V8 Caravan?

69.5CUDA said:
the rear spring mounting centers are ruffly 50 inches...outer edges of "stock" tires is 70 inches......sooo as long as your offset puts you not past 70 you will be fine.....on a side note..when i was cutting up the parts mini i loped out the wheel wells and checked how far in you could tub it befor hitting the frame..it was something like 7-9 inches ..so yeah you can tub the hell out of one without modding the frame...corse tubbing the drivers side would be a semi ugly task as the wheel well is extra long as the filler neck goes thru the wheel well...passenger side is a "normal" wheel well

as for the tank ..yes its offset but totaly in the way..(so in the way that they routed the exhaust to the passenger side on 2 90 deg bends to clear it) HOWEVER..i think if you found the tank from an AWD minivan that the tank is longer and skinnier by design to allow for the drive shaft of the rearend...dount quote me on it but im 90% positive that the AWD tank is totaly out of the way and that ALL vans have provisions for it...so essentialy it "should" be a direct bolt in...

ive seen a few "conversions" of normal minis being made AWD useing factory parts and was sure that everything to do it was a direct bolt in..with the exception of a few guys who did it to the "short" vans as the AWD was only availible on the long wheel base

some time this week/weekend ill end up out at the wreckers and ill see if theres any AWD's i can have a look at
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Thanks so much 69! Your a great help!


I wonder if I should do a K-car?

Van or K-car? :confused::doh:
 
np ive contemplated it myself a few times..i personaly never wanted to fuss with the front suspension...i was told however that you can safely take the drive shafts apart and just leave the axle end of the shaft in the front end......
 
69.5CUDA said:
np ive contemplated it myself a few times..i personaly never wanted to fuss with the front suspension...i was told however that you can safely take the drive shafts apart and just leave the axle end of the shaft in the front end......
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I suppose but I would want the stiffer V8 suspention.

I don't really like the idea of a V8 cornering on 2.2L springs.

Plus the rack would be in the way.
 
yeah thats what i kept tilling myself too was the front suspendion wouldnt do well with the weight..i imagine in a drag aplication it would probably work pretty good for weight transfer LOL
 
You'd figure, with gas the way it is, we'd be seeing more rwd to fwd conversions. I'm not saying take a performance orientated car and hobble it up but I think it would "work" on a bunch of the late 40's-50's cruisers.
 
Diplomat_Wagon said:
Plus the rack would be in the way.
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Rachel had that problem when golfing...

If I were doing this swap (and at one point, I was), I'd not trust the fairly-flimsy strut towers to handle a V8. However, if I were doing a RWD conversion and sticking with a 2.2/2.5 or one of Ma's lighter V6s (3.9L need not apply), I'd probably hack up the half-shafts and leave the stock front suspension.

The L-bodies (Omni/Horizon/Charger/Turismo) are narrower in the front, but the conversion can still be done. It's just cozier. The rest of the FWDers from that era are K-based and dimensionally nearly identical up front.

Goin' racing? L-car; the 4-doors are lightest. P-bodies (Shadow/Sundance) are next on the list.

Style? I'd be all about a hardtop LeBaron coupe (and that's what I was going to do at one point) though a Daytona would be cool too.

Shock value? Minivan all the way, preferably a cargo (panel) van (why drag around all that glass weight?).


I wouldn't convert an older car to FWD, but I'd certainly consider modern V6 or hair-dried L4 as an option for motivation. FWD has very, very little advantage fuel-wise simply because the power doesn't need to make a right turn at the pinion gear.
 
Dr.Jass said:
Rachel had that problem when golfing...

If I were doing this swap (and at one point, I was), I'd not trust the fairly-flimsy strut towers to handle a V8. However, if I were doing a RWD conversion and sticking with a 2.2/2.5 or one of Ma's lighter V6s (3.9L need not apply), I'd probably hack up the half-shafts and leave the stock front suspension.

The L-bodies (Omni/Horizon/Charger/Turismo) are narrower in the front, but the conversion can still be done. It's just cozier. The rest of the FWDers from that era are K-based and dimensionally nearly identical up front.

Goin' racing? L-car; the 4-doors are lightest. P-bodies (Shadow/Sundance) are next on the list.




Style? I'd be all about a hardtop LeBaron coupe (and that's what I was going to do at one point) though a Daytona would be cool too.

Shock value? Minivan all the way, preferably a cargo (panel) van (why drag around all that glass weight?).


I wouldn't convert an older car to FWD, but I'd certainly consider modern V6 or hair-dried L4 as an option for motivation. FWD has very, very little advantage fuel-wise simply because the power doesn't need to make a right turn at the pinion gear.
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Your such a help Jass! :)

Being the person I am the shock value is what I like the most! :D


I will stick with the van idea, it would have to be a short wheelbase version, a panel would be nice but I don't mind the glass. One with glass would "blend" in better with the masses. And that is helpfull during APB's. :shifty:
 
that the side glass on a short base is actualy quite light and hase a very subtle curve to it....toss a layer of tint on the inside and no one will be the wiser(asumeing you start out with factory tinted glass that is..since its kinda a brownish tint it makes it almost imposible untill about 2 foot away to tell that theres more tint under it)...get one in blue metalic or red metalic if you want to TOTALY dissapere

still think a mid engined V8 minivan would be a hoot..ala A-100\108 style
 
damn straight i broke the mold...just think of the traction and the nose lift of a mid engine setup....leave the stock 2.2\2.5 up front for when the cops are around..and fire up the V8 for smokeing the unsuspection...or lose the whole front engine setup swap in a torsion bar setup and toss the engine in the middle and watch that nose rise on the street
 
That glass is a lot heavier than you think. It's probably 3/16" thick, and glass is far heavier than sheetmetal. I would guess that putting 1/16" lexan in the four rear side windows and back glass would knock more than 30lbs off the van.

Lexan should be legal as long as you don't use it on the windshield or front-door glass (which would be nearly impossible anyhow)... lots of motorhomes out there with plexi and lexan.
 
true..but could you make it look good?...if your after that "stealth" look...i could see makeing it look normal if the rear windows were held in place by a rubber ring like on a bus...or if the windows were flat....but i cant see getting lexan\plexi to take that curve and look even remotely presentable(im not even going to attempt it looking "good")....now if your after the weight saveings then ya wouldnt be runnin a minivan in the first place LOL

as for plexi door glass...with the way the channel is setup ya dont think it would be posible doc?...even if ya got it close to the same thickness?

as for a windshield well..if ya dig thru your laws most states you will find a windshield as "optional" ..now mind you if its fog`ed, tinted, cracked those are ticketable...wipers on the other hand are 100% required even without a windshield, i belive in all states.....so with a windshield being optional why couldnt ya run plexi up front?...course if you made sure the plexi was nice and put in looking "stock" no one would be the wiser


funny i got a fortune cookie today "you would prosper in the field of wacky inventions"
 
after the fun of melting rear hides at will wears off, I think you'd be looking for some weight in back anyway.:huh:
 
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