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Can You Make A FWD car in to AWD


C-REX

Fwd to Awd  

  1. 1. Fwd to Awd



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i was looking at a junk yard for a 5 speed for my 93 4dr lumina when i came across this cray idea of taking a 5 speed for a rwd calvier and putting the rear end a 5 speed in to my car But Would the fwd and rwd work together. I know i would have to change the gear ratios to match.

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i was looking at a junk yard for a 5 speed for my 93 4dr lumina when i came across this cray idea of taking a 5 speed for a rwd calvier and putting the rear end a 5 speed in to my car But Would the fwd and rwd work together. I know i would have to change the gear ratios to match.

 

You have a better chance finding the Versa-Trak drivetrain system and fabicating mounts.

Or find an AWD 6000 and fix it up...

Honestly, lets quit the wild automotive engineering ideas before someone gets hurt.

 

- Erik

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You have a better chance finding the Versa-Trak drivetrain system and fabicating mounts.

Or find an AWD 6000 and fix it up...

Honestly, lets quit the wild automotive engineering ideas before someone gets hurt.

 

- Erik

 

Better yet, let's quit the wild automotive engineering ideas before an innocent AWD 6000 gets hurt. :shock:

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Like has been said, there is no such thing as an RWD Cavalier.

Changing a W-body to AWD has been done before.

GM's Grand Prix G8 was an FWD Grand Prix converted to AWD using a Pontiac Aztek Versa-trak drivetrain.

 

It would require a lot of work to say the least.

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you can turn any car to any drive front, rear, or AWD. It would take alot of fabracation but it can be done...........I wouldn't want to try :lol: I've seen it done before on monster garage, and i've heard of a rear wheel drive grand am but i forget where :roll: As long as you could get the pieces and fab up some drive shafts and stuff you could get it too work on anything........of course you have too have lots of money and/or time, and know alot about drive shafts and building cars and gearing ratios.........blah,blah,blah :lol:

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  • 2 months later...
i was looking at a junk yard for a 5 speed for my 93 4dr lumina when i came across this cray idea of taking a 5 speed for a rwd calvier and putting the rear end a 5 speed in to my car But Would the fwd and rwd work together. I know i would have to change the gear ratios to match.

 

Ok, I know this discussion was long dead and gone :) Feb 2003 and all that, but I felt compelled to answer, considering I drew up plans to modify my 1991 9C1 Police Interceptor Caprice into an AWD vehicle.

 

You couldn't just take a transmission and rear end from a RWD car, place it under your FWD and have a car that would be able to be AWD. An engine is basically an overglorified air pump that by itself has nothing to do with moving a car. That's where the clutch plates and the bell housing come into play. The transmission locks up inside the bell housing, and the viscous friction from the plates moves the transmission, which obviously in turn move the wheels.

 

There is only room in the bellhousing for one transmission. Taking the tranny and rear end from a RWD car, would turn your car into a RWD car. In the case of a FWD car, the engine and transmission are designed to be a transaxle. This usually means that the engine and transmission are side by side and hard to distinguish as two pieces. So you'd have to do more than place the tranny under the car. You'd have to redesign the engine compartment. Meaning you'd have to fabricate new motor mounts because you'd have to turn the engine 90 degrees in the cradle to face the bellhousing aft to be able to get it to hook up to the RWD tranny.

 

Unfortunately in a transaxle set up there isn't a bellhousing, per se, if memory serves. As the engine and tranny are designed to be "one" So you'd probably have to actually fabricate or come by a bellhousing that would adapt the V6 to the RWD tranny. Which isn't as hard as it sounds. Most of the Jimmy's, etc, have some of the same V6 engines in them, so naturally have proper parts for RWD setup. But it means matching up part numbers for that as well to get it all to work out right.

 

This doesn't even begin to get us into the AWD category. For AWD, or 4x4 style setups, you have to have a transfer case. Basically a sub transmission for the transmission. As I mentioned earlier, I looked into making a Caprice into an AWD, basically because while working as a Chevy salesperson I found out that the transmission in my Caprice was the same transmission used underneath the Astro AWD minivans. The only difference was the addition of a second gear package in the transmission and a transfer case. Then you'd also have to have the forward CV portion of the AWD set up as well, and I could never come by a wrecked and totalled out Astro to put my theories to the test before my Caprice died an ugly ugly death when her water pump seized.

 

With all of this being said, the answer to your primary question is .... yes .... you can make a FWD into an AWD ..... in fact, engineering wise, you can make any car into any thing if you're willing to throw enough money at the problem.

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umm on this site the Z50 concept was AWD with a modified 4T65... i think the final drive housing was out of an STE..,... go figure.... once you get it back there a F-car rearend wouldn't be so hard to fit but you'd have to figure out some sort of a fuel cell idea bc the cank is in the center of the car........

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