toyoz

John - Using the information in your post #9 (Betamotorsports), it looks like you could shift the rear end over toward the passenger side by .437 and this would give you equal length shafts. The extra .437 at the short end would cure the bottoming out problem. This would, of course, require a new or modified mustache bar. This could cause some alignment (vibration) problems, but I doubt it. Your thoughts? Ernie

Guys - Thanks for the input. Scottie - I have a lathe, mill and mig & tig welders at home. The plan is to cut off the arms and mill the rear housing as flat as possible and manufacture spacers for the lower holes. You could conceivably use every hole as a mounting hole for the new mustache bar. The new bar would no longer be in flex as the rear end would be bolted to the transmission via the ladder bar. The only welding that would be necessary would be to the axles, drive shaft, and possibly the ladder bar. I hope this makes sense -- it is hard for me to verbally explain exactly what I have in mind. The car is primarily going to be used for street use and will probably never see any type of competition. I have a brand new 8.8 Cobra rear end with 3:27 positraction sitting on the shelf here at home, but after doing a lot of looking and measuring, I still think the Corvette would be the easiest option. Again, thanks for everyone's input. Ernie

I am in the planning and parts collecting stages of building a '71 240Z with a Lexus 4.0 engine (eventually to be twin turboed). I have a mildly built 700R4 that I plan to use. What I would like to know is (I have done a search, unsuccessfully) has anybody tried to use a C4 Corvette rear end? I know some people have used the entire Corvette assembly, but I would like to do is cut off the existing arms and machine the rear cover flat (would require some spacers in some areas) and manufacture a mustache bar to fit. I would then use the stock Corvette/Camaro ladder bar to connect the engine/transmission to the rear. By doing this, one would eliminate the rear transmission mount and front rear end mount. This would free up more room for exhaust. I haven't actually measured yet, but there may be room to run an exhaust over the inboard rear axles by machining holes through the mustache bar. There would be a lot of advantages in doing this -- instant correct rear end alignment/weight/more ratios, and, of course, positraction. For those of you running mega-power, you would have the option of running the big Dana 44 rear. Adapting the rear swing arms and axles shouldn't be any problem. I would appreciate any thoughts on whether or not this seems like a feasible option. Thanks. Ernie P.S. So that you will know that I am not a total pipe-dreamer, pictures of my 240 and the Lexus engine and some of my other cars are at www.kaneva.com/mytoys

DAW- go to www.badbenz.com to see what I have done with a 123 coupe Ernie