midengine mopar

[Engineguy]

Tony,
That is just an artist's depiction of the layout, made to clearly show the power routing... it's not even close to reality. The engine centerline is only offset 1.25 inch, and the axle flange is inside of the cylinder head width on the left, moreso on the right.

Here's a car using the stock Toro axles...

[Bubstr]

If you was dead set against cable shift, how bout air or hydraulic shift. You would have the cost of a pump but you can route lines anywhere.

Big enough pump and that Can Am replica could have Jim Hall Chaparral movable wing.

[alfonso]

here a question what about weight bias
the wheelie wagon made me think that

[jacksoni]

Back in the dune buggy days flipping the ring gear in VW trans as noted here to run a rear motor Corvair enginewas common. I later built a mid engine Corvair powered buggy with Corvair transaxle turned around. Ran the ENGINE backwards. Crower ground a cam for it back then on shelf. Biggest issue was making a starter to crank in reverse. These days of electronic ignition and programming advance makes no problem of running distributor backwards (advance weights etc).. I suspect you could get a reverse cam made and not worry about flipping transaxles if rotation direction the issue.

[alfonso]

so if i find a wrecked 2007 jeep gran cherokee srt8 4x4
move drive train to rear with tranny in back facing normally to front

figure distance needed to use existing driveshafts short to rear long to front run driveshaft thru tunnel
to
axle housing were they belong front diff in front
rear end in rear
make frame to fit


it would do trick

[Rusty Nail]

Alfonso,

Have you decided on anything?

My $.02 if you want a CanAm type setup you want a lowish motor position as provided by a flipped Porsche trans (preferably turbo) either G50/52 (5 speed) or 930 (4 speed) or ZF.

ZF may not handle the torque and is not cheap to buy or overhaul.

930 has good ratios for a V8 and is best bang for bucks at about $3000 +/- for trans with LSD on ebay. Not much involved in rebuilding them if you do it yourself. It's not rocket science. A lot of the CanAms initially used a Hewland LG500 which is only a four speed, so nothing wrong with that!

Reverse rotation motor? Check out this thread http://www.gt40s.com/forum/gt40-tech-po ... 930-a.html

There is a discussion on the same forum about ZF strength here
http://www.gt40s.com/forum/gt40-tech-po ... ht=failure where there are a few destroyed ones.

And on the 930 here
http://www.gt40s.com/forum/gt40-tech-po ... ht=failure where no one has been able to point to a 930 failure.

There's enough info on the transaxle section there to keep you reading for months.

There's also a CanAm section on that forum

Cheers,

Russ

[Rusty Nail]

The genuine GT40s used a Hewland racing dog box without synchromesh which may not be so street friendly..

That is not correct. The Hewland was homologated but only used in one car. The Allan Mann built, alloy bodied lightweight known a AMGT2 and campaigned by the most successful GT40 privateer of all, Paul Hawkins.

The early GT40's had a Collotti which was a disaster. All the following 289/302's had the ZF but run 'upside down' compared to the Pantera. The big block 427 MK2 and Mk4 cars fitted a T44 specially built by CarKraft using a 9" Ford diff and top loader box combined in a special transaxle housing. Because Ford's testing revealed the ZF would not last the distance in endurance races behind a big block.

[BillyShope]

here a question what about weight bias
the wheelie wagon made me think that

And it should!! I would assume the car was used for exhibition runs and wheelie contests. (And I'm not against either activity. If that's what you enjoy, go for it! As a kid, I was the first to the fence to watch the "hemi under glass" or one of Tommy Ivo's multi-engine dragsters.) For competitive dragracing, you'd want to move the battery and radiator as far forward as possible.

[alfonso]

thanks for continuing thread
like other dreamers i am collecting data
and trying to sell excess to fund the project
ae. my chevy stuff
and the myriad of choices is enuff to spin your head
my first thing to tackle is chassis wether to purchase used or
a new manufacture or
to get buddies to weld something up from bought blueprints
it will dictate trans choice
then once figured save ,save ,save , thrifty spending
and patience and car should surface in a couple of years

[Rusty Nail]

and the myriad of choices is enuff to spin your head
my first thing to tackle is chassis wether to purchase used or
a new manufacture or
to get buddies to weld something up from bought blueprints
it will dictate trans choice

May I be so bold as to suggest that trans choice is the most crucial and difficult part of the design. You need to decide on your trans first, then everything flows from that.. Your trans is defined taking into account the weight of the car, the torque it has to transmit, the width and 'stickiness' of the rear tyres and also the sort of punishment you will be (or not be) subjecting it to.

Your choice of trans dictates largely where your motor sits, what your wheelbase is. These are basic design parameters. Also start looking on ebay for your chosen trans to get a feel for what's out there and prices and start saving.

Good luck

[Warpspeed]

I have to agree with Rusty, the whole car will need to be built around the transmission layout. Apart from strength and suitable ratios, do not underestimate the difficulties of getting the gear linkages forward around the engine in a mid engined car. A crappy gear change that cannot be improved will spoil an otherwise excellent car.

so if i find a wrecked 2007 jeep gran cherokee srt8 4x4
move drive train to rear with tranny in back facing normally to front

This is definitely the best way to go IMHO, if your budget is limited. It would use mostly all the original readily available parts, with minimum problems. It is then just a case of turning the whole diff housing upside down to reverse the rotation of the axles. Either mid engined RWD or full 4WD should then be fairly easy.

Doing it this way places the gearbox in the middle of the car, with all the engine accessories accessible at the rear. A conventional rear gearbox mid engined car will have the fan belt, water pimp, alternator and most other things buried deep near the middle of the car. Not so convenient.

[Rusty Nail]

Whilst I am not familiar with the Jeep set up, I would imagine that would have the motor sitting excessively high. Also in a CanAm type set up there would be no room for the gearbox alongside the driver unless you offset him and then, because the foot width at the front is limited, the driver is then sitting in the car at a considerable angle. Moving the driver forward to clear the gearbox will probably mean the wheelbase will need to be lengthened. Also not ideal.

Shift linkages with a rear transaxle eg Porsche are not a problem, it's a well trodden path and can be either rod linkage with sill shifter as per original CanAms. Or cable operated where you can have either sill or centre shift. Neither are hard to fabricate and most are slick shifters.

It's easy enough to have a removable panel in the rear bulkhead for access to the front of the motor.