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AWD Subie powered Z


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I definitley like the rad being flat behind the engine like that. You will probably have trouble bleeding the system as 1976280z2+2 suggests. One thing is you could always run the honda rad in front and a full size flat behind like you have it, that would give you tons of cooling. I'd probably look into having a custom aluminum rad made to fit there, with an inlet that would be facing up. But with two fans underneath the rad and a cool hood scoop and ducting design, you're looking at a vary cool system. I'd think there'd still be room for turbos in there somewhere, especially on either side of the trans. IC placement would be tough, perhaps cut out the bckside (like the side facing the firewall) of the strut mounts, make some sort of semi-tube chassis reinforcment for it to keep it strong and stiff, and put the intercoolers there, on either side, with ducting from the fenders. That could be a good system. You'd have to put some sort of grill or cover over them to prevent road debris from ruining them. But you'd sort of have a built in fan from the wheels spinning. If you went with a G nose you'd have plenty of room in front for 2 good sized intercoolers too. All something to think about. I like that you're using the subi engine instead of the RB. The tricky part with the RB is it does use a transaxle behind the trans (if I'm not mistaken), so you'd have to run a driveshaft from the back of the trans, through the trans tunnel, to the oil pan. I'm sure it can be done, but this way you only have one driveshaft. In order to keep weight in the back, I'd say re-locate as much as you can to the back. Mainly a battery. Maybe go for a really stout, heavy diff (R230 or ford 9" maybe?), and just relocate as much as possible to the hatch area. If you added a good 4pt roll bar that should add a little weight back there too. It is a shame that the engine does have to sit so far forward, the majority of it is in front of the front axle, right? But honestly the weight balance thing is a little over talked about. There was a discussion on here about how it doesn't make as much of a difference as people would think, and the downsides to having a front or rear biased car can be tuned out with proper suspension tuning. Don't worry about that all yet though haha

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Revisit the rear radiator mount idea. Install a Pantera hatch louvre/slot the flat section. Mount the radiator flat and louvre/slot the floor. Weld in some sheet metal to close off the radiator area from the cabin. Plenty of room for fans and helps shift some of the weight rearward. And score bonus points on the cool scale.

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Revisit the rear radiator mount idea. Install a Pantera hatch louvre/slot the flat section. Mount the radiator flat and louvre/slot the floor. Weld in some sheet metal to close off the radiator area from the cabin. Plenty of room for fans and helps shift some of the weight rearward. And score bonus points on the cool scale.

Like this one? That does make sense and would look cool, but then where would I put the spare tire? I guess the spare could go behind the engine like the old subarus, lol as much as I like the idea of a Pantera hatch I am leaning towards putting the rad behind the engine.

post-28967-033476800 1336899312_thumb.jpeg

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I definitley like the rad being flat behind the engine like that. You will probably have trouble bleeding the system as 1976280z2+2 suggests. One thing is you could always run the honda rad in front and a full size flat behind like you have it, that would give you tons of cooling. I'd probably look into having a custom aluminum rad made to fit there, with an inlet that would be facing up. But with two fans underneath the rad and a cool hood scoop and ducting design, you're looking at a vary cool system. I'd think there'd still be room for turbos in there somewhere, especially on either side of the trans. IC placement would be tough, perhaps cut out the bckside (like the side facing the firewall) of the strut mounts, make some sort of semi-tube chassis reinforcment for it to keep it strong and stiff, and put the intercoolers there, on either side, with ducting from the fenders. That could be a good system. You'd have to put some sort of grill or cover over them to prevent road debris from ruining them. But you'd sort of have a built in fan from the wheels spinning. If you went with a G nose you'd have plenty of room in front for 2 good sized intercoolers too. All something to think about. I like that you're using the subi engine instead of the RB. The tricky part with the RB is it does use a transaxle behind the trans (if I'm not mistaken), so you'd have to run a driveshaft from the back of the trans, through the trans tunnel, to the oil pan. I'm sure it can be done, but this way you only have one driveshaft. In order to keep weight in the back, I'd say re-locate as much as you can to the back. Mainly a battery. Maybe go for a really stout, heavy diff (R230 or ford 9" maybe?), and just relocate as much as possible to the hatch area. If you added a good 4pt roll bar that should add a little weight back there too. It is a shame that the engine does have to sit so far forward, the majority of it is in front of the front axle, right? But honestly the weight balance thing is a little over talked about. There was a discussion on here about how it doesn't make as much of a difference as people would think, and the downsides to having a front or rear biased car can be tuned out with proper suspension tuning. Don't worry about that all yet though haha

 

Thanks bud, I will focus on relocating things to the back.

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Wow, I didn't realize how far forward that was going to be. Looks like that's gonna be a loooong driveshaft, haha. Great progress.

 

About the radiator situation, I think in my ideal situation I would do two small (possibly motorcycle) rads close to parallel with the frame rails on either side of the trans. I don't know if radiators that size/shape are easily sourced, but it certainly would be cool.

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  • 4 weeks later...

THIS is moving the weight way forward; what is your front % 60% ????????????? will be difficult to street use like that ?????????????

 

 

Yeah, because other vehicles on the road don't have a weight split like that or worse....

 

FWD cars...

 

Trucks...

 

Most general passenger vehicles...

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Sure, it's moving weight forward a bit. But, there are plenty of quick Audis and Scoobies that would say that isn't the end of the world, particularly with AWD. In fact, most quick AWD cars are pretty heavily front biased from what I can remember. I know the audi S cars, the STI and the Evo are, and in my experience they handle pretty well.

 

Updates!

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Sure, it's moving weight forward a bit. But, there are plenty of quick Audis and Scoobies that would say that isn't the end of the world, particularly with AWD. In fact, most quick AWD cars are pretty heavily front biased from what I can remember. I know the audi S cars, the STI and the Evo are, and in my experience they handle pretty well.

 

Updates!

 

But the CAR is designed from scratch for that, A car designed for a 52% front will handle very different if the suppension is not adjusted for the change..

Edited by fast-datsun
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love that rather than thinking about it for years, you just went for it. cant wait to see how this works out!

:mparty:

 

 

Thanks for the comments, I have been too busy to work on the AWD Z because I am doing up a 240z series 1,, maybe next week I will get the floors and rockers welded in.

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  • 2 years later...
  • 1 year later...
  • 10 months later...

For anyone that wondered what happened to this car, like I have been over the last few years, this project is no more. A member of another forum bought what was left of the car and it was ROUGH. He's using the few good parts as donor parts for his car.

This is the most recent picture of it. lol

35455172742_34b476d554_o.jpg

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For anyone that wondered what happened to this car, like I have been over the last few years, this project is no more. A member of another forum bought what was left of the car and it was ROUGH. He's using the few good parts as donor parts for his car.

 

This is the most recent picture of it. lol

 

35455172742_34b476d554_o.jpg

 

About what I expected unfortunately...

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