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shortening/extending wheelbases and tracks......


Aaron

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I am trying to get some general information about how to shorten a wheelbase and extend or shorten the track of a frame and also how to drop a FWD car body onto a frame......

 

I am researching this via google and was wondering if anyone has any experience doing this.

 

Do you cut a center section out of the frame and reinforce the cut? Do you move the rear suspension forward?

 

How will a unibody car that usually has a front subframe accept a full frame?

 

Some info or just links would be great. Thanks guys.

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I think about all kinds of stuff when it comes to cars. It is usually Audi/VW and the Taurus SHO. I know I want my project car to be the SHO, I just am trying to figure out how to make it handle the power it can produce with F/I. Mating up a stong transmission is the only way to do that, and that leaves RWD as my option.

 

I am just trying to figure out some of the basics on how to mount a unibody type car that usually uses a front subframe only to a RWD ladder type frame which seems to be the most recommended way to do a RWD conversion.

 

Most RWD cars have shorter wheelbases than the SHO, and most trucks have longer, so I was trying to find out how this can work.

 

I did find out that a C6 Corvette has nearly identical wheelbase and track dimensions! lol.

 

MKV will stay my DD, with some R32 brakes and suspension. I need a project car, badly. 9 months until graduation, so I need to find out what car I want to go with by then. lol.

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Well, with any type of chassis change like that you've got an 80% chance of making the car handle like complete shit, and the other 20% it will just be O.K.. It might be able to put down the power, but you're talking about a LOT of work and money to make a chassis change like that.. I don't know entirely what the purpose of this SHO would be, but a change of that magnitude would even be over my own head.

 

I'm not saying anything to discourage you in any way, I'm just looking at the project in a realistic aspect.

 

BTW, props for being a mad scientist.. most people wouldn't even go as far as looking for other alternative to make something work. It takes ingenuity and determination to be original anymore.

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A few of the links I found did say that there is a large chance that the handling would be horrible.

 

That is actually another one of my questions. lol. I have way more questions than answers. I imagine that the chassis that is chosen would be the handling limits the "new" car is capable of. So if I choose an S-10, the best I can hope is to handle like the best S-10, and not like the car it looks like.

 

The purpose of the build would be a weekend warrior/drag car. Not a roadcourse car like my last thread indicated. Since handling would not need to be its most important attribute, I still think this build has a chance. I love the sleeper aspect of the SHO and the 3.2 Yamaha V6. It is capable of huge power numbers when F/I. Mating a mustang 5speed would be the way to hold the power.

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unless you have alot of money to pay to have it done or extreamly strong fab skills then you should look into doing something else. unless you built new subframes to mount everything up and then tied the body together you will have problems. you could also cut the floor out of the body and set it over top of the frame and then build body mounts and then a new firewall and floors to fit the two together. either way you are talking about a ton of work and money.
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