Im building a cavalier and wanting to drop a 350 in it im going to extend the hole frontend and brace the sub frame. any suggestions?
ill say it plain and simple, if you have to get on here and ask a
stupid question like that, you in
NO way, shape, or form should try attempting this.
03 Sunfire - Sold.
Derek Wolf wrote:extend the hole frontend and brace the sub frame.
not to mention (and I could be wrong on this)
wont ya have to hack away most if not all of your firewall?..
(again,i could be wrong)
not to mention... WHY?..
Its actually not that hard, if you weld in a 12 bolt in the rear you can get away with using the exhaust tunnel as the driveshaft tunnel, then its just a couple custom engine and trans mounts, take some measurements and have a driveshaft made to order. If you buy a junk s10 you can pretty much weld it all into the cav and its easy to but a 350 in a S10.
A few long weekends and couple helping hands and it'll be done in no time.
Darkstars wrote:Its actually not that hard, if you weld in a 12 bolt in the rear you can get away with using the exhaust tunnel as the driveshaft tunnel, then its just a couple custom engine and trans mounts, take some measurements and have a driveshaft made to order. If you buy a junk s10 you can pretty much weld it all into the cav and its easy to but a 350 in a S10.
A few long weekends and couple helping hands and it'll be done in no time.
or you could just buy the kit of ebay
scrape the front unibody and fab a all tube setup.
well im cutting my fire wall all the way out and making a custom firewall. Im going to cut and bend and piece the floor together to fit the drive shaft. But i haven't seen a cavalier with a 350 in it so i wanna do something no one has really seen. But its all going to be legit..
or you could just not do that and swap a v6 in make more practical power? but hey whos judging its your car have fun with that
I've seen a cavalier with a v-6 the motor and drivetrain is all going to be legit and built for horse power. im getting a chevrolet back axel to weld in the leafsprings and shocks. Its going to be alot of hours working on it but hey its a project im not in a rush. Lots a fabrication and trips to the junk yard ill have her complete. im stripping the hole car this weekend and checking everything for weak points so i can fix all that before i drop my motor and drivetrain in. But i plan on doing all this stuff right no crappy job on it.
ok if your going to do it the biggest problem your going to have is the rack is in the may of the trans i thought of it but to much work and not enough traction
reinforce the whole thing like mad. it won't be able to take it. tub it and put huge slicks on there then have fun.
we had a 2nd gen with a carb 350 and a powerglide mocked up (the steering is higher on the firewall) and the front pullies sat right under the core support. the front end of the 3rd gen looks shorter so i dont know if it would fit without a custom firewall, maybe for steering you could revers the knuckles (left on right and right on left) build a custom rack mount and mount the rack under teh front of the oil pan with a rear sump setup
the hole under body and front end is going to be custom. cutting moving and refabricating is no problem like i said its going to be a project that im not in a hurry with. i want it to be able to hold up and have fun with it. its a stock 00 cavalier. im stripping and dropping the motor and trans and selling it. stripping the hole inside and selling everything so i have room to work and move and fab stuff to fit. Im selling everything off the car so if anyone is close to southern california and need stuff let me no!
i really dont see the point
Working on obtainting an M-Class license... ?? Hint: 2 wheels.
Dont the new impalas have FWD v8's?
If a northstar can fit, im sure an OHV 305 should be a shoe-in in comparison.
That would be my route of choice, as you could make the same power (I assume theres a way to make it a 350), and you would probably be looking at less overall fabrication. as the car is already FWD..... Then again, GOODBYE traction.
I want to see it reguardless. DO IT!
"A car just isn't a car without a little blood, sweat, and beers." -- Shadowfire
Derek Wolf wrote: But i haven't seen a cavalier with a 350 in it so i wanna do something no one has really seen. But its all going to be legit..
Really? So you've never seen the cavalier that was on the cover of the Jeg's catalog several years ago?
And besides that, I've seen more than one RWD cavalier drag car at the local tracks and car shows. This is nothing new. Hell, you could probably buy a complete race car for less than what you'll spend trying to do it yourself.
And why stop at a 350? If you're going as far as you say you are, then why not a 454 or bigger?
99 Base model coupe with custom scratches, dings and dents.
Complete bodywork & paint in progress...
Oh Christ... This thread reads like someone is thinking of doing what's been done, again & again, years ago with Fieros: Modding the cradle to shove a SBC in sideways. And if that's not the way the OP is going, this whole "Get an S-truck frame" idea is a fool's way also. Why? Because The S-truck frame is too wide to fit under the J-car body! And welding-up leaf-spirngs & shock mounts? Please...
Derek, what you're talking about in way of how you're going to build this "idea", which you're going to try to sell after it's completed, won't sell to anyone who's IQ is higher than their blood-alcohol level. Let alone be considered by any responsible safety tech okay for use.
There's only one way to make this thing if you're just lookin' to make a turn-around sale on it, and somehow I doubt you can afford it: Have it built with a full-custom tube-chassis w/ integral saftey-cage by a pro chassis-builder. Otherwise, just stick to playin' "Scratch 'n' Win!" tickets to try to make quick money.
Go beyond the "bolt-on".
Derek Wolf wrote:well im cutting my fire wall all the way out and making a custom firewall. Im going to cut and bend and piece the floor together to fit the drive shaft. But i haven't seen a cavalier with a 350 in it so i wanna do something no one has really seen. But its all going to be legit..
there is a pic of a 2002 cav (i think) floating around this site with a V8 sticking out of the hood
Im a Xbox 360 fanboy...and damn proud of it!!
yeah, there are tons of pro-street cavaliers, and even a few FWD v-8 conversions. If you are doing this to be different, try again.
If you are doing this for a drag car, knock yourself out, and post up pics.
yes please post up progress pics i would love to see it!
i no its been done before but noone around here has. ive seen them before. Im doing all this in my shop. i have the welder pipe bender and tools to work on the motor trans and everything else. Im going to make it into a mud buggy. Its going to be fuel injected and im going to water proof the motor. i did it with my z-71 it wasnt to hard to water proof.
Derek Wolf wrote:i no its been done before but noone around here has. ive seen them before. Im doing all this in my shop. i have the welder pipe bender and tools to work on the motor trans and everything else. Im going to make it into a mud buggy. Its going to be fuel injected and im going to water proof the motor. i did it with my z-71 it wasnt to hard to water proof.
Well, that's different... But like I said: The S-truck frame is too wide to fit under the J-car. If thiswheeler idea of yours is what you're planning, then I suggest taking note from the pages of pro Monster Truck competitors & build it with a trianglated 4-link, coil-overs and full tube chassis. The hardest part may be isolating the cab (Cabin, interior, what have you...) of the car, if that's what you're thinking of doing. But it can be done. It'll just make tying the cage to the frame just a lil' more difficult, 'tis all.
But, before you go ahead & do all this, I gotta tell you: The pasenger-car body on a 4-wheeler chassis is a dead trend, dispite what you may think when you see The Junkyard Dog. I've met ohters who when the same route, one even with a mid-'70s Monte Carlo, and they all learned the same thing about it: It's cute, but not very practical... Even for recreational purposes.
Go beyond the "bolt-on".
