Thought Experiment- Fleet Parts Sharing?

Let's say you want to have your cars all share parts (engine, suspension bits, etc) so that you can have one generally consistent parts pile, and you of course want to have a variety of vehicles, maybe a race car, a fun commuter, a more practical commuter, a highway cruiser. What would be a good choice for this sort of thing? Examples I can come up with:

Common part: Toyota 4ag engine, some brakes and suspension bits
Vehicles: AW11 MR2, AE86 Corolla, FX16 Corolla.

Common part: Nissan SR20 engine
Vehicles: Sentra SE-R, NX2000, G20, commonly swapped s13 and s14 240sx

Common part: Ford 2.3 Lima engine
Vehicles: XR4Ti, Ranger, Mustang, TurboCoupe

Common part: Toyota ZZ engine, transmission
Vehicles: Matrix, MR2 Spyder, Celica GTS, Corolla S

Common part: Nissan VQ35 engine
Vehicles: 350Z, G35, Pathfinder, Maxima, FX35, Murano, Quest (holy crap that's a lot of vehicles!)

Common part: E36 chassis
Vehicles: e36 coupe/sedan/compact, Z3, M3

What genius cross compatible things can GRM come up with for a fleet of vehicles with common parts?

Honda K24. Newest Civic Si, Accord, Acura TSX, CR-V

Alternatively, Honda J-series engine: Pilot, Ridgeline, Acura TL Type S, Odyssey, V6 Accord

I think we need to add to the difficulty level by specifically excluding the LSx engines. EDIT: Also, I think we should disallow motor swaps, as I think that defeats the purpose. Anything can be made to have parts commonality if you swap enough stuff...

Common part: police usage. They're all about parts sharing across the fleet. Especially for the stuff that matters, like brakes and wheels.

Although I have a distressing number of cars that share Miata suspension components.

Ford 2-valve 4.6: Crown Victoria, Mustang GT, Thunderbird, Explorer, F-series truck, E-series van.

I might be remembering incorrectly, but I think if you want a fleet of cars, trucks and vans that share tons of components, you want S-10s, Astros, and RWD A/G-bodies.

My RX-7 uses the same wheels and brakes as my Volvo.

When I think of things to share, wheels and tires are super high on the list. It isn't often that you're changing hard parts under the hood or in the suspension, right? But if all of the cars can use the same wheels, then you don't need to have three or four sets of wheels for EVERY car.

Mazda 3 or Mazdaspeed 3 and Mazda 5 was what I wanted to do.

SBC - Everything from a stations wagons & trucks to Corvettes and Can-Am cars.

When I did the timing belt kit on my LS430, it showed the same parts would fit various Tundra trucks, V8 4runners, Sequoia's, and of course LX470's & GS430's. All cars I wouldn't mind having in my driveway (excluding the SC430 because I hate it almost as much as Clarkson did).

Mazda MZR/Ford Duratec/Ford Ecoboost.

Since they share a bellhousing pattern, they swap around in everything from the Ranger, to the Miata, to the Focus, to the Explorer, to nearly everything that Mazda sold mid-late 00s.

Available with and without both DI and boost.

1970s-1990s Ford products, specifically the 5.0/302 and related transmissions.

Econoline van, F150 pickup, Mustang, Maverick, Thunderbird, Lincoln Town Car & Mark VII, Factory 5 cobras, common swap kits for Volvos and Miatas...and a boatload more I am leaving out.

We personally lived this from the 80's to 00's...Mom's daily, dad's daily, the tow vehicle, two race cars and my highschool daily all had small block fords with c4/c6 trans.

Alfa 115 cars sold in the US. Which, for the most part, is 1972-74 GTV and Berlina and 1972-1994 Spider. Of those years, the major chassis difference is the length of the driveshaft. The engine, trans, rear end, front and rear suspension, and brakes are all the same and interchangeable between all of the cars. For the most part, the 1750 cars will work the same- but for a few details in '69. And when you get that far back- it's pretty uncommon to find cars that are just good for salvage in a 105/115 car.

So if you can find an engineless Berlina or GTV- you can get any cheap Spider and put the entire powertrain in it. Or even a clean bare body/chassis. Find a total POS car that is good for the body scrap, but complete- take the powertrain and suspension and just move it over.

Almost everything from Chrysler in the late 80s early 90s short of the trucks.

Minivan for a parts hauler, some sort of turbo vehicle for fun/track(minivan), highway cruiser could be something with a v6 or a turbo again like a New Yorker or minivan one more time and the practical car could be one of the four doors or a minivan.

Get a minivan.

To me, just having an engine interchange isn't much. How often do I need to get into the guts of an engine? Almost never. If the accessories are different, as well as all the chassis components, it might as well be a different car.

I think out of all the platforms discussed, the VQ engine idea is the best.

350Z for track car G35 for highway cruiser/DD Minivan for hauling

I believe some of those vehicles also share suspension components.

The Korean twins are really good about sharing common parts. Engine/trans, brakes and suspension parts. The 2.0T was in the Genesis coupe, Sonata and Sante Fe. That's track, daily and family all in one.

Or you could do the Lambda, 3.5 Gen coupe, 3.8 Gen sedan and 3.8 Minivan/SUV.

I think you could have a fleet that spans every type of vehicle you can think of that all use similar offset 5x4.5 pattern wheels

ProDarwin wrote: To me, just having an engine interchange isn't much. How often do I need to get into the guts of an engine? Almost never. If the accessories are different, as well as all the chassis components, it might as well be a different car.

All of this.

One of my favorite lines, regarding the labyrinthine nature of small block Chevy 'interchangeability', is "Remember, small block Chevys are easy to work on, and everything interchanges..."

Heads can have no accessory mounting holes, some of them, or all of them. Sometimes they are 3/8" thread, sometimes 7/16" thread, and I could swear I ran across some metric. At least three different intake manifold mounting patterns. Left and right side dipstick. Two piece and one piece rear main seal, which has Implications regarding the block, the crank, and the flexplate or flywheel, since 1pc cranks do not have a rear counterweight so they are all external balance. Short and long nose water pump. If you go far back enough, front or side engine mounting. And MORE. (At least three different valve cover mounting schemes for example)

They made then from 1955 to 1998 or so, do you really think they froze any of the design?

And do not get me started on the LT1. I got into a difficulty with Da Boss over that one. I never did get an official "Sorry to have chewed you out" over that but the stories of him finding out the hard way all of the little differences were good enough, and we're not here for some kind of kumbaya group hug BS, we're here to get work done, so that's good enough for me.

Perverse:

I have two RX-7s of the same generation sitting next to each other in the garage.

Almost nothing at all interchanges between the two. Engine, suspension, wheels, interior, electrical, EVERYTHING is different. I think the only things that interchange are the glass, the front fenders, and the bumpers and hood.

However, I regularly use the same wheels from one of them on my 18 years newer Volvo, and viceversa. I put the RX-7s rally tires on the Volvo when I want to rallycross it and I put the Volvo's winter tires on the RX-7 when I had to drive it with threatening ice/snow.

THAT is interchangeability worth having.

If you want to swap alternators, radiators, interior parts? Buy two of the same car from the same year and the same trim level.