Rwd

[mikey 0]

Right I have had this idea bouncing around in my head for some time so I thought I'd throw it on here and see what happens good or bad !!

The idea would be to fit a rear diff etc keeping the engine up front basically could I , should I , and how ???

[FishWick 21]

Could you? Yes

Should you? Absolutely! Although wait until summer! :-)

And how?

That's the fun part!

It's nice to have the weight balance of a 'BMW' layout, but a rear engine option would be easier.

Check out Bill Schimmel's rather infamous RWD 24V Turbo to make sense of that suggestion in your head - http://www.spturbo.com/mainpages/bill%20added/rides/Erics92Corrado.htm

Your front engine / rear drive method would be a LOT of work..... to do properly. You would need to spin the motor round to a north/south layout. Find a gearbox and modify the tunnel. Fabricate an adapter to mate your chosen gearbox to the VR6 block. Find the right length prop. Find some rear trailing arms and diff and mount it all. And so on and so forth..... t'is a big job!

One thing that crossed my mind some years ago was the Haldex running gear but disconnecting the front CVs and running it just as RWD with a 100% rearward lock on the clutch.....

The only snags being.....

1) Can the Haldex rear clutch handle ALL of the engine load?

2) Would disconnecting the front CVs lose ALL drive?

Good thread mate!

[legvw 0]

It would be easier to move the engine to the rear, and keep it transversely mounted on a mk3 subframe.

To keep the engine up front would require modifications to the subframe, bulkhead, tunnel and rear axle mounts, aswell as some sort of custom fab'd rear subframe/axle assembly.

I'm not sure on what rear diff you could use, possibly something out of a bmw?

[legvw 0]

Got there just before me kev!

Interesting idea though, and as kev says, why not do it? :-)

[bungy 2]

Rear engine with rear wheel drive would be the easier option but wouldn't give that "balance".

[bungy 2]

Rear engine with rear wheel drive would be the easier option but wouldn't give that "balance".

Would there be a performance advantage to swapping the engine to the rear?

[mikey 0]

Hmm I like ur response what about running syncro gear but modding the gearbox so all power goes to rear surely the cost of the gearbox work would out weigh the fab work ??

[bungy 2]

Hmm I like ur response what about running syncro gear but modding the gearbox so all power goes to rear surely the cost of the gearbox work would out weigh the fab work ??

Would Haldex not be stronger than synchro?

[mikey 0]

Honestly I have no idea about the stuff another idea some friends had was a diff from a 1 series and drive shafts mounted on a front golf sub frame then mounted at rear I presume cut the driveshafts and have welded together ??

[jims13 6]

snycrho stuff bolts in though and the floorpan is a weld in jobbie.. still haldex can be made to fit .

[michael5556 247]

Why not get an mr2 rear subframe, hubs, diff, etc and get a one series diff and fabricate the subframe for the 6-pot?

[thegoth 5]

Rear engine with rear wheel drive would be the easier option but wouldn't give that "balance".

but effectivly would give you a mk3 beetle ;-)

[Phat VR6 3]

i was thinking about this the other day. engine in the back would destroy the handling i think as the center of graity would be moved to far back. good for drag racing though

Would a hatchback even handle very well with rwd. isn't the wheel base to short for it. i think it could make for a very mental drive but i have no idea :S. bmw 1 series is the only one i know of and that does alright . most rwd are long sallons though

I think you could leave the o2m without the front drive shafts attacted. doesn't drive always go to the rear incase the front are just spinning up on there own. you could find out buy jacking the front two wheels off the ground on a 4 motion and seeing if drive still goes to the back, somhow without it driving off the axal stands lol.

could waste lots of power compaired to a rwd only gearbox. but aleast it bolts strate on and you can sorce everything you need

could the diff take the power. i think they would fail with a vrt going strate though the rear diff. and the transer box gearbox sidew would be under loads of strain

[mikey 0]

That was my concern about the car being too short although the bm cant be much different mr2 won't work as the engine hangs from either side

[FishWick 21]

I think rear engine would be fine balance wise. It's not like it's hanging out in the arse end like a 911. The weight would be where the back seats normally live essentially, and the VR6 cants forward too, so will be AHEAD of the rear axle line, so it's effectively mid-engined :-)

Obviously it completely changes the dynamics of the car and you would have to learn how to drive it again, but I don't think it would be too bad to be honest!

[Phat VR6 3]

i think in a ideal world you would still want the engine to come forward quite abit. it would sit infront of the rear axal but not that far. would be miles from a 50/50 set up. could be ballanced up with extra weight in the front.

I was wondering how much of a angle you can put the CV joints though before it would be to much for them and start breaking. Outer CV should be fine as there designed to work at exscive angles when strearing. inners in not to sure.

Could you get some custom drive shafts made up say 5" longer to mount the engine even further to the front of the car?

[bungy 2]

Fuel tank, radiator, battery up front would all help with the weight distribution. To take it a little further you could dry sump it and put that tank up front too. With some VR's needing welding going for under £500 maybe worth having a play to find out.

[mikey 0]

Bungy a £500 shed is exactly what I had on mind and does anyone know about removing the front shafts from an o2a as bodge said I'm pretty sure it can be done leaving it fwd only so why not the other way round don't really want to put the engine in the back as would be wanting to retain seats and versatility ??

[bungy 2]

Maybe this will give you some idea's and inspiration.

[youtube=]kiPgq4r0Rj4

[mikey 0]

Hmm I see it's gonna be time to start making lists :-)

[Phat VR6 3]

you can just unbolt the drive shafts and leave the cups left in the gearbox mate.

i guess your going for quite a lot of power? id be worried how the transer box would cope with that. and the diff for that matter. theres plenty of 500-600 R32s around so you should be good for 300bhp i guess. but after that noone knows. could get exspensive