In your first post you said you wanted to use a crv drivetrain mounted to be mid engined, I assume you meant with the engine behind the seats. How did you plan to get power to the front axle like that? I'm having a hard time picturing a DIY way to make that work?
gearheadmb said:In your first post you said you wanted to use a crv drivetrain mounted to be mid engined, I assume you meant with the engine behind the seats. How did you plan to get power to the front axle like that? I'm having a hard time picturing a DIY way to make that work?
We haff veys. Keeping that close to the vest because I still want to do that. I will allow that being a Honda is absolutely critical to the idea, and engine rotation does not factor into it.
Weekend 8 musings:
Yesterday while I was fighting brackets, Evan removed the fuel tank from the WRX. Today is fairly warm so a good day for working outside. Before I arrived, Evan removed a bunch more stuff from the car and upgraded his Forester in the process.
I set about checking tank fit.
Sonuvabitch.
The floor in the Subaru is actually three inches narrower than the Mini so it is pointless to cut out the semi rusty mess, deal with 400 spot welds holding misc brackets to it, and making it fit. The key important parts seem to be the three pads that we will need to build to. The front of the straps attaches direct to floor, that is no big. The rear of the straps attaches to a cross member over the rear subframe, positioned roughly here.
It sits 19mm higher than the subframe mounting points. And so, the way forward for the tank rear mounts is another 1×2 tube, cut to full length and notched 1/4" to sit down over the rails I put in.
gearheadmb said:In your first post you said you wanted to use a crv drivetrain mounted to be mid engined, I assume you meant with the engine behind the seats. How did you plan to get power to the front axle like that? I'm having a hard time picturing a DIY way to make that work?
Not sure how Pete is planning, but I've seen someone use a LSD in the diff, turn the engine so it is longitudinal instead of transverse. Diff up front, diff out back.
In reply to Mr_Asa :
Nope 
Look at a Honda transverse AWD trans and it will make sense.
In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :
Dammit, I'm tired, I just got in for the night, and you're gonna make me go jack up my crv and figure this out.
gearheadmb said:In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :
Dammit, I'm tired, I just got in for the night, and you're gonna make me go jack up my crv and figure this out.
CRV is a second gen Element (or is that backwards?), so here's an element
In reply to Pete. (l33t FS) :
You talking about flipping the transfer case so the rear output points forward? That's... just crazy enough to work... The bolt pattern looks rectangular (therefore flippable), only problems would be clearance to the oil pan and running the rear diff up front, which means it would be upside down.
Anyway, awesome progress, looking forward to more
In reply to maschinenbau :
It's not symmetrical so some machining and/or welding would be required. And while a K engine is better in every way, a B engine has a shallower block (deeper oil pan) which would give more room.
The key is that Honda alone drives the angle gear off of the ring gear, down and to the rear of the axle centerline. Everyone else drives them concentrically directly off of the differential, so the output ends up having to go through the engine. Like this.
And yes, I've had this idea since 2019 when I was R&Ring the trans in my Volvo.
For the directionality, I had a thought, but not verified, that a B gear could be used on a K trans or vice versa. The driveshafts, IIRC, rotate the same direction. (And IIDRC, then use the rear diff assembly from one with the other...)
There were a few other issues, but as you can see, this is turning out to be kind of easier. Less cool, but easier.
The fuel tank leaks, so a new tank will need to be acquired. NEW tanks are like $350. Used tanks from non salt areas seem to be $500 shipped. A larger problem is that the filler neck is on the right, not the left. I don't think moving the neck to the left would be a good idea since the fuel pump is on the right, so a dry tank situation would need enough fuel to completely fill the left side and then spill over to the right. The fuel transfer uses Bernoulli principle using the return fuel from the engine to pull fuel to the pump side, so it only transfers fuel when the pump is moving it.
I got notice last night that first rallycross is scheduled for May 14. Due to a stage rally conflict, Colin will not be there, so the sights are now set for June, with May 14 as a stretch goal for just in caseness.
Another care package has arrived from 541 Motorsports.
Apparently these are from an STI? The front pivot is higher in the chassis.
Not sure if good bad or indifferent, but it does mean we can play with geometry in the future. I loved playing with suspension geometry in the RX-7 and have some ideas I want to try on a strut suspended all wheel drive car.
Got some nuts, got some bolts, got some washers, got some 1/2" plate to make the spacers. Spacers made, getting ready to weld nuts to washers, and the welder is leaking. Heavily.
See the crack? It took a while to realize it was not the hose or the connection.
All fixed, we can get to welding.
Look Ma, no floor jack holding the diff!
Progress has been slowed heavily by checking news every five minutes because of the current unpleasantness in Eastern Europe. There is another thread for that so that will stay there.
Sheetz has been digested, Red Bull has been acquired, back to work!
Oh yeah. Those spacers needed some clearance attention. I swear, porta-bands cut on the Ouija Board Principle, the more you try to influence the direction the more it does its own thing.
This is how we bend 16ga at the C.O.G.!
No need for fancy sheetmetal brakes, we have vise and hammer. SLAV PRECISION!
Brackets are made, it is late, primer not drying, will weld in tomorrow
Okay, between the aftereffects of bad food and recent global events, and some indecision on the best way to deal with the box problem I made for myself, I did not feel like I got much done today.
Welded in last night's plates. Lower flange lip thing had to be hammerformed to suit the variable angle.
Welded in the final four weld nuts that I made yesterday, into the revised hole locations I made yesterday.
Made two end covers, one very poorly, and welded the not-poorly-made one into place. Called it a day right about here.
Set a minor record when I got home.
$211 shipped for a manifold back exhaust. How bad could it be?
This is awesome! Makes me miss the midwest, welders, my engineer friends, big garages and doing home brew stuff that sometimes worked.
Pete. (l33t FS) said:
$211 shipped for a manifold back exhaust. How bad could it be?
A complete stainless exhaust system for less than 1/3 the price of the materials to build a system yourself. What could possibly be wrong with that?
Oh, that 32.5 MPG in your 300HP AWD tank is better than I have ever managed in my 50HP Matrix.
Can I get the rear wing off that thing?
Wow, I'm late to the game. This is pretty wild, glad I'm now following it.
It's clearly too late, but did you consider the rear subframe setup from the Mini Countryman? They're AWD. I read about 95% of the thread, but I may have missed that diologe.
In reply to Hoondavan :
I am sure Evan can fill in more details, but wrecked R53s were going for crazy money ($3-4k?) at the auctions. I could not see a Countryman bring cheaper. Nor could I see there being any usefulness because there would be a large expense mating the Subaru diff to it.
As for my thoughts... I have driven other peoples' Imprezas extensively, Evan has too and used to have at least one 2.5RS. Part of the overall Plan is to not reinvent too many wheels. GC/GD chassis handle telepathically good and are remarkably tolerant of all manner of different driving styles. There was one event where I was co driving a 2.5RS with two different drivers, and we had wildly different driving styles, and were posting almost identical times.
The rear suspension would be a lot simpler as a trailing arm arrangement like an E30 or a Syncro. Or as from a certain generation Legacy because it appeared we could retain the Mini's rear shocks and springs, no need to make strut towers. But it would not handle like an Impreza, which we know is a good target.
Plus, the Subaru components are remarkably light, possibly lighter than the R53 rear suspension including the differential and axles. It should be noted that an R53 weighs more than a GC. (An R50 is ~2300-2400lb, an R53 is ~2700-2800lb)
A lot of that is the remarkably heavy engine, trans, and front subframe. I calculated that even with the 4EAT we are taking about 50lb off the nose, even before figuring that we are also ditching the cooling stack, ABS, electric power steering pump, etc, or that the Subaru drivetrain's center of gravity is significantly further aft than the Mini drivetrain.
The weight in the Subaru seems to be in the shell, the weight in the Mini seems to be in the components. Supposedly the sunroof alone is like 80lb.
Had been stressing about the tank, this time because a WRX tank is only available from Subaru and is like $540. Could get a 2.5RS/Forester tank for $220 but the Internet said the nonturbo tanks do not have baffles.
Running out of time, and preferring to have a new tank instead of possibly having to weld on a used one, and not remembering ever starving for fuel in a GC or nonturbo GD...
Okay Spectra Premium, let's see what you got.
Hey look, it is the fuel bowl that the Internet says is only in turbo tanks.
Nice.
Weekend 10 (March 5)
For reference, first rallycross is 13 weekends away, and one of those will be lost to Evan being at a stage rally volunteering, so 11 weekends of work left. We're at the halfway point and I still have not gone junkyarding for cooling system parts or made strut towers or even made the trans tunnel.
AAAAAAAAAUGH!!!
So, trans tunnel. To make a trans tunnel, we must first make a downpipe, because the exhaust must sit higher than the floor so the trans crossmember can sit underneath it because of the way the Mini floor is laid out. Plus I do not want the exhaust snagging on anything.
The eBaynium downpipe pointed at the driver side of the car, and the trans bracket was way too long so the flange could not even sit flat. Not that it mattered, because the exhaust completely cleared the floor. All the nope. So we get to cut up my nice new exhaust...
Key to being an exhaust fabricator is having a ponytail. This means you will have a supply of hair bands, which are an excellent way to mark the diameter of an exhaust pipe.
I shortened the exhaust by 4", including the 10/8ths needed for this one time at V-band clamp:
For a pipe that came from wherever country Chinese manufacturers outsource cheap parts from, it welded absolutely beautifully. Way better than the 304 stainless I made my RX-7's muffler pipes with.
Eyeballing, cutting, eyeballing, more cutting and bending, and so on and so forth, and this is the view from inside the car so far:
And yes, it clears the unmolested firewall. Barely.
Spent time making a jog pipe out of that 3" U bend to snake around where I think the trans crossmember has to go, spent time hacking up the trans crossmember to fit in the tunnel's width. Tunnel.... tunnel... it was like 25 degrees centigrade [hitches onion on belt] in Columbus today, let's get the tunnel out of the WRX.
Evan very helpfully had spent the morning and some of the afternoon removing the dashboard from the car. I'll let him chime in on the experience if his therapist says it is okay to revisit it I wasn't looking forward to it and was stoked that he took care of it.
A bunch of recip saw work later:
Honestly, I am surprised that the floor did not fold when I cut the middle out. It didn't even sproing when I finalized the cut, blade never bound up. Impressive.
All that so I could get two important things: the shifter hole, and this bit:
The carrier bearing mount. With this, I can sit the driveshaft up and know how much room for exhaust there is. And maybe get around to shortening the driveshaft.
GasTungstenArc said:Oh, that 32.5 MPG in your 300HP AWD tank is better than I have ever managed in my 50HP Matrix.
NickD said:
There's.... methods. Never exceed 65mph unless you can do it at manifold pressure under 15 inches of vacuum. Never let manifold pressure go over 8 inches of vacuum going uphill. If you slow down, you slow down. Basically drive off of the manifold pressure gauge, not the speedometer.
It's a 4000lb tank with a relatively low compression 2.4l engine, it is not going to be very good economy. Still better than the Quantum ever did.
Today I think I averaged 25-26mpg because I had to haul ass in both directions. I was still doing things like shifting manually so I could maintain 75mph uphill at atmospheric pressure in 5th gear instead of at 5 pounds of boost in 6th.
Pete. (l33t FS) said:Spent time making a jog pipe out of that 3" U bend to snake around where I think the trans crossmember has to go, spent time hacking up the trans crossmember to fit in the tunnel's width. Tunnel.... tunnel... it was like 25 degrees centigrade [hitches onion on belt] in Columbus today, let's get the tunnel out of the WRX.
Evan very helpfully had spent the morning and some of the afternoon removing the dashboard from the car. I'll let him chime in on the experience if his therapist says it is okay to revisit it
The unpleasant air quality in the car was offset by a reduced care of making sure things would go back together as designed. Overall not a pleasant experience but could be worse.
This thing gets my blood pumping, i have been dreaming and scheming of doing the same thing with my '07 Aveo5. Dead or dying early to mid '00s WRXs and Legacy GTs are a dime a dozen here so a donor would be easy enough to come by. Keep up the good work and regular posts, i need something to read at work
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