[Augusto]

I'm thinking of powering a buggie using a V8 but I don't have a suitable transaxle so my mind is grinding the idea of using a V drive like the ones used on boats, you know with a 4x4 transfer case, the engine will be mounted in the rear just above the rear axle, facing rearwards, the transmission will go towards the front and a small driveshaft joins it with a transfer case that will have another small driveshaft going rearwards to the axle.

pretty simple, but after thinking about it a lot, finally I got more confused and have doubts about if the rear axle will turn in the correct direction, in a boat it's very simple just using a diferent pitched propeller but for a car there are no reverse rotation rear ends.

has this setup ever been used in a car? has someone ever done this before?

please help.

Augusto.

 

[bobjob]

with a v- drive,, you could run off front OR rear of motor,, so it doesn't really matter...

 

[Augusto]

sorry but I don't understand what you mean, I couldn't drive off the front of the motor because I need to have a transmission.

Augusto.

 

[cobalt327]

have doubts about if the rear axle will turn in the correct direction

The common V8 engines have reverse rotation cams. Run the engine "backwards" if need be. You'll have a hell of a reverse! lol

With a Corvair transaxle, and a reverse rotation engine, you'll be heading in the right direction, at least. For how long, nobody knows...

Any 4WD front axles "backwards"? Or, flip sides w/the ring gear.

 

[Augusto]

corvair parts here are as rare as a honest politician

I'm using this toyota supra IRS as rear axle so no reverse rotation rings available, I still wonder which way does a v drive would turn the driveshaft, my mind is confused about this.

nobody here has ever used a v drive? no one has a power-boat?

Augusto.

 

[timothale]

go for it

My brother inlaw's boss was big into buggies . I remember one with a chrysler hemi mounted just foreward of the rear axle, hooked up to a ford truck 4 speed then into a custom v drive with a tag that had the name of a machine shop in salinas calif . the rear axle was pointed with the drive shaft end to the rear ... if you end up with one foreward speed and 4 reverse you just have to turn the rear axle upside down. like putting the ring gear to the opposite side in a Vw bug or flat head ford type rear end when doing a quick chage center,... A lot of old ford rear axles were used around here in hay loaders and spinner fertilizer spreaders. the old ford housings were easy to just flip the center section to get the rotation needed.

 

[Augusto]

flipping the rear axle was something that I used to do when I made engine swaps to the toyota 800cc mini pickups they were cute little toys but only had a 2 cylinder boxer air cooled engine so I used the 1.3 liter engine from the tercel to soup up them, happens that the boxer engine was a reverse rotation mill and I didn't realize it until I completed the first swap and when I shifted into first gear I slamed the wall behind the truck, took me a whole day to realize how in hell that happened I had 4 reverse and one forward gear, ha ha ha, it was sooo funny.

I always had concerns about the lubrication of ring and pinion upside down but they never failed, well the 1.3 liter engine had only like 40 hp or something, sure the vent was plugged and new one drilled, also the oil level was corrected, is there any lubrication problems when flipped axles are used with more powerful engines?

Augusto.

 

[Triaged]

V-drives reverse the rotation so they work well with rear/mid engine standard rotation engines and differentials. T-cases do not reverse the output so if you use one of them you will have to flip the diff. Flipping the diff you run on the coast side of the gears, and put the pinion in tension rather than compression. It makes it much weaker.