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V8 conversion

there is a guy here in the uk,squelch on fordmondeo.org (MEG) who has fitted a 3.6litre rover v8 based on the old buick 215 v8, this has had a slight overbore and stage 2 tuned with a 500cfm edelbrock carb into his 1996 mondeo complete with 4 wheel drive. it still needs to pass a safety test before it is road legal. its a bit of a secret project and he hasnt released many pics of the whole car as he is wanting to 'unveil' it at a show as soon as it passes the sva test.

a couple of vids, again not giving much away.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbw0LUgfk7s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SPbqSboR2Y
 
Ohhh the possibilites are endless for people to battle me on this topic of chassis design and engineering....
I think I'll just stay out of this one :laugh:
 
CrazyTalkSVT said:
Ohhh the possibilites are endless for people to battle me on this topic of chassis design and engineering....
I think I'll just stay out of this one :laugh:
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Well since you didnt stay out of this one....., maybe you should explain your philosophies of chassis design and engineering...
 
IRS would be much much much easier! you can run the whole subframe complete from the IRS mustang. weld and bolt it in exactly where you want it. then run subframe connectors and tie the two subframes together.

go ahead and put a solid rear axle in it. by the time you get it solid enough to handle the power and not twist like crazy it will be a full frame car. not to mention these cars are three inches off the ground stock LOL
 
TRicker said:
IRS would be much much much easier! you can run the whole subframe complete from the IRS mustang. weld and bolt it in exactly where you want it. then run subframe connectors and tie the two subframes together.

go ahead and put a solid rear axle in it. by the time you get it solid enough to handle the power and not twist like crazy it will be a full frame car. not to mention these cars are three inches off the ground stock LOL
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do you have some dimensions on that subframe?
 
bhiggs89 said:
Well since you didnt stay out of this one....., maybe you should explain your philosophies of chassis design and engineering...
Click to expand...

Is there something specific in this topic you would like me to comment or maybe go into a little bit more depth on? It's kind of all over the place...
I could touch on a few things:

For one 4 links are not easy to build. Sure physically making the bars is easy but engineering it to work properly is a whole different ball game. Looking at the kit sold for the Focus the rear appears to be a triangulated 4 link with relatively short bars. For one I'm surprised they were able to get enough triangulation out of the bars so that the rear end doesn't feel fishy. Along with that, because of the shorter bars, it would lead me to believe that the instant center is somewhere just in front of the rear end. This works well for delivering power to the ground, but you give up stability and may have some unwanted roll steer. So straight line driving is a joy, curves are a bummer from a performance stand point.

The idea behind making new subframe connectors to, in essence, make life easier is in my opinion the wrong way to go about it on a project like this. The problem I see is you're adding some serious stress risers to a unibody chassis that wasn't designed with that stress load in mind. I think it would work for a little while but problems would arise and continue. Regardless of whether or not you rock a straight axle or an IRS I think a better option is to lose the floor entirely, build a tube chassis along with a roll cage and then replace the floor around your new chassis. Keeping the stock floor limits you in so many ways from building a rear set up that will perform the way you want. Space is the biggest compromise in this case and I sure wouldn't want to have my ride look like Frank the Tanks racked out red dragon. :laugh:

One thing that is hugely over looked in projects like this is how they have a tendency to nickel and dime you to death. Doing the fab work yourself helps, but you still need to buy parts.

I'll have to go back through the entire post to see if there are other things to touch on. Or let me know if you have something specific in mind.
 
I had nothing specific in mind. Suspension design and setup is not my forte, so it is always good to hear others educated inputs on discussions like this.

You seem to know what your talking about. So if you feel the need to further elaborate on the topic please do. :cool:
 
CrazyTalkSVT said:
For one 4 links are not easy to build. Sure physically making the bars is easy but engineering it to work properly is a whole different ball game. Looking at the kit sold for the Focus the rear appears to be a triangulated 4 link with relatively short bars. For one I'm surprised they were able to get enough triangulation out of the bars so that the rear end doesn't feel fishy. Along with that, because of the shorter bars, it would lead me to believe that the instant center is somewhere just in front of the rear end. This works well for delivering power to the ground, but you give up stability and may have some unwanted roll steer. So straight line driving is a joy, curves are a bummer from a performance stand point.
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This is where 4x4 knowledge pays off big time - check out the attachment... 4 link made easy.
CrazyTalkSVT said:
The idea behind making new subframe connectors to, in essence, make life easier is in my opinion the wrong way to go about it on a project like this. The problem I see is you're adding some serious stress risers to a unibody chassis that wasn't designed with that stress load in mind. I think it would work for a little while but problems would arise and continue. Regardless of whether or not you rock a straight axle or an IRS I think a better option is to lose the floor entirely, build a tube chassis along with a roll cage and then replace the floor around your new chassis. Keeping the stock floor limits you in so many ways from building a rear set up that will perform the way you want. Space is the biggest compromise in this case and I sure wouldn't want to have my ride look like Frank the Tanks racked out red dragon. :laugh:
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I agree with you there - the chassis was not designed to take what wants to be done, I like your idea.
 

Attachments

  • 4BarLinkV3.1d.zip
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FunInNorthDakota said:
do you have some dimensions on that subframe?
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I dont think the mustang subframe would be feasible. its really large and mounts kind or crazy. the front bolts in place where the lower control arms bolt in on a mustang and the rear is attached with a bracket that bolts to the side of the rear frame rail where the quad shocks mount. I would look for a rwd car that has a smaller rear subframe that mounts more generic
 
turbo_fox said:
I dont think the mustang subframe would be feasible. its really large and mounts kind or crazy. the front bolts in place where the lower control arms bolt in on a mustang and the rear is attached with a bracket that bolts to the side of the rear frame rail where the quad shocks mount. I would look for a rwd car that has a smaller rear subframe that mounts more generic
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Thats kinda why I asked. I dont believe it would be feasible. Honestly I think the most you could do with a mustang subframe is use it as a baseline for designing a new subframe.
 
I can't believe this thread is still going. Anyone can do anything in this world. It just comes down to how much you want to spend to get it.

Simple...logic we all can accept.
 
Harrry said:
I can't believe this thread is still going. Anyone can do anything in this world. It just comes down to how much you want to spend to get it.

Simple...logic we all can accept.
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I'm gonna mount twin General Electric F414 engines on my hood. That aught to get my quarter mile time down
 
Yes FWD is traction limited but you can do alot with it. I've seen Civic with a worked 2.0L and a turbo run 11s. He had killer suspension and front slicks. The car also dynoed over 550whp. It can be done. However, IMO, where these cars SHINE is the autox. If you want to go balls out fast in a straight line then get a RWD car or get a hot FWD setup that can do it. Honestly you would spend alot more money trying to convert this setup to RWD then you would even importing an AWD mondeo setup I'd imagine.
 
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