like the z-car.

[marlin29311]

You'd probably have better luck trying to covert into AWD....considering the vast amount of vehicles on the market today that are offered in FWD and AWD versions, it would seem this is a more viable option...

[opticnerv]

This is another option http://www.honda-tech.com/showthread.php?t=1266033

[seang]

You'd probably have better luck trying to covert into AWD....considering the vast amount of vehicles on the market today that are offered in FWD and AWD versions, it would seem this is a more viable option...

Sure, if I actually had an Attesa just lying in the backyard I would probably consider this.

You DO NOT want leafs on the back of a light car. End of discussion. 4 point at the least. A light car will walk around on those leafs and you'll find yourself pointing the wrong direction real fast. Most FWD engine bays were meant for the engines to be mounted the wrong way, so unless you have something short as rotary you'll have to cut it up and fully fab the entire car. While you're at it you might as well graft a miata or similar RWD subframe for the back. After you're done with this if it's still not incredibly nose heavy it should work.

You want a cheap live axle RWD car? Get an old triumph.

What about the 1st gen Mustang, or Vega, or any other light RWD leaf sprung cars? Why does it work for them? It can work quite well, actually.

[seang]

This is another option http://www.honda-tech.com/showthread.php?t=1266033

That's pretty cool, thanks for adding that to the thread. Anything that could be made relatively cheaply and from readily available OEM parts is game in this light. That is the original meaning of hot rodding, and it still is. No ridiculously expensive custom parts!

[c72c]

you're not really gonna get anything that'll last done for very cheap, granted you could use all stock parts off different car from the junkyard, you still need to get everything modified to work.if you want something close to cheap, find a 92-94 tempo, order the awd trans from canada, get yourself a rear subframe off a 90s cougar, mustang... drill some wholes, mount the rear, make a drive shaft and call it fun.otherwise, start lookin in the right places, refer to 1st sentence.

What about the 1st gen Mustang, or Vega, or any other light RWD leaf sprung cars? Why does it work for them? It can work quite well, actually.

curb weight is still 2600-2800 for both of those, but either way, drop the leaf idea.

[breadbox]

you guys check out that guys other car the honda beat?

That pretty sweet. And small RWD cars, I vote a 510 2dr.

Mid engine why not make your own nissan MID4.

[seang]

I'm at the point right now that I'm probably not gonna try to RWD convert anything.

Mid engine why not make your own nissan MID4.

Ah, the Shogun/Clio philosophy, not bad. Still a huge undertaking. On that note, I could buy a Fiero that came stock mid-engined, not that I necessarily would.

[flinterman2000]

Reading this post I remember a guy down here who use to drag race a B11 Sunny with a L28 engine and transmission. It wasn't a pretty sight but it was fast. I think the rear suspension was from a 280ZX independent suspension. Eventually the authorities stopped him from racing for safety reasons. There was no fire wall, the transmission tunnel wasn't completely welded in and the roll cage wasn't properly welded to the structure of the car. But I could see a donor 240sx helping to bring forth a rear wheel drive B13. The engine (Ka24De preferably), the transmission tunnel and the rear suspension.

[seang]

I have to kind of retract that statement I made about not wanting a Fiero. I would certainly love the 1984 Indy Pace Car with the naturally aspirated 165cid 2.7 liter pushrod Iron Duke 4cyl that made 232hp @ 6500rpm - what a beast.


Modified by seang at 11:31 PM 2/1/2010

[qship96]

I have to kind of retract that statement I made about not wanting a Fiero. I would certainly love the 1984 Indy Pace Car with the naturally aspirated 165cid 2.7 liter / 232hp Iron Duke 4cyl - what a beast.

No such engine ever installed in a production Fiero

[seang]

Not even this one?http://www.indypacecars.com/1984.html

Scroll about halfway down this page to the 1984 Hot Rod magazine article / review. Cool read, this car had some trick parts like aluminium rear subframe bushings, Camaro brakes, oil cooler, 6000STE CV shafts, etc...http://www.educatorstop15.com/fieropage.htm

The factory pace cars only looked like the real thing - an appearance package. You are right, though, on it not being a production run; but it was a factory car.


Modified by seang at 6:38 PM 2/5/2010

[frftw]

i dont know why nobody pointed this out, but you kinda just described an s13. cheap, light, rwd...otherwise yeah, fwd converted to rwd would be cool but unless your seriously skilled in custom fabbing it wouldnt really be that cheap

[hatedinthemind]

Theres a guy on Drift Works converting a Volvo S40 to rwd using parts from an Evo. I would post the link but i dont know if its allowed lol. Anyways I think the idea of making a fwd car to rwd is pretty cool. Just look at the Scions in Formula D.