Kit car built around Subaru engine+drivetrain?

[Clifford Heath]

Looking for a clubman or coupe chassis+body kit to build
a car around Subaru hardware. Has anyone providing a kit
like this?

Thinking Ariel Atom with more bodywork - maybe even with
drive-train reversed so the engine's in the mid/rear. Is
is possible to flip over the diff in a Subie engine, the
way Lotus did when they put the Renault 16 engine in the
Europa? It'd be a total road rocket!

But perhaps I'm being too hopeful... my 1969 Alfa coupe
was wrecked yesterday.

[Carl 1 Lucky Texan]

Post by Clifford Heath
Looking for a clubman or coupe chassis+body kit to build
a car around Subaru hardware. Has anyone providing a kit
like this?
Thinking Ariel Atom with more bodywork - maybe even with
drive-train reversed so the engine's in the mid/rear. Is
is possible to flip over the diff in a Subie engine, the
way Lotus did when they put the Renault 16 engine in the
Europa? It'd be a total road rocket!
But perhaps I'm being too hopeful... my 1969 Alfa coupe
was wrecked yesterday.

Might be able to fit a sube engine in a Caterham or other 'kit'. Lots of
folks build sand rails with sube gear and i think those are rear engine.
And there are folks doing VW transplants - so maybe a kit originally
designed for a VW could work.

Check out the Modifications and the Alternative vehicle Forums over at
www.ultimatesubaru.org . And maybe search/ask at www.nasioc.com .

carl

[Carl 1 Lucky Texan]

Post by Carl 1 Lucky Texan

Post by Clifford Heath
Looking for a clubman or coupe chassis+body kit to build
a car around Subaru hardware. Has anyone providing a kit
like this?
Thinking Ariel Atom with more bodywork - maybe even with
drive-train reversed so the engine's in the mid/rear. Is
is possible to flip over the diff in a Subie engine, the
way Lotus did when they put the Renault 16 engine in the
Europa? It'd be a total road rocket!
But perhaps I'm being too hopeful... my 1969 Alfa coupe
was wrecked yesterday.

Might be able to fit a sube engine in a Caterham or other 'kit'. Lots of
folks build sand rails with sube gear and i think those are rear engine.
And there are folks doing VW transplants - so maybe a kit originally
designed for a VW could work.
Check out the Modifications and the Alternative vehicle Forums over at
www.ultimatesubaru.org . And maybe search/ask at www.nasioc.com .
carl

I think the Caterhams won't work - the geometry and size of things make
it a bad platform to try to shoehorn Soob powerplant and drivetrain into.
coupla links I found;

http://64.82.22.49/specs.asp

http://www.coveland.com/motorsports/index.cfm?ID=43


Carl

[Carl 1 Lucky Texan]

Post by Carl 1 Lucky Texan

Post by Carl 1 Lucky Texan

Post by Clifford Heath
Looking for a clubman or coupe chassis+body kit to build
a car around Subaru hardware. Has anyone providing a kit
like this?
Thinking Ariel Atom with more bodywork - maybe even with
drive-train reversed so the engine's in the mid/rear. Is
is possible to flip over the diff in a Subie engine, the
way Lotus did when they put the Renault 16 engine in the
Europa? It'd be a total road rocket!
But perhaps I'm being too hopeful... my 1969 Alfa coupe
was wrecked yesterday.

Might be able to fit a sube engine in a Caterham or other 'kit'. Lots
of folks build sand rails with sube gear and i think those are rear
engine. And there are folks doing VW transplants - so maybe a kit
originally designed for a VW could work.
Check out the Modifications and the Alternative vehicle Forums over at
www.ultimatesubaru.org . And maybe search/ask at www.nasioc.com .
carl

I think the Caterhams won't work - the geometry and size of things make
it a bad platform to try to shoehorn Soob powerplant and drivetrain into.
coupla links I found;
http://64.82.22.49/specs.asp
http://www.coveland.com/motorsports/index.cfm?ID=43
Carl

See if you can email this guy;

http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6020983&postcount=16

[weelliott]

I'd suggest haging around the locost forum and try to find someone on
there that has used a subaru engine. I'm sure that people have used
them in kit cars. Not sure if a Lotus/Caterham type replica car has
used one though, and most (but not all.) of the cars on locost are of
that style.

I had looked into the possibility of building a mid-engine car around
a subie powertrain and felt inspired by the thread below. It goes over
how to lock a diff so that you can use the tranny as either solely
rear drive, or solely front drive. Obviously if you use the tranny
solely as a front drive transmission, you can put the powerplant and
transmission in the rear and use it as a transaxle. It makes for a
long powertrain, but if you build the frame to accomodate that, you're
fine. It has a nice low CG, but exhaust routing can be a pain if you
want to mount the engine really low.

http://www.clubwrx.net/forums/powertrain/27532-converting-awd-2wd-rwd-w-pics.html

Good luck. I also was in an accident recently. But my miata was not
totalled, it is all cosmetic and still driveable, and I'm going to be
able to fix it. I just need to convince the other insurance company to
give me the money.

[Clifford Heath]

Post by weelliott
I'd suggest haging around the locost forum and try to find someone on
there that has used a subaru engine. I'm sure that people have used
them in kit cars. Not sure if a Lotus/Caterham type replica car has
used one though, and most (but not all.) of the cars on locost are of
that style.

My only reason for thinking of going the Subie route is to keep AWD.
Otherwise I'd choose a boring Nissan or Toyota donor.

Anyhow, lots of interesting stuff there, thanks for the tips, both of you!

Clifford Heath.