RWD J body thoughts?

[ericjon262]

Let's here them!

My thoughts, hot V6, maybe a HF? or a light as f**k V8, with a manual trans should be a blast.

I had a couple of ideas of how to do it. my biggest concern it the torsional rigidity of the chassis, being that it was designed for FWD not RWD.

don't have much time to post right now, but I've got a pile of notes in a couple of threads around the WWW., I'll try to post info when I get out of class.

[bszopi]

Somewhere out there, a company actually makes a conversion kit. Or at least they used to.

Brad
via Moto X

[TurboGTU]

I was thinking about the same but using unibody connectors welded to the floor and using the f-body front clip and T-bird IRS or Explorer solid axled 8.8 for the rear. Much the same as some site I saw someone did on a RWD conversion on a W-body. There's is also the Corvette drive line conversion.
Then theres the idea I tossed up about keeping it transverse but put the drive train in the rear like the Fiero/Corvair. Using the transverse transaxles or N to S trans from Euro brands.
Then theres the idea of actualy using a RWD car and clad up the exterior with FWD skin.

[bszopi]

http://www.smithperformance.com/catalogue.html

Brad
via Moto X

[ericjon262]

http://www.smithperformance.com/catalogue.html

Brad
via Moto X

as cool as that is, it's not really what I would like to do, I would prefer the car to appear mostly stock, but be RWD, handle well, and be more powerful.

[ericjon262]

I was thinking about the same but using unibody connectors welded to the floor and using the f-body front clip and T-bird IRS or Explorer solid axled 8.8 for the rear. Much the same as some site I saw someone did on a RWD conversion on a W-body. There's is also the Corvette drive line conversion.
Then theres the idea I tossed up about keeping it transverse but put the drive train in the rear like the Fiero/Corvair. Using the transverse transaxles or N to S trans from Euro brands.
Then theres the idea of actualy using a RWD car and clad up the exterior with FWD skin.

T-bird parts might fit, but I'm positive the 'Vette parts would be way to wide. the F-body parts are about 6" too wide too, G-body stuff might work if you want to go live axle. thing I like about the 240sx rear end is that it's IRS and the suspension is all bolted to a sub frame, unlike most of the 'vette stuff I've seen, which takes alot of geometry concerns out of the picture. there's also aftermarket parts like coilovers available for them.

[Superdave]

My plan was like I had already mentioned in the other thread. Was going to skin the top off of a 3rd gen Camaro leaving the floor and wheelhouses, then basically cut the belly out of a 2nd gen Jbody and marry the 2. I figured that with a little work I could just use wheels with more backspacing to avoid having to chop the rear end.

I had it all drawn up with a bunch of measurements taken when I had both cars in the garage, I'm sure the paper is long gone by now though.


Building a frame out of 2x4 steel would be ideal, then just use all aftermarket stuff to build the front/rear end... need to win the lottery first though. lol

[ericjon262]

My plan was like I had already mentioned in the other thread. Was going to skin the top off of a 3rd gen Camaro leaving the floor and wheelhouses, then basically cut the belly out of a 2nd gen Jbody and marry the 2. I figured that with a little work I could just use wheels with more backspacing to avoid having to chop the rear end.

I had it all drawn up with a bunch of measurements taken when I had both cars in the garage, I'm sure the paper is long gone by now though.


Building a frame out of 2x4 steel would be ideal, then just use all aftermarket stuff to build the front/rear end... need to win the lottery first though. lol

why use all aftermarket stuff when stock stuff from other cars will do just fine?

[1988GTU]

Unibody flex will be an issue unless you tie in the front and rear and add in a cage.

Local guy did a rwd conversion to a 97ish monte carlo. Was no slouch, but probably could have been a bit faster using a ls1 rather than a 383.

[ericjon262]

Unibody flex will be an issue unless you tie in the front and rear and add in a cage.

Local guy did a rwd conversion to a 97ish monte carlo. Was no slouch, but probably could have been a bit faster using a ls1 rather than a 383.

my biggest concern, and knowing nothing about the J body chassis, or pan structure, makes it a bit harder for me to think of ways to fix this in a concealed manner.

[alpinestar10]

Theres a guy on beretta.net that is doing it with a 240sx rear take a look at general auto over there. His name is barry.

[Guest]

I had started a conversion on my '87 Sunbird. Time and life got in the way and only got as far as the front end being converted. I was using a Fiero crosmember as the basis for my conversion. I had started by looking at moving the drivetrain to the rear for a mid engine deal, but decided that with the power I had planned on, I would never be able to get a transaxle to hold up, so I was on my way to going conventional longitudinal layout. The 2WD S-10 rear is the perfect width, though it is solid axle. Any IRS set-up I found was going to require narrowing. As it is, I'm sliding a different rear under my 240Z, and it will need to be narrowed to fit within the stock body.

[ericjon262]

I had started a conversion on my '87 Sunbird. Time and life got in the way and only got as far as the front end being converted. I was using a Fiero crosmember as the basis for my conversion. I had started by looking at moving the drivetrain to the rear for a mid engine deal, but decided that with the power I had planned on, I would never be able to get a transaxle to hold up, so I was on my way to going conventional longitudinal layout. The 2WD S-10 rear is the perfect width, though it is solid axle. Any IRS set-up I found was going to require narrowing. As it is, I'm sliding a different rear under my 240Z, and it will need to be narrowed to fit within the stock body.

you'd be surprised what some of the FWD transaxles will hold up to.

[caffeine]

I have yet to see any transverse GM transmission run 9s . I'm not sure if I've heard of any manual GM transaxles in the 10s either.

[ericjon262]

I have yet to see any transverse GM transmission run 9s . I'm not sure if I've heard of any manual GM transaxles in the 10s either.

we have 10.91 @130+mph out of a turbo 3800 fiero.

http://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum2/HTML/103440-11.html

I didn't say it would go 9's, but I said there were some pretty tough ones out there.