cad. northstar swap?

badaztek wrote:

> Ever think of putting the whole northstar drivetrain into the back of
> the Camaro or Firebird it will still be rear wheel drive but blows
> peoples minds when they see the engine missing in the front and see it
> sitting in the back
> under some lexan and lit up to show it off

This is a really sick idea.
But it makes more sense to me than putting a complex computer driven
engine in a body that can take a small block without worrying about smog
rules. Small blocks can make about any amount of power you want
for a low low fee.


--
Pat
 >> Stay informed about: cad. northstar swap? 

there is another reason to do it too the biggest disadvantage that the
camaros and firebirds ever had was that they are very light in the rear
not very balanced at all with the front to rear weight ratio which made
it very interesting on wet roads ,which is the biggest complaint from
serious chevy guys they love them but alot of them wish they had more
weight in the rear.
another thing to do which I discussed with a friend a few years ago
after the new vette came out was to take a transaxle out of a toronado
and mount it in the rear and hook it to a front mounted engine via a
torque tube or a drive shaft if the engine is mounted pretty solid along
with the transaxle then you got 4 wheel independent suspension 4 wheel
disc bakes and if you want to switch to a different size engine you just
have to remove your old engine and put in the new one with the addition
of a simple adaptor plate and another thing about that transaxle is it
was originally designed to handle 500 caddy engines so it can remain
stock and handle everything from a small block up to a big block and
another pro is it will now have a front to back weight ratio close to
that of a new vette with IRS without paying for a vette transaxle since
a used toronado can be obtained for around 200 bucks and up I've even
seen them given away for free if someone comes to pickup
good luck and good building
 >> Stay informed about: cad. northstar swap? 

badaztek wrote:
> there is another reason to do it too the biggest disadvantage that the
> camaros and firebirds ever had was that they are very light in the rear
> not very balanced at all with the front to rear weight ratio which made
> it very interesting on wet roads ,which is the biggest complaint from
> serious chevy guys they love them but alot of them wish they had more
> weight in the rear.

Mustang guys have the same complaint. Which is why
64 hemi plymouths had the rear axle moved forward

> after the new vette came out was to take a transaxle out of a toronado

Or an appropriate Eldorado. But aren't they pretty rare these days?
They never were big sellers, and out of production for 20 or 25 years.

Still an interesting idea.

--
Pat
 >> Stay informed about: cad. northstar swap? 

around here the toronados keep popping up the most common ones are the
82-84 before they switched it to the smaller transverse type and you can
get them pretty cheap especially the junkyards where they usually get
just about anything in at times like the pull it yourself yards every so
often they get one in and for some reason those transaxles are always
there but the motors are always pulled (hmm seems those trannys never
give out) .
Another transaxle to use maybe ,if someone dont mind it being foreign
,is the transaxle out of an audi 5000S I've heard they can handle up to
400 HP and the rail buggie dudes use this when they use a V-6 or a V-8
in their rails out in michigan .
Oh and the Toronado transaxle is what car hauler builders used in Chevy
truck with the extra low deck height and smaller rear tires .
I also Know that bck in the 80's there was a guy that took a Mid 70's
Camaro and Installed 2 Toronado Big block drivetrains(one in front and
one in back) from the late 60's ,the specs was he had over 1000 hp
completely streetable 4 wheel independent suspension ,all wheel drive,
and four wheel disc brakes and i think it had 10 inch wide tires on all
4 corners too with some aggresive body work to cover them ,I dont
remember the magazine I saw it in but I believe it was either car craft
or hot rod but i could be wrong there .
It would be interesting to know what kind of cars had got that transaxle
put into that we dont know about ,wish someone would post some pics to
see
 >> Stay informed about: cad. northstar swap? 

there is a car that is well known that actually had a mid-engine setup
due to balance issues,it was the General Lee jump car ,what happened was
when they were getting ready to begin shooting on the Dukes of Hazzard
,that every time they tried a jump the car would nose dive right into
the dirt ,and they tried everything to balance the car out ,like extra
weight in the rear but that caused it to lose distance and bottom out
the car ,until they came up with the idea of mounting a hemi to a
toronado transaxle and mount it mid engine and that worked real good
because now the could put in a heavier suspension to take the landings
better ,I guess there were 3 jumpers they used ,2 of them would switch
after one did a jump it would be at the shop getting bodywork replaced
and maintenance done while the other would do the jumps and the 3rd was
a spare in case one was out of commission completely or not able to get
it ready for filming ,but a funny story now,on the last day they were
filming the last couple of jumps they let one jump and then use the
other car for the last jump and they were hauled off and scrapped no
longer needed them so no more fixing ,well on the last day of shooting
the show the stuntman that did the jumps decided to take the last one
out for a spin around the backlot ,he said in an interview that those
cars handled fantastic even in turns
well sadly to say he rolled the car into a ditch and completely
demolished it ,and he was planning on seeing about if the studio would
sell it to him he liked it that much ,but now it was getting scrapped
too ,I'm sure he is still kicking himself over that one yet
and before people start saying that they went thru 60 cars because of
the show but they only had 3 especially built for jumping with a full
custom built chassis and equipment today would probably be about 30,000
or more. some of those 60 cars were were used for bodywork on the
jumpers and the rest were destroyed by using them for the stunt driving
racing along the road for the chase scenes they were usually just
equipped with non hemi v-8's and race style roll cage welded in and they
would wreck them constantly ,if you have ever ran on a dirt road or road
at any bit of speed then you can see why they wrecked them constantly
and why they just put in with what they needed and then there was the 1
show car which was used for the shots with the actors getting in and out
of and you would see pull up and away for certain shots and it never saw
any hard use at all and thats the one you see at certain car shows
around the country .
hope enjoyed reading this
 >> Stay informed about: cad. northstar swap? 

If you keep the money ready and keep your eyes open you can find one of
these transaxles or a used toronado pretty cheap ,I'm hoping here in a
few years if i can get a decent garage to build an S-10 with a midengine
set up either with the V-8 toronado transaxle or one with a 4.3 hooked
to a VW bus transaxle, not planning on racing it ,just for cruising and
going to shows
 >> Stay informed about: cad. northstar swap?