Mid-Engine EJ20 Idea
 

After seeing Hugo's thread and wanting to do a Subaru swap in to my '71 for quite some time I got an idea last week; mid-engine EJ20 with a Subaru transaxle.

I ran the idea by Rorty Design and it definantly seems do-able, but much brain storming needs to be done. That is the reason I started this thread.

The first delema was addresed last week, "How will it mount?" Since the EJ series motors sit in front of the transmission this was easy, use a FWD Subaru tranny and axles. This way there would be no real transaxle issues like flipping the diff to get correct rotation. I thought I was real clevar until I realized how much room there was between the back side of the motor to the axles, which is a smidge over five inches on the older Imprezas like my '00 2.5RS (the older Imprezas are the only Imprezas available in FWD). This could really become a problem since the EJ series motors are all flat fours which means they are wide, which may be a problem with the Rorty chassis design due to the rear suspension placement. Here the chassis design straight from Rorty Design's site-

http://img167.exs.cx/img167/7427/beetlechassis029qc.jpg

This is just the first of many issues that need to be addressed. Once this is figured out there is still the intercooler and radiator mounting problem as well as what to do exactly with the steering and suspension. If I can make this all work on paper and decide to go through and do it, I want it to be race worthy not only in design and quality but in functionality too.

The intention of this thread was stated above, to brain storm. If you have any helpful suggestions by all means post away.

Hi

Good idea. Can you use a conventional AWD Subaru box in 2WD?

Steve

Yes, they can be converted, someone even makes a kit to do it for the Saker mid engined supercar (Oz built!)

Rich

Like Ricola said, it can be done. However the older 2WD transaxle will mount up to any EJ series motor. The only problem may be the amount of power that tranny can take, say, if your using a USDM STi 2.5l.

also note that non turbo Subarus use a push type clutch and turbo use a pull clutch so there is some fiddling to be done... (I think it's that way around anyway!)

Rich

isnt it a hydraulic clutch? as long as you have the full clutch assembly it shouldnt be a problem

I could use a Mendeola or Fortin transaxle, but that would be pricey.

I want to talk about suspension now. I have no idea how I should go about addressing the suspension for a car like this. Ideas?

The Sakar is a Kiwi car (New Zealand)... they might build some in Australia, and also Europe / USA, but it all started in rural NZ.
http://www.saker.co.nz/history.html

I've been throwing around the idea of trying to get a few of sakars rear ends. They already have the jigs, they could just complete the rear end. I've spoken with Sakar NA and threw out the question, and they said they'd have to ask blah blah blah and so on. But if there were deposits and seriousness to the call, it may be possible to get a few rear ends made up.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the motor and tranny would have to come out through the door similar to mine.

Jason

I'm not sure about engine and tranny removal. From what I can see it looks like part of the rear section can be taken out for engine work and pulling but with the body on the car it may be tough.