Chocolate and Pickle Juice: Weird Automotive Combinations We've Considered

Curtis73 said:

My 66 Bonneville has already had some crazy stuff done.  Front spindles and brakes from a 3/4 ton 8-lug chevy truck.  Rear axle is a 14 bolt full floater. 

Do you have a photo of this 8 lug Bonne? That sounds amazing.

Ford 5.0 in a Nissan Sileighty. Redneck dorifto.

SHO V6 in a Fiero with a bad Ford GT40 body kit. Call it the GTShorty.

The new 7.3 pushrod engine in a C8. Just for giggles.

Flathead Lincoln V12 in a Ferrari, as was once suggested in a build thread on here. 

ProDarwin said:I think once you put subaru suspension on a jeep and lower it, the front diff would basically occupy the area where the engine is.

Nah, the solid front axle means that there's at least a foot of clearance between the axle centerline and the oil pan.  There is a ton of room to make that pig lower if you do an IFS/IRS conversion.  Plus rally tires are never any larger in diameter than 25.5" (65cm) due to FIA regulations, and with the low power output of a Jeep six you would probably want something smaller anyway, like 62 or 60cm tires.

If you went with the RB25 and cranked the boost up so the engine made 500 ft-lb of torque, then you'd want the big 17cm by 65cm tires, but not any sooner than that.  That'd be around a 205/65R15 in P-metric speak.

Then you go for a drivers' side IFS pumpkin? What is the best choice there?

In reply to buzzboy :

Reiterate:  R180 diff from the rear of a Subaru.  Or a Nissan, for that matter.  Hopefully there's some OEM mishmash of parts that means you don't need to spend $bank on one-off axle sticks.

Although since we are melding all sorts of different crap together, I know Mazda was very re-use-ative with its dimensions.  I have used a Protege front stub shaft to center an RX-7/Miata diff for welding and you can use FC RX-7 rear hubs to convert a 323 GTX to five-lug wheels.  So there is probably a way to do something like use a Kia Sportage front diff and ??? axles, and probably still could use Subaru struts on Mazda uprights because I have used Subaru struts on FC front uprights, width is the same just needed to make extended ears.

The idea has crossed my mind to take the supercharged 3800 in my Buick Regal and make a new set of mounts that turn it 90 degrees from the original orientation, then put a T5 behind it an an Aztec IRS out back.

When the Dart developed rod knock, it crossed my mind to replace the Mopar slant six with a BMW M50. But I think I'll just overhaul the slant six. I'll make a final decision once I get the motor out and have a chance to have a look at the damage.

I had thought of a 2 door v8 and rwd converted 300M, 'on paper' it's mostly parts snagging from the newer LX platform minus a fuel cell and driveshaft... 

Body extended 80's square body Suburban dropped on a modern 3/4 frame...

AWD RB26 third gen camaro...

I used to have a coworker and we'd spend the first hour or so of overlapping shifts brainstorming and concocting weird automotive ideas. Currently, one of my projects is building a volvo t5 swapped e30 w/ a mustang t5.

I have a '70 c50 big chev that I'd like to get fairly low and make a ramp truck. We've thought about using three front IFS setups from an early 00s chev. Then a standard mounted engine, back to a divorced transfer case driving both sets of "rear" axles. If that makes any sense.

He's tossed around so many incarnations of beetle. Fenderless, dually and front engine'd; j series v6 mounted in the back on an entire swingarm assembly, of course the subi swap but with a pickup bed over it.

DjGreggieP said:

Body extended 80's square body Suburban dropped on a modern 3/4 frame...

You could get the '80s square body Suburban on a 3/4 ton frame; might be easier just to swap over a later drivetrain unless there's something specific on the newer frame you're looking to add.

MadScientistMatt said:

DjGreggieP said:

Body extended 80's square body Suburban dropped on a modern 3/4 frame...

You could get the '80s square body Suburban on a 3/4 ton frame; might be easier just to swap over a later drivetrain unless there's something specific on the newer frame you're looking to add.

The idea was mostly just to 'body swap' onto a modern frame for the upgraded brakes and suspension design enhancements from the past 20 years and parts availability to keep it on the road, because the original thought was a simple frame swap. It was the later digging and checking wheelbase and lengths that led to the size differences (I have them written down at home). Also figured that way I could buy a rollover frame donor and make sure its in solid running driving condition (be it gas or diesel powered) then have a cool retro looking towing/family hauler (not that I actually have a family at this time)... 

There is of course still the option of swapping in a modern engine and transmission into what's left of a 35+ year old Suburban frame and it would accomplish the same thing aesthetically, aside from the extended body, and just update everything on the frame.

The other option is a shortened modern frame but that then changes fuel lines, brake lines, driveshaft length plus any kind of electrical wiring now has excess and needs to be shortened, which is also doable, but an extended square body Suburban would just look cooler.

All this because of the FIB in GTA: Vice City lol 

When Burrito Lover was selling his 850 coupe shell I had some devious thoughts. It was just far enough modified/cut up to be justifiable to keep going with the mods, but not into the basket case realm...it actually looked like fairly nice condition considering, and was local to me! I fantasized about picking it up, cutting up the wheel wells, and stuffing a side-by-side chassis under it, or building a crosskart-type chassis to marry with it. Track would likely be somewhere from nearly to completely outside the original fenders, and ride height a bit lifted. Register as a Fiat, and have hilarious bike-powered, long-travel, flyweight buggy street shenanigans!

I want to put a Cosworth DFV in my Datsun 1200 but still keep the front engine rear drive layout. If I can't have that than I want a motorcycle derived V8.

Tom1200 said:

I want to put a Cosworth DFV in my Datsun 1200 but still keep the front engine rear drive layout. If I can't have that than I want a motorcycle derived V8.

What's the difference?

On the one hand, DFV parts are probably easier to come by (relatively speaking).  On the other hand, with a motorcycle based V8 you don't need to preheat the coolant and oil before you try to start the engiine, because otherwise it won[t even be able to turn...

buzzboy said:

Curtis73 said:

My 66 Bonneville has already had some crazy stuff done.  Front spindles and brakes from a 3/4 ton 8-lug chevy truck.  Rear axle is a 14 bolt full floater. 

Do you have a photo of this 8 lug Bonne? That sounds amazing.

Yes, but it's on my external HD at work.

Believe it or not, the 14 bolt FF was pretty much a bolt-in once you added the trailing arm mounts.  It came from a P30 step van and was the right width as-is.  The front spindles were a bit more involved but not bad.  I modified the lower control arms to take the press-in truck ball joint, then used an off-the-shelf Afco upper control arm to fit the truck upper ball joint.  Front springs were the stock take-offs from my 96 Impala SS.

Another crazy idea I had.

I had a 74 Maverick.  I wanted to do a complete STI drivetrain AWD swap, big box flares, and gut and cage the interior.  Surprisingly, a 74 Maverick is within 100 lbs of a newer STI.

buzzboy said:

Curtis73 said:

My 66 Bonneville has already had some crazy stuff done.  Front spindles and brakes from a 3/4 ton 8-lug chevy truck.  Rear axle is a 14 bolt full floater. 

Do you have a photo of this 8 lug Bonne? That sounds amazing.

Here ya go

14 bolt FF, 3/4 ton front spindles/brakes, Impala SS springs, Caddy 500, TH400/GVOD

@knurled DFVs unlike modern F1 engines do not need 3 guys to do pre-flight warm ups. I know of two guys who run vintage F1 cars with no crew.  Dependent on time of year one may have to use different plugs to start it. Besides my 1200 is a race car so it wouldn't be an issue if you actually did need an extensive pre-flight.

The Motorcycle V8s are slightly cheaper (5-7K) than a DFV. They both make around the same horsepower.

DFXs  can be had for less, sometimes under 25K but I'd want a naturally aspirated motor.

For a time I was looking for a cheap BDA-BDD; a professional built Datsun motor is 9-10K, which is about what a mildy tuned BDA-BDD goes for. The BDA in mild trim makes 175-200hp versus 150-170 for a Datsun hand grenade.

The new Ford 7.3 gasser in my mudstain. Honestly the only way I'd ever v8 swap that car.
 

At one point I wanted to put a Honda FWD power train in the back of a beetle. 
 

different but similar: I was fully planning to put a $4000 turbo kit in a $1500 Focus. Then the focus died 700 miles from home so I didn't do that. 

I always wanted to covert an Olds 350 diesel to gas.  They can take some serious oomph with that bottom end.

I also always wanted to soup up an olds 350 diesel.  They got a bad rep because of the crappy head bolts, but once you stud the heads they are actually pretty reliable.  I knew a guy who had one in an S10 putting 350hp/500tq to the ground.  He was a little crazy though.  He got deep on custom pump mods since the aftermarket is next to zero on them.

Let's see... other oddities I've thought of...

1.9TDI in the back of a VW bus
Caddy 500 in the back of a beetle, but someone beat me to it.  
7.3L powerstroke in my 66 bonneville, but then the Duramax came out and it's a better fit.
1ZZ or something else reliable as a rock into an Triumph spit
4BD1T into an E350
OM606 into my Fordzda Branger.

I will straight-up swap a diesel into anything.

I will also warn you all... I have a bag of chocolate covered pretzels and a jar of dill pickles in the fridge.  I'll let you know if my balls grow big enough to try it.

Curtis73 said:

Caddy 500 in the back of a beetle, but someone beat me to it. 

My old boss built a Baja Bug. Started with a 1641. Then a built 4.3 chev. Then it broke Type 1 transmissions so he upgraded to the 002 bus box. Then it wasn't breaking so he installed a built 350 chevy. Then it was breaking 002 transmissions. Then he pulled out the stops: Cad 425 and TH425 mounted in the rear. He has a Cad 500 waiting to go in it. Still with the bug's 8gal gas tank.

Curtis73 said:

Let's see... other oddities I've thought of...

1.9TDI in the back of a VW bus

VW did this already, although with the 1.6.

Curtis73 said:

Let's see... other oddities I've thought of...

1.9TDI in the back of a VW bus

Wrong thread.  That's not chocolate and pickle juice, that's milk and cookies. 

Ok, maybe Almond milk and gluten free cookies?

At least they never did it in a split window safari, which was my plan.