Am I out of my mind?

[lowemp]

Has anyone transplanted a 944 torsion housing into a type 3?
I bought a '86 944 turbo rear suspension and the torsion housing is the same width as the type 3. My goal is to have the turbo brakes at all corners. It appears to me that adding the body mounts to the 944 housing might be a better solution than clearancing and modifing the stock housing.
For those not familiar, the type 3 has a subframe that mounts the torsion housing.
as an added benefit I would get
1. a larger diameter (i.e. stiffer) torsion housing.
2. the 944 stock sway bar.
3. adjustible spring plates
4. 944 turbo brakes
5. 944 e brake cable setup

Problems I forsee
1. track increase of 40-45mm by my rough measurements
2. tranny mount will have to be fabricated
3. fab shock towers

also, it appears that the aluminum trailing arms increase wheelbase as well as track. Has anyone measured the total increase? I have seen the track increase stated as 43mm per side which would agree with my less than precise measurements.

I may be delusional to consider this transplant but, with all the parts on the floor I am impressed with the improvements that were made to the 944 parts. I would be more comfortable with a complete 944 rear end with the addition of mounting points, than the stock housing clearanced (weakend) to fit. Especially since I have Jake Raby building me a 2615 nickies equipped stump puller.

If you have any thoughts please post, I may indulge my psychosis this weekend.
thanks
Michael P. Lowe

[boygenius]

Anything worth thinking about is worth doing. Take some pictures, I'd love to see the swap.

[lowemp]

Your right, it may be worth doing only to have said it was done. I once used this logic during a home repair and ended up with half the roof off in an afternoon.
I was looking at the sway a way site and the dimensions of avaliable torsion bars. the 944 has the 26" bars. I could narrow the torsion beam to fit the 24" bars and reduce the track increase inherent in the Al trailing arms. The torsion tube has been welded during manufacturing, so I could cut it at the original welds and narrow without any structural losses. The only caveat I see is that the space between the inboard trailing arm pivots would be tight around the trans. It may necessitate moving the tranny back an inch or two. I will mock it up and try to post measurements and pics.

[boygenius]

Not much experience with type 3's but I would think that moving the tranny backwards and with that the engine would screw up the engine sealing sheet metal, exhaust clearance, fan clearance... Why noy use the stock steel arms since they are way narrower then the aluminum ones. It only took me about 2 hours to make some swaybar bushing mounts.

[lowemp]

The steel trailing arms are not equipped to mount the 4 pot calipers. Also then I loose the camber and ride height adjustment. there are no particular sealing issues since the t4 to t3 bellows will have to be fabricated anyway. I am concerned about weight distribution to the rear. Shad Laws put a 915 with T4 motor which was set back 1.5 inches and it worked well.

[boygenius]

As long as you are prepared for all the fabrication then go ahead full speed. :righton: