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wvumtnbkr
wvumtnbkr GRM+ Memberand PowerDork
5/5/23 7:27 a.m.
kb58 said:

Turbo rotary and transaxle, stuffed into the back of a Datsun 1200 or B210. I thought of that as far back as the mid-80s but couldn't afford the price of a real transaxle.

There was at least 1 fwd rotary that you could probably import and stuff the entire drivetrain in the back!

gearheadmb
gearheadmb UltraDork
5/5/23 7:40 a.m.
buzzboy said:

I have never owned a big fast car. I want a big fast car. That being said, I prefer diesel and 3 pedals. Give me a Mercedes W126 with a Duramax please.

A friend and i had plans to take a 6.5 turbo diesel and nv4500 from a chevy 2wd 1 ton and put it a 54 packard. One of the biggest things driving the idea was we would keep the shifter at the extra long stock length. It would have ended up at or above the top of the dash and have long shift throws for a "Rat Fink" kind of driving experience. Add in diesel smoke from a front fender exhaust and the standard Detroit diesel rattle and shakes it seemed like an awesomely bad concept. The inability to acquire a title for the packard killed it.

racerfink
racerfink UberDork
5/5/23 8:37 a.m.

A Chevette seems like a good candidate for a 2.0T Ecotec.

Now that they have the 2.7T, seems like a C3 or C4 would be a good place to drop one in.

volvoclearinghouse
volvoclearinghouse UltimaDork
5/5/23 10:06 a.m.

Another idea I've had for awhile is to Flathead Ford V8 something tiny and European.  I had a Simca Aronde that I was going to do this with, but it ended up being too rusty. 

mblommel
mblommel GRM+ Memberand Dork
5/5/23 10:26 a.m.

RX8 complete front and rear suspension and subframes grafted onto '67-'68 Mustang Unibody.

2GR Toyota V6 + supercharger + 6 speed manual into a Lamborghini Urraco

GM Atlas Inline 5 with ITB's in a '23 track T roadster 

Dusterbd13-michael
Dusterbd13-michael MegaDork
5/5/23 11:07 a.m.

In reply to mblommel :

I like the RX8 subframe swap idea. That actually makes a lot of sense to me

GIRTHQUAKE
GIRTHQUAKE SuperDork
5/5/23 11:31 a.m.

I'm a huge fan of Mad Max and "story" cars, and once I seriously thought of what a REAL wasteland vehicle would need to look like instead of some awesome boosted hellbeast. So I thought a real wasteland car would be one using an air-cooled Diesel like a Deutz pumper engine, one of the inline 6s, in a survival car equipped with it's own water collection and power generation. I thought it would also use an auto with some kind of gear splitter for seriously high miles.

Other ideas-

1. An Inline 8 roadster of some form, likely using the Buick Fireball I8 from the 50s roadmasters, the only ones built with overhead valves and not flatheads.

2. A muscle car with a detroit diesel, especially if it's the i3 or i4 detroits; a diesel with pistons the size of soup cans. Redline at 3500! 120 horsepower, 400+ lb/ft of torque! I saw a video of an i3 Detroit 2-stroke in a 70s barracuda once, it was great.

 

DjGreggieP
DjGreggieP Dork
5/5/23 11:48 a.m.

Rear engine swap any LH body. I sent the one body I had to scrap before I could start taking measurements but I am certain it could be done by taking the front subframe  and moving it rearward. If I happen across a cheap LH again, I just might think it over. 

wspohn
wspohn SuperDork
5/5/23 12:10 p.m.

I have always liked the appearance of the Triumph Stag, but the stupid engine choice Triumph made - not to use the Rover V8 because it came from the BMC side, but to use a problematic Triumph developed clunker instead, always put me off.

 

Always liked the idea of a Stag with a nice alloy V8 in it.

My other fancy about transplants would probably get me drawn and quartered at a Corvette show.  I doubt that they would take kindly to a 400-500 bhp turbo Ecotec in a C1 Corvette....

mblommel
mblommel GRM+ Memberand Dork
5/5/23 12:23 p.m.

In reply to Dusterbd13-michael :

Track width and wheelbase are both pretty dang close.

I bet it would ride/handle/steer better than the super expensive retrofit suspension kits too. 

Pete. (l33t FS)
Pete. (l33t FS) GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
5/5/23 12:44 p.m.
wvumtnbkr said:
kb58 said:

Turbo rotary and transaxle, stuffed into the back of a Datsun 1200 or B210. I thought of that as far back as the mid-80s but couldn't afford the price of a real transaxle.

There was at least 1 fwd rotary that you could probably import and stuff the entire drivetrain in the back!

And they were all automatics!

Pete. (l33t FS)
Pete. (l33t FS) GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
5/5/23 12:47 p.m.
Mike (Forum Supporter) said:

I'm recycling an answer from elsewhere, but the question was similar...

Mazda 12a + automatic into Grumman LLV.

Take the factory pairing of a high-revving, low-torque, fragile engine and a witless slushbox and put it in a mini box truck that spends all day diving 80 feet at a time at the hands of an unsympathetic driver.

The 12A was not particularly high revving, low torque, or fragile.  Peak power was only like 6k, they made all of their power in the midrange, and they usually lasted about 300k miles if they weren't killed.  The car usually disintegrated around them before the engine quit.

DocRob
DocRob Reader
5/5/23 1:07 p.m.

For a long time I wanted to get one of Mercury Marine/Racing's SB4 7.0 DOHC V8 and put it in my '63 Mercury Comet. 

I mean it's basically just a DOHC LSx. But it is a Mercury motor and it seemed like putting it in a Mercury car made some sense. I mean, until I figured out the SB4 is a ~20k motor in a ~3k car. Then it made A LOT of sense. 

___

I'll admit the Red Baron Express Fiat 600 that is for sale right now, trips ALL the right buttons for me. Honda B-series swap with a mish-mash of VW, Fiat, and Honda parts. It seems like the perfect way to turn money into noise. 

___

A Volvo 240 Turbo swapped to a Ford EcoBoost 2.3. I mean...still 2300ccs and turbo'ed...

Ian F (Forum Supporter)
Ian F (Forum Supporter) MegaDork
5/5/23 1:24 p.m.

Pretty much any swap into a Spitfire, since making it work long-term requires more work than many are willing to do.  Well finished swaps are few and far between. I wish I could have seen David's before he sold it as it looks very well done. 

Similar with Volvo 1800s. That engine bay is a lot smaller than it looks. I've seen few that are well done. 

My own questionable swap involves the moldy, hazmat tagged hulk of a Mk4 Jetta Wagon in my back yard and some sort of RWD V8.  Then I remember how many existing projects I have to complete and come to my senses. 

ToManyProjects
ToManyProjects New Reader
5/5/23 5:35 p.m.

I'm embarking on my (next) questionable swap now: Ecotec turbo 4 into a porsche 911.

Along the path to that decision many other questionable swaps were considered, like a turbo Alfa Romeo 3 liter V6. I also considered a VW/Audi turbo diesel 4.

759NRNG
759NRNG PowerDork
5/5/23 6:01 p.m.

Resting the body of my 1973 B/GT  atop either  a Syclone or Typhoon powertrain ......AWD all the way

Pete. (l33t FS)
Pete. (l33t FS) GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
5/5/23 7:56 p.m.

Every time I see a Z31 300ZX or an FC RX-7, I see all that rear overhang and want to put a 911 drivetrain back there.

Because it only took one of the best engineering firms in the world about forty or fifty years to make a rear engined car handle well, or at least not completely scary, so why not start from scratch as an individual?

buzzboy
buzzboy SuperDork
5/5/23 9:11 p.m.
ToManyProjects said:

... into a porsche 911... I also considered a VW/Audi turbo diesel 4.

My friend owns a TDI swapped 911. It's just as amazing as you think

BAMF
BAMF HalfDork
5/6/23 8:32 a.m.
MadScientistMatt said:

Mazda rotary into something that originally had a Chevy V8.

Rob Dahm did that with a Corvette.

https://youtu.be/kRg_ZVnDxrE

kb58
kb58 UltraDork
5/6/23 1:34 p.m.

A Honda V6 transverse lump in the back of a Fiat 500 :)

MyMiatas
MyMiatas HalfDork
5/6/23 2:46 p.m.

this with this added?

obsolete
obsolete GRM+ Memberand Dork
5/6/23 2:48 p.m.

In reply to MyMiatas :

That doesn't seem questionable to me at all.

The_Jed
The_Jed PowerDork
5/7/23 9:02 p.m.

Ford GAA in an otherwise stock-appearing Excursion.

drock25too
drock25too GRM+ Memberand HalfDork
5/8/23 3:58 p.m.

231 Buick in a Chevette

Tom1200
Tom1200 UberDork
5/8/23 4:11 p.m.

In reply to drock25too :

Chevy put a V6 in the Chevette and than never put it into production.................fools.

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