[inspiron]

I have had violent urges to biuld a hotrod for years, But I lack exprence, skill and most of all money. I was wondering if it would be possible to pull a GM V6 out of a front wheel drive junk yard car, and biuld a frame around it and placeing the engnine, trans and all the orther good stuf in the back behind the seats and haveing it steer from the front wheels?

How hard do you think it would be to do this?

How much cold it cost if it was biult with just enough parts to pass inspection (nj) and at least run.

How fast would it be?

What kind of probloms could there be biulding and or driveing it?

Do you think it is worth doing?

[DeStang]

people do it with sand rails all the time.

its not easy, fast, or cheap to build one of these and if done half assed it could be a real danger to your health. search around, a while back a company was selling sand rails ready for grand national motors.

[matt167]

have custom solid axles made. fabricate the front cradle in as part of your frame, then you use the car's struts also.

[BillyShope]

General Motors has already done this. They called it the Fiero.

Seriously, the Fiero is (was) based on the use of a FWD package driving the rear wheels. I am absolutely amazed that the hot rod community never picked up on this simple trick. So long as you use the ENTIRE assembly from the FWD car, the only half-way tricky part will be the trailing links to the uprights. And, you might get lucky and this could amount to little more than swapping left and right side components. In fact, this would almost certainly be possible with little, if any, modification.

Rather than start from scratch, why not use an old VW Bug as your platform? Or Fiat 600? The latter would definitely mean shortening axles and suspension arms, but, compared to other projects described in this forum, this is still small potatoes.

[inspiron]

Thanks for the help everybody!

Originally Posted by BillyShope

Rather than start from scratch, why not use an old VW Bug as your platform? Or Fiat 600? The latter would definitely mean shortening axles and suspension arms, but, compared to other projects described in this forum, this is still small potatoes.

I would like to use a VW bug, I will definaly have to consider that, the only problom is the stock engine is weak and I don't know if I can soup it up on the cheap But what I don't know could fill a warehouse so I will have to look into that.

Does anyone have any links to sites that show people doing this kinda stuff?


Thanks for your help!

-mike

[kenseth17]

I really wouldn't call the fwd 3.8 weak as far as stock motors go. I had one in my 1987 bonneville and it had a little get up and go (150 hp stock thing mine was rated), so a small car like a bug I imagine it could move pretty well. The engine has roller rockers. There are also supercharged versions from the sse's, but they would go for a lot more bucks. And they are pretty dang reliable engines, gm really improved them. Look into swaps for fieros. Believe they might make kits to put 350's and toronado transaxles into these as well as many people using 3.8 liters. A lot of kit cars are based on the fiero and vw platforms so check what some of these guys have done also.

[luckyfasteddie]

I am almost done with one. cab 39 chevy PU, frame home built, droped 32 ford front axle with vega box and cross steering , speedway 36 " hair pins, new king pins spindels and disk brakes ,38 chevy car grill, streched 39 truck hood,rear engine out of a 1988 Fiero, has 5 spd manual tranny, put new hubs ,struts , rotors and brakes on ,front wheels 16x41/2 ford ,with 500 x16 Firestone tires, rear wheels 18x41/2 chevy, with 700 x 18 Firestone tires, home made bed sides and tail gate , replaced Fiero rear springs with coil overs, alum bomber seats with blanket seat covers, harness and computer nave been reworked for my application. We plan on fireing the engine up this week, then a test drive to see if was worth it.Thinking we might have to add some kind of weight to front will have to play with that. Maby the reason you have never seen one is that it dont work I will know by this time next week.

[inspiron]

Originally Posted by kenseth17

I really wouldn't call the fwd 3.8 weak as far as stock motors go. I had one in my 1987 bonneville and it had a little get up and go (150 hp stock thing mine was rated), so a small car like a bug I imagine it could move pretty well. The engine has roller rockers. There are also supercharged versions from the sse's, but they would go for a lot more bucks. And they are pretty dang reliable engines, gm really improved them. Look into swaps for fieros. Believe they might make kits to put 350's and toronado transaxles into these as well as many people using 3.8 liters. A lot of kit cars are based on the fiero and vw platforms so check what some of these guys have done also.

I was saying the VW engine would be weak, my brother owned two 3.1 liter cars that were two tones each and the engines put out plenty of power so a 3.8 would be even better. You are right they are good engines.

I will look into thoes toronoado tranaxels and ferio swaps! thanks!

I am almost done with one. cab 39 chevy PU, frame home built, droped 32 ford front axle with vega box and cross steering , speedway 36 " hair pins, new king pins spindels and disk brakes ,38 chevy car grill, streched 39 truck hood,rear engine out of a 1988 Fiero, has 5 spd manual tranny, put new hubs ,struts , rotors and brakes on ,front wheels 16x41/2 ford ,with 500 x16 Firestone tires, rear wheels 18x41/2 chevy, with 700 x 18 Firestone tires, home made bed sides and tail gate , replaced Fiero rear springs with coil overs, alum bomber seats with blanket seat covers, harness and computer nave been reworked for my application. We plan on fireing the engine up this week, then a test drive to see if was worth it.Thinking we might have to add some kind of weight to front will have to play with that. Maby the reason you have never seen one is that it dont work I will know by this time next week.

Cool! Let me know what happens!

[cabowabo]

in a sand rail one dude at ford dealer has one built its awesome

[ChevelleSS_LS6]

I've seen a Northstar in a Fiero... I think traction would be an issue, but smoking tires at will would be fun and expensive and get me in trouble

[Jake_Dragon]

I have a SBC 350 in my Fiero.
Google is your friend if you want a kit, just search for V8 Fiero
Traction isnt as bad as you would think, all of the engine is right in front of the wheels so it has better traction then you would think for that much power. Not that I cant smoke the tires but it only happens when I want it to.
Now the Cadillacs front wheel drive share the same bolt pattern as the Fiero so its cheaper to put one in then a SBC that needs an adapter.
Prices have been going up for "good" Fieros but there are still enough deals that its not way out of line.
Dont start with junk or you will end up with junk.

[farna]

matt167 and luckyfasteddie have the right idea! The sand rails are mostly REAR engine, not MID -- at least the pics posted are.

I'd drop the engine/trans/cradle from any FWD car and weld rectangular tubing to the front built like a model T frame. You can then use a typical hot rod straight axle, a Mustang II setup, or even a VW bug front axle. I wouldn't worry about engine size. Stick a Track T bucket and nose on it and it will be half the weight of almost any donor car. Won't matter if it's a four or six cylinder. You will want to stick with an automatic trans though. You can just add a longer shift cable and be fine. Converting a FWD shifter to rear engine would be difficult at best. I don't know what manual Fiero shift linkage looks like, but unless it's cable operated in some way it won't be easily adaptable. Besides, finding a FWD American vehicle with a manual trans is a bit tough, autos are easy. You can clean the engine up, or mount a turtle deck over it. I've been thinking about building something along the lines of a "Super 7" except incorporating a mid engine, similar to the above. To many projects right now though!

[BillyShope]

If you don't want to start with an old VW Bug, you can always use the James Dean car as a starting platform:

http://www.thunderranch.com/550.html

[Jake_Dragon]

The standard Fiero tranny uses cables for the shifter.

[luckyfasteddie]

Dragon is right it is done with cables, i chose a manul tranny so I could tow the thing .Got the harness on today and should be starting it tomorrow.