The man does nice work, doesn't he? He's the fellow who made the 5-foot long, 16-gauge, stainless-steel megaphone "lakes pipes" for my exhaust system on the blue roadster. Mike
Hot rodders have been building mid-engine or rear-engine cars since almost day one. That is when then had the money to build something other than their daily driver. The twin engine pickup at Bonneville in the early days was the Kenz and Leslie pickup, which had two flatheads. It was a pretty hot runner in its day. It was first to make a run at Bonneville at the first meet and was the fastest at 141 mph. (Reference Louise Noeth's book on Bonneville). The original Speed Sport roadster was built in the late '50's. The last one has been restored and they bring it out to meets and run it. They have a Shoebox Ford painted the same orange color as a push/tow car. Great setup. The SCTA had banned rear-engine or mid-engine modified roadsters and compe***ion coups because of the high rate of accidents in this style of car. It was only in the last year or so that they are allowing them again, I believe. For those of you who don't know about over-40 memory problems remember this (I think). That is if you're under 40. There are two things that happen to you when you turn 40. One of them is your memory goes away. And I don't remember the other one. Phil, aka AZAV8. (Yes, I'm over 40, at least I think I am, if I can trust my memory about what year I was born.)
I think you will find the Porsche to be mid engined. Have you ever driven a Porsche at high speed, on a road course? I have. You have to rethink everything you knew about going in to a corner.
There's something comforting about hearing the engine prattle along behind you. Well mine prattles anyway. You could always use a Ferrari donor.
Not if you look under the decklid! 911s were (and still are) rear-engined. It's a Porsche "trademark". Even the 356s were rear-engined, except for the first running prototype which was mid-engined. Maybe you're thinking of 914s???
Fantastic! Please do it and post your progress. I have long been tempted to do this, but I'm concerned that my skill set would really slow down such an ambitious project. And I'm afraid I couldn;'t finish it. I don't know how many of those I sketched out, you're a better artist that I am. Go for it! Sure, it's traditional. As long as you use a flathead. I started a list and collecting pictures of these. Lots of them around, even way back in the day. They were certainly in the minority, but they were there. A HUGE advantage would be interior space. You could sit your seat at the bottom edge of the frame. And there is no drive shaft in your way. And no bellhousing to crowd your feet. Another advantage is that the junkyards are full of front drive units -- even cradle mounted to save you fabrication. You could design your front end to be like the Mack AC or AP trucks (like the Beer Wagon). Lots of cool options. Dude, please go for it. This would be soo cool!
That's a really fine looking ride but wait...It's got hairpins with a tube axle! That's a big No no! Well, look again, it appears there's a swivel joint in the middle of the axle tube so the changing caster of one side won't affect the other side and it won't treat the tube as an untwistable torsion/anti sway bar. KOOL!!!
Proches are "rear engined" the motor sits OVER the rear axle. and exaple of a midengined vehicle, would be some ferarris, Lamborghini, the DeTomaso Pantera, .. yadda yadda.
Way cool! Hadn't noticed that. And even more clever if he designed it to fit various torsion bar diameters inside the axle tube to get just the anti-sway he wants. .
When Walt reached that point, he mentioned in his build-up progress thread, that the design flaw using those two components was something that bothered him... so he did something about it. Here's a close-up. http://exphose.com/albumtn.aspx/mid_7-95F7CE17685349A3A9799FDF401F5AD5.jpg The truck will be seen mostly around the Santa Rosa, CA area since that's where Walt's shop is. Anyone in the area needing any type of custom work/fabrication... he's the man to see. Click here to check out some of his other stuff. [shamless plug] Walt's Custom Services 400G Yolanda Ave. Santa Rosa, CA [/shameless plug] If anyone is interested in seeing more of this buildup... we got about 16 pages of it, step by step, on my site. It's Walt and his son, Don's ongoing thread as they make progress. http://volksrods.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=7618 A word of warning... there's VWs there... so no *****in' , you've had your warning. We just like, build, and talk about old cars. We don't worry about the make. So again... here's your VW warning. If you can stomach the VW content on my site (gasp)... I think you'll find some of Walt's info on this pretty helpful if you're looking to do this sort of thing. Sorry guys http://exphose.com/albumtn.aspx/mid_7-55BA11FC360C4E4CA4AD568F5243E015.jpg
Here's mine, sorry to offend soon to get the 28 grill and ford axle treatment in front. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v295/PAPA_SMURF00/scan0001.jpg
I just went through the build-up pages on the '34, amazing. http://www.walts.info/truck_home.htm I say go for it, can't wait to see how it turns out...
home built mid-engined cars are an obsession of mine, even ahead of putting jag suspension under everything in sight. So, I say go for it, especially if you have a neat tube ch***is. I had plans on building a mid-engined early 70's chevy truck. Found a Eldo for free, drug it home and cut the front frame off. It was a little wide, and pretty heavy, so I had the idea of using the rear trailing arm suspension from a BMW 535i. It's a thick, heavy duty unit. With the diff mount cut off, its crossmemeber would tuck right in front of the eldo motor/transaxle. For what it's worth, they use a chevy 5x4-3/4 bolt pattern, and are 58" wide, give or take a 1/2" at the hubs. I was going to attach it to the frame rails, and make the motor/trans mount to the frame too, instead of back-halving it with the eldo frame. But, I was broke, and couldn't afford the most expensive part, the friggin truck. Oh well, some day. That's why I say go for it, if you have the parts and are able to, for all us that couldn't make it happen.
The custom frame I can get is made from 2" square aluminum - ride heigth level and sits about 3 inches off the ground with some stock 15" stock wheels I think I remember Ted saying that he used the Olds Toranado engine, ******, and gears - shifter and accelerator linkage already engineered The front end is still the S-10's, but just so he can wheel it around the shop The truck I heard about turned out to be a 1945 Chevy, not a mid-30's like I was told... but that would be cool if I wanted to keep the fat fenders and stay with the S-10 front end ***embly huh? I never ever thought I would get so much encouragement on this idea... I must be learning, I didn't get my skull crushed once on this post! Thanks! I'm more enthused than ever about trying to make this come together now! If anyone else comes across any photos of rear-engine setups... please post, or send me a pm... I'm really gonna need all the help I can get. Good thing is that the engine/******/expensive/confusing **** is already mostly done! And the '45 is practically rust free with solid floorboards... can't beat that ****! I will try to get some pictures from my buddy in Texas of the frame/engine setup, so you experts can tell me if it looks like it was done right.
Here's a link to an Olds that was built in the 70's or 80's by Bill Porterfield. MID-ENGINEERING was a big player in this type of setup during the heyday of Kit cars. It isn't old school but it is interesting and may offer some ideas... http://members.aol.com/hrharrys/index7.html
Dude, I gotta say I think it's a killer idea. I saw the pics of that '34 with the Porsche mid engine and thought it was good. It could have gone really bad, but the design is right on and that ****er is sweet. I was lookin' at the build pages on his website and that is some serious work and engineering to get that done. And I'm fairly tall so the extra leg room would be great, LOL.
Thanks Guys.......................I didn,t want to post pics here because I didn,t want to start another war...........LOL.....I'm glad you like the 34. My son "Don" and I are building it for him and his wife. I'm hoping to have it finished in time for the 2007 Power Tour. The goal is to have the truck look very traditional but have all of the comforts to be able to cruise it long distances. We just brought home the Motor for it today. It is a 2366 c-c that should put us into the 12's in the quarter. I just wanted to say thanks for the great compliments and to let everyone know that I do lurk here. Walt
Volksrod, I just spent about 45 minutes looking over your website and the long thread over on the VW site. I considered a rear engine car for quite some time and decided I didn't have the skills to pull it off. You definetly have the skills. Great craftsmanship on the shop work and the cars. I'm jealous.
Sorry, but I have to disagree. Porsches handle pretty damned well, as do a lot of rear-engined vehicles. I've built trikes using FWD setups in the rear, and they handled like sports cars. Also, you get great traction, and with some creative use of the under-hood area, you can get enough weight up front without having all the weight of a huge V8. Also, with a rear-engine setup as opposed to mid-engined, the engine is farther away from you, meaning less heat, noise, etc. Just my $.02.
I am plannning on building an oldschool/middleschool type sports car with a front wheel drive 85 buick riv drive train. if anyone here has any useful informaton on mating the frame together with a chevy S10 frame, please let me know.
Well, since this year old thread has been brought back up, did anything come of Guiseart's mid-engine project?
I've still got it. I let the toro motor go in favor of a V drive from a boat. This way I can mount the motor where I want. It will sit higher(carbs or injection sticking out of the chopped top!) Also further back (I want a street driven wheel stander) I'm going to build ballast tanks in the front to keep it driveable. The project is still a ways away, with two projects in front of it. I've been gathering parts, and I will build it! Build what you want. Most everything's been, but that dosen't matter, do it your way.
The Jalopy Journal
