General Wow, how did that guy put V6 Chevy in X19!

[xonenine]

Ok, I was looking for pictures of other X1/9s and came across the photo of a guy who put a Chevy V6 in his X. My question is what transaxle could he have used that would bolt to the Chevy motor and allow it to be Rear Engined? I thought about it awhile and came up with the possibilities of perhaps a Corvair Transaxle or perhaps a 60s/70s Toronado/Eldorado except that both of these would drive the car in the wrong direction as the Corvair motor rotates counterclockwise and the Big Car GMs were Front Drivers with the motor turned 180 degrees from this guys X1/9. The only other possible one I could think of was a Volkswagen Air cooled transaxle as there are alot of adapters out there to convert to many different motors for the sand rail crowd. Anyone know how this X was put together, inquiring minds want to know! Tom

 

[Mr. X]

Fieros were rear drive and some were V6

 

[xonenine]

No, this car was not transverse mounted and not a 60 degree V6, this car had the motor mounted in a rear longitudinal arrangement and was the 90 degree V6 like used in the mid size and full size GM cars of the 80s. They were available in 200, 229, and 262 cubic inch displacements. I can't imagine that X with a 262 V6 engine. That would be one quick car. Thanks for the input, does anyone know this guy? I saw the photo on www.socalx.com

 

[fiatfactory]

The guys name is Wayne Wright, and he is a regular at the Xweb forum (XANA - seattle X19, on network54)

It has had the body extended in both length and width to make it all fit.

It uses a transmission/diff unit from an Eldorado or something similar.

He also admits that he considered such an idea whilst under the influence of far too many beers!

Go to

http://www.network54.com/Forum/12159

and do a search of the archives, there is a pretty good description in there somewhere.

SteveC

 

[ash]

(wow, "Welcome, ash. You last visited: 08-10-2003 at 21:48" )

here ya go:
http://www.network54.com/Forum/message?forumid=12159&messageid=1029676921
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The engine is the 90 degree engine that chev uses in the S10 pickups. The one I used is the earlier version that came as a 3.8L. The S10 truck engines are a 4.3L. The transmission is a 1980 Buick Riveria front wheel drive automatic.

The conversion added maybe 300 pounds and has 200HP so is a bit faster than the stock X19, but slower on the turns.

The first thing that was done was go have an adapter machined that turned the final drive up side down. Placing the engine facing towards the rear put most of the engine and all of the transmission weight forward of the rear wheels(better weight distribution). And yes, the axle goes through the oil pan. The rear suspension is totally custom made utilizing a 1990 Olds 98 front spindles, VW shocks with VW Surraco towers. Lower A-arms are welded up from cut apart X19 ones.

This project started in 1988 and took 7 years to complete. A lot of time was spent working out the rear suspension problems such as getting the rear bump steer down to where I was happy. The car handles real good and is not tail heavy.

Wayne
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