cameraobsess Posted October 16, 2002 Share Posted October 16, 2002 ok im not planing on doing this but i just thought it would be something for thought. if you were to think compleatly out of the box on how to do a swap there are a cople ideas that come to mind. how about takeing a 2+2 remove the back seats and put the engine right behind the seats. build a fire wall around it. i would guess that the engine would be fairly close to centerd in the car. if you moved a cople of other things around you would have the perfect handeling setup. and the thing with this design idea is that it shouldnt really mater how big the engine is you put in it as long as you put it in the right spot. i could be way off my mark here though and it might be to far rear on the car. let me know what you guys think. another thought would the gas tank be in the way? just another crazy thought for us to ponder. who knows mabie something good will come of this talk. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted October 16, 2002 Share Posted October 16, 2002 It'd be different thats for sure, lots o' work. I wanted to do the same think with a FWD motor in a VW bug (old style), the VW's wheels are way in the back seat leaving lots of room for some hot FWD motor. It'd give ok weight distribution I'd think, ahh, I love bench racing with imaginary money (which I have plenty of... ) Probably be a cool autox car but you'd probably get put in some silly class that would make it hard to race, what I know about autox you could fill a thimble with. Regards, Lone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A. G. Olphart Posted October 16, 2002 Share Posted October 16, 2002 Mid engine conversions can be fun... I did a Crown conversion on a 65 Corvair (SBC in the back seat) early in the 80's. It handled OK and I Autocrossed it a few times. It ran in 'B' modified, a tough class. The only limitation was engine size (I forget where the break to 'A' mod was). My car got an aluminum engine housing/doghouse built right after the first test run. It ran hot (radiator in the rear) so I came home and parked it in the driveway and got out. THEN the top radiator hose blew off the shiny chrome thermostat housing, filling the interior of the car with scalding antifreeze/water. The radiator went up front, and I'll never buy another of those slick chrome thermostat housings. If you build a Toronado/Eldo or (fill in the blank) _____________ beast, post lots of pictures for us! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spotfitz Posted October 16, 2002 Share Posted October 16, 2002 I do remember someone putting a caddy motor in a bug, but I think we are talking alittle more work then just welding and wiring here. Would be kewl though. I think the hardest part would be finding the right setup. Which vehicle to take the swap from would have to be one of the most expensive parts of the deal considering I would hate to think how much money this would take if you actually paid a shop to do this swap. Pantera anyone? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZROSSA Posted October 16, 2002 Share Posted October 16, 2002 Cool idea but......... I wouldnt do it in a first gen z. Think about it. With a sbc with ali. heads the weight is close to 50/50 front to rear. Pure race cars with a front engine and rear drive try to get as close as they can to this with mabye a little more rear weight. look at the Panoz Le mans cars. Puting the engine back there would really mess this up. We are talking about around 5 ft back or close. I think you would end up with something like a 911 in weight balance. All the weight in the rear(35%). You then have to deal with a car that has a light front end at speed. The front end off the z needs downforce at speed anyway. I think you would be pulling the front wheels of the ground non stop. I have seen it done in a 944, however. It was nice. Douglas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Thurem Posted October 16, 2002 Share Posted October 16, 2002 Friend of mine is still working on eldorado drivetrain in a 914. Just sick. Thure Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Perry Posted October 16, 2002 Share Posted October 16, 2002 I agree the Z is set up for front engine and balance would be all out of whack with rear or mid engine. I have always wanted to use a small front driver like a metro or fiesta and put the hottest V6 front drive setup I could find into the back of it. Something like a metro with a short nose and plenty of room between the rear wheels and the seats would work. Of course there would be a lot of fabrication involved but a 200 horse V6 out of a civic or something in that less than 2000 lb car would rocket. I always liked the idea of a sleeper made like that. You could probably make the car balanced fairly well and put a trunk under the hood for cargo space. I've thought about it enough times that I'll probably end up doing it someday, just gotta find a cheap readily available decent looking small car to start from. Those metros are too ugly. Perry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KiD-ViD Posted October 16, 2002 Share Posted October 16, 2002 a 200 horse V6 out of a civic psst all civics are 4 bangers. but that aside what about a northstar v8? or better yet a supercharged northstar v8 haha. you know 800hp in a geo metro would be badass. you would have to have a continues wheel in the back like a steam roller to get traction and then you wouldent be able to go anywhere without wheeling all the way. it would be great wouldent it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cameraobsess Posted October 16, 2002 Author Share Posted October 16, 2002 the two best engine placement swap storys i have heard are crazy. my friends relative took two VW busses and put chevy 454 big blocks in them. on one he put it dead center nice and low. this thing was the ultament sleeper. it toook turns like a sports car and it flew like a bat out of hell. the second one he did he was just haveing some fun and he put the same engine right in the back. this thing did wheelys like crazy. anyways the reason i started this post is because one of my friends is a ford focus guy and he just found someone who put the engine the rear of one of those. i understand it works well with those. anyways he was talking to me about it and then we started talking about what would be a crazy swap. if you want to check out that focus with the rear engine its on focaljet.com i think thats the site anyways he showed to me and im not a focus guy and normaly i would laugh at something like that but the did a nice job with it. anyone else have some funny storys like these? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Idnevno Posted October 18, 2002 Share Posted October 18, 2002 a buddy of mine had a neighbor who had an old late 70's vw van. he got just a little wild hair up his ass and put a 911 twin turbo motor where the old 1200cc motor used to be. he brought it by a few times. the thing was extremely fast. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted October 18, 2002 Share Posted October 18, 2002 Now thats where the toronado driveline would be sweet (or eldorado) in the middle/back of a VW van.. hehe, talk about falkengrooven... Regards, Lone 455/500 inch smokey burnouts out of a vw van, heh, who would expect it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zgeezer Posted October 19, 2002 Share Posted October 19, 2002 Ohhh, I love this. Ever since I saw a new Toronado with 455 ci up front, another 455 ci in the trunk, and smoking at both ends, I figured sometime some crazy would build something with these engines that would drive all of our insurance rates up by a factor of 10 and outlaw the sport forever. Here's my vote. Last year at Hot August Nights in Reno I'd reached my barf threshold for perfect generic 350s in generic 32s with generic 700R4 and went windo shopping at Summit's Sparks warehouse. There is was. An early swing axel Corvair coupe.....gutted with a 500ci Cadillac ElDo in the back. Air to engine by clothes dryer vent line running from carb over to driver's side quarter window. No window, holed filled with masonite and a sewer line house stack roof fitting as ram. No box surrounding engine. Exhaust pipe bent and cut to run h20 forward through front bulkhead into a large Ford like radiator. Front part of Corvair cut out in large rectangle to match radiator. Air flow carefully controlled by unlatching back of hood and securing it by a six inch dog leash cable. The swing axels were direct: cut off Cadillac and Corvair in the middle, join them with large pipe sleeve of some sort and then weld, use a LOT of weld. The mufflers were two large two chamber flfowmasters hanging with wire....looked like coat hanger, but might have been baling wire. The interior sprayed with Zolotone: my favorite color. No roll structure at all, but the seats, and there were two of them (mygod somebody actually would ride in this thing) were and I cannot kid about this constructed of expanded metal and welded to the floor panel. They looked like high end K mart specials. The tires were 14 inch 4 holers mounting some rather wide rubbber. And yes, they were baaaaald. You know that weekend I saw about 1,000 really nice cars, but the only one I can remember is this one. I wonder what this thing would do for a 60' time. gw Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted October 19, 2002 Share Posted October 19, 2002 Hahaha.. I know what you mean about 'another generic 350 in a 32'.. Down here at Pavillions car show on the weekend I've seen so damn many of those it makes me gag. That crowd needs to grow a set and do something different instead of building cookie cutter versions of the same car. I know its made easier by the fact that they have so many bolt on parts, but man talk about boring. Only maybe 3 in 10 might be injected out there, despite it being much better and they have the money to do it and I'm talking closed hood cars not trying to impress like in a T-bucket or something. I guess the same could be said of us I suppose with the mostly chevy swaps, but at least theres quite a few on here who are daring to be different and do swaps that are not by the book and thats pretty exciting I think. The corvair sounded like a hoot and despite its appearance I bet the owner had as many smiles per gallon or more than those replica 32's. Regards, Lone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted November 1, 2002 Share Posted November 1, 2002 I'm actually planning out doing this with a pair of Honda 600cc motorcycle engines and a Honda CRX. Going to attempt making it Rear wheel drive, and insanley fast. Theres an article I read in an old copy of EVO about someone who did something like this, exept he built his own little speedster out of it. I'm going to try to copy what he did in a Honda shell. If this ever gets off the ground, I'll post some pic's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Juday Posted November 2, 2002 Share Posted November 2, 2002 This is a great thread. I love all this talk about mid engine/twin engine stuff. This is the kind of thing that occupies my mind on the commute to work in the mornings. Back in '85 or '86 Car and Driver did a twin engine CRX. It looked completely stock. They fitted a complete drive train from another CRX into the back. They used automatic trannies and it flew. I think the 0-60 was like 5.8! I had bought a new Dodge GLH turbo the same year and fantisized about doing the same to it. That would have been nuts, 300+ hp, 4WD in that little box. One day I'd like to do a custom Chevy truck roadster with the engine mounted between the tailgate and the rear axle, ala 911. Then cut out the hood and make it into a bowrider! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mudge Posted November 2, 2002 Share Posted November 2, 2002 It seems like a neat idea, but honestly if I wanted to do that and be FORCED to freaking pay out of my booty for fancy modded and beefed up Porsche transaxles then I would have bought a Porsche. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted November 3, 2002 Share Posted November 3, 2002 I've got about 5 guys all wanting to work on this swap, so maybe I might actually do it. We might do the one in the trunk, one in the hood, but we do want to use motorcycle engines, namely because we have three of the sitting in my frined garage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cameraobsess Posted November 4, 2002 Author Share Posted November 4, 2002 how much power do you think you could get from them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted November 11, 2002 Share Posted November 11, 2002 Well on the bikes, they made about 75 to 80hp a piece. one can hope 160 at the wheel. But it's more a "can it be done?" issue, not something that would be a practical solution to making a Honda a more drivable RWD vehicle. If this works, Honda does have a very large very fast 1800cc engine for motorcycles that we might try. One of the guy's working on this with me works at a scrapyard that takes motorcycles, so we can get engines pretty easily. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Thurem Posted November 12, 2002 Share Posted November 12, 2002 What IF... Lets fit a turbine in a Z. Once saw a magazine with a turbine in a Corvette, and Jay Leno has a turbine powered (sort of, production) bike. Thure Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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