I've been thinking of another engine: Subie Boxer!
Low center of gravity, short, relatively high power, especially the turbo ones. But, their gearboxes are 4wd. There are fwd boxes, but then I'll need to make a Transaxle setup. Or could I make the gearbox RWD?

There was a Roadster of sorts for sale in Leeds from E-Bay a good while ago and he had a Honda/Rover 2 litre turbo in it and all he did was turned the axle upside down and rewelded the brackets.
As for rear g-box/transaxle the Volvo 340-360 and Daf had them and also lots of Alfa's but you will possibly need some sort of torque tube to keep it all together,So possibly a pain in the rear and not worth the effort.

With the right tuning you can comfortably get 200 bhp from Renault diesel engines and you would get power,fair economy, and lowish revs.

engine choice
 

i am with les g on this alloy v6 185 bhp easy to wire and cheap to buy = alfa 164 3litre 12 valve ,thats what i am building very cheap power but needs rwd gearbox conversion as none available,early v6 was transaxle so no good ,im converting to bmw box as light strong and very cheap my breaker has loads and never sells any ,this says they do not go wrong to me,much lighter than type 9..also t5 now cheap and box out of rwd volvo are available fit straight on. zetecs good but a bit costly if you buy engine management and carbs etc.its not what you can get cheap its the extras each conversion requires that adds up,bmw 6 cylinder engines in full cars cheap as chips smooth power but ...as with every choice ,bloody long and tall .its easy to make subaru rwd but engine is very wide and would be hard to fit into chassis rails,some of my ramblings ,ford/mazda v6 2.5 ? your euro ,,,, phil

No shouting at me... but why not just use the engine that comes free with the donor Sierra, the thing will be half the weight of the Sierra so will be quick enough for our over crowded camera infested roads...honest officer my Sierra only does 70mph;)

Fabby has a very good point. There's nothing wrong with using the standard lump, especially if you are a young driver and/or never had any experience in a sportier motor.

However, I am keen to use the Audi 1.8T engine. It's a lot more modern, although that does add somewhat to the complexity.

I love the thought of a turbo motor, so as I am building the thing, I might as well stick a decent lump in it.
I have looked into a cossie lump, but whats the chance of finding one that isn't

• Sh@gged out
• Stolen
• ££££££££££££ for a decent one

And again, the technology is getting on a bit.

Although I was seriously considering one of the holeshot racing Hayabusa V8 lumps:D But at a starting price of £16k:eek: thought better of it.

Plus, I want reverse!!

Sean

Phil Clegg, out of interest and because I have one in the garage which RWD box from volvo fits T5 engine.

Cheers

Hi, if memory serves me right. The earlier Volvo 760 gearbox is a direct fit to the T5 engine. ;)

If I have the wrong model it was the model prior to the Volvo 850 & was fitted with the straight six engine. :)

The 4 cylinder red block engine, rwd box does not fit.

Early on I had thoughts of using the 850 lump. I gave up looking for a gearbox that wasn't silly money. :(

t5 box
 

960. 4 5 &6 cylinder enginesof this era all interchange gearboxes due to modular build design, just look at a 4 and 5 pot you will see what i mean or check autodata cambelt info same belt for all engines.960rwd fits 850 also fit onto s70 i think . phil

Hi Guys,

This is kind of what I am looking at doing, except mine is a T4 engine.

The 4 cylinder 940 is a redblock engine, the 6 cylinder 960 is a whiteblock engine. The T4/T5 engines are whiteblock. So the gearbox from a straight 6 960 will fit the T5, but not from the 940.

If you want a more modern gearbox, there is a company in Sweden that does adapter plates so that you can use a gearbox from a 6 cylinder BWM!

Makes a single BMW donor possible...

Alex.

BEC.
No gearbox worries!
:rolleyes: