LocostUSA.com

This is sort of a think out loud:
Has anyone used a transverse engine/transaxle combo and turn it 90° to make the output of the transaxle go to a differential front and rear? Problem: The amount that the engine would have to be offset so that the drive shaft could go through the tunnel. What about (I forget the term used, but) when a large lift kit is installed on a truck and they use an adapter plate to "clock" or index the transfer case so that the front output from the transfer case is lower then the rear output. Could this same approach work for adapting the transaxle? That would probably put the engine up way to high then...

I guess my lack of specfic knowledge of engine/transaxle combos keeps this in my head.

A Pikes Peak car was built this way using the transaxle diff to drive the front and rear driveshafts. I don't think it caught on.

This layout is being used in quite a few offroad rock crawlers these days. I saw a Honda rock crawler competing a couple years ago with this setup.

The problem with it is that you end up with the driveshafts being gear reduced, and then you get another gear reduction when you hit the differential in the axle. SO, the whole thing goes really slow. Now, if you could get the fwd differential gearing close to 1:1, it wouldnt be a problem.

it works very well for the rock crawlers, where the whole idea is to go slow, but for a street car, it wouldnt work very well.

one same note as using awd would it be possible to use a subaru setup, only some what backwards. kinda out there but isnt that why we are all here

_________________
2004 ZQ8 chevrolet colorado
1/2 lift 29"tires
coloradofans.com

with a small size tire (less than 30") the gear reductio would kill the performance.
the offroad buggies running this set-up are on 35" tires and they top out around 40mph.

_________________
Mechanically able, Monitarilly challenged