I have a 51 plate Marea Hlx which was in excellent condition until I went into the back of somebody. The car has been well repaired by a friend until the sprayshop got their hands on it and it has not been right since.

I am debating about whether it is worth putting it back onto the road particuarly due the horrendous road tax charges from next year, something I am considering is putting the engine into a kit car (Caterham/Westfield style).

Does anybody happen to know of the top of their heads whether anybody has converted this engine from FWD to RWD?

I think it would be more interesting than a Ford Pinto lump!

Not sure what gearbox you could mate it with to get a drive out to a driveshaft.

Hellcat said:

Not sure what gearbox you could mate it with to get a drive out to a driveshaft.

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Thats what I was wondering! Its just its such good nick that I want to do something with it!

4WD isnt too hard to do, you use integrale or dedra running gear.

i guess you would have to modify the front diff so all the power went to the back. if you just want RWD.

probably worth using a 20vT if your going to the effort

Ry

you can get mating plates made in machine shops that will bolt to the engine and then bolt to the gearbox you have selected used to fit them the whole time on rover k series engine and mount a passat gearbox to it prob a bmw e30 box would be your best bet 325 are best nice wide gear ratios in 3rd 4th and 5th plus easy to work with as regards mounting the box and gear selecters etc

MAREA MAD said:

you can get mating plates made in machine shops that will bolt to the engine and then bolt to the gearbox you have selected

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that sounds like an incredibly difficult thing to attempt. making the box fit on the engine is the easy part, but there are many other parts you will need to fabricate or modify.

how do you get the release bearing to contact the clutch?

how do you get driveshafts to fit?

how do you make the car's linkages work a different box, or even connect to it?

how do you get the hydraulics or cable to work the clutch fork?

how do you get the input shaft to be driven by the clutch?

whats wrong with cutting drive shafts and rewelding them with a support bar through what problems would you have with hydraulics clutch plates can have centres changed and relase bearing can to what about linkages that why i said a bmw box cause the selector comes right out of the box and if it is alot of work so what thats the fun of a custom car if it was just all bolt together everyone would be doin it ya have to have some imagination

The Ford type 9 5 speeder (there are a lot of old 4 speed type 9s out there) is a popular choice here Nissan Z and Toyota Celica boxes are popular in the USA. I think theres a Holden box the Aussies use.
This outfit use the Ford box here.
http://www.hi-gearengineering.co.uk/frames.htm
For common engine choices you will find commercially available bell housings.Marea mad is right, you could do this yourself Jug is also right it wont be finished the same evening you start on it. If i was going to do this I would get the adaptor plates made up in mild steel and you would have to turn up a locator spigot arrangment, you could then gradually fabricate a bell housing. Dont forget you have to mount a slave cylinder exactly right as well. To be honest I wouldnt even start this myself. Then again I've driven a couple of MGAs with this conversion, one of them including a longer 1st gear and it really works.

I think if you look into gearbox conversions for the Fiat Twin Cam engine you should have success as the block on the 5 cyl is derived from the old twin cam engine and that was found in front a rear wheel drive formats and has been transplanted many times in kit cars.

I saw a Moggy Minor at Beaulieu Autojumble last year that had a Fiat 20v 5 cylinder turbo engine in it and that had replaced an earlier 2 litre Fiat twin cam. Wasn't very atractive to look at though extra cylinder had meant extensive front bodywork mods.

I converted a Fiat Tempra station wagon into a 4x4 by transplanting the drivetrain and engine from a Delta Integrale. Was a mamoth job but worth it and still going strong with new owner in Austria!

Anything is possible, with little skill and immagination, or fat cheque book!

Let me know how you get on as I have same thoughts with my Marea 20v engine, except I am thinking about squishing it into a Cinq or Panda making mid engine rear drive monster!

MAREA MAD said:

if it is alot of work so what thats the fun of a custom car if it was just all bolt together everyone would be doin it ya have to have some imagination

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true & i agree 100%, but your post gave the impression that spacing the bell housing further away from the block would not create many new problems, and i just wanted to make sure some of the considerations involved in doing it are included in the thread.