Drivetrain/susp Questions

[TonaChris]

Im looking to convert a car I have to RWD. Im considering a Supra(87-92) 5spd drivetrain and rear suspension and have some questions about it. I would prefer to find a turbo car as a donor but they seem to be hard to find cheap. Ive found a few N/A cars for dirt.

Questions:
1) Do the turbo car and NA car use the same differential and rear axles?

2) Are the bellhousings for the r154 and the w58 the same? If not what is different?

3) Are the input shafts lengths the same for the r154 and a w58?

4) Does anyone have a rusted out turbo supra with a blown engine that still has a good drivetrain and rear suspension, that theyd sell for cheap? :biglaugh:

 

[Charlie97L]

Converting to RWD will cost you more than you want to pay. What kind of car is it?

The main problem is that on FWD cars, there is no driveshaft running the length of the car to the rear axle. in order to accomodate this, and probably the supra larger-than-your-current-transmission as well, there will have to be extensive modifications done to the floor pan and firewall of your vehicle. Like, it will have to be stripped to a rolling chassis, part of the floor cut out, and a driveshaft tunnel fabricated and welded in. If it's not done properly, your car will be ruined. And getting it done properly isn't cost effective. I mean sure, rally racing teams do AWD conversions on FWD cars, but those cars end up having about 100K of work done to them. 10K into a 130K car isn't bad, but 10K of labor that won't give you any horsepower (and will add a lot of weight, making you slower) into a 5-10K car is just insane.

Also, if your engine is horizontally opposed, as in most FWD vehicles, the tranmssion will not bolt up. This means if your cylinders in your inline 4 run from side to side instead of front to back, the tranny can't mate to it. you'd need to also change your engine mounting so the cylinders are running front to back so the flywheel is facing the rear. In most FWD/4cyl cars, there is not enough room in the engine bay to do this.

RWD isn't a bolt on modification. I'd say you're looking at upwards of 10K for just the labor. Just buy a supra. You can get a great one for 10K, and not have to worry about anything ever going wrong with a shoddy RWD conversion.

 

[TonaChris]

Im looking for part information and possibly parts, not....whatever you just said. I know what Im doing. It will be a Dodge Daytona power by an SRT-4 2.4 backed by a 87-92 supra r154/driveline.

 

[Charlie97L]

ok that's fine, just get a supra off of a yard, that will have everything you need... there are too many little things to get it all individually... you could probably snag a turbo with a BHG from here or www.i-supra.com for less than 1000, and that would have everything you'd need.

the fact that it's a daytona means there ARE conversion kits out there... i've heard of taking RWD parts from a caravan for the drivetrain, but you obviously can use a supra instead, with some work.

but you will still have to modify the floor of the chassis and/or the frame to accomodate the driveshaft, that's just a given, and possibly modify the firewall, depending on the size of the engine bay.

i'm not positive on your questions, i'm pretty sure the w58 and r154 are interchangeable, but for big power, you want the r154. hopefully a more veteran supra guy can answer those. good luck.