As many of you may have noticed, over the last year or so, I have been searching for just the right "set-up to propell my own PT into a real performance car.
I have evaluated all kinds on powertrains and AWD systems are my favorite. The LS-1 V-8 would be very fast, .... but just another chebby swap, ...... ZZZZZzzzzz .
I don't want a manual shift car. High perf turbos and automatics go together very well and that is what I want.
The RWD bell housing I just got for the Jeep Liberty has some potential, then just adapt the AWD units from a Durango to it and there you go. This will require cutting the car open like a fish and reconstructing the thing, firewall to rear hatch!! Just a whole lot of work! ... not that anything I'm looking at is not a lot of work!!
Here is where the current thinking is taking me. ... after reading in one of the sport compact mags about a supercar shoot out, where one of the contestants had built an AWD car by placing another complete engine, trans and subframe in the back of his FWD car. It suddenly struck me that that "COULD" be the most durable, quickest and unusual answer to my search!! Managing control of the two engines is the first task. With slippy converters, it would not be any harder than a boat.
I have already produced fairly mild turbo engines that produce over 300 hp and 330 ft lbs of torque, with a HRC turbo system and large IC. With a little more work and cam change, these engines will run fairly well in the 350 hp range.
so why not double it?! ... Make it AWD with 4 up front and 4 in the back!! ... I call it a "SEPER-8" engine layout.
Because we are using 3 speed autos from the Caravan, we do not need to be concerned about the engines being absolutly syncronized. The converters would have enough slip in them to smooth out any small lag/lead between the two.
I have some ideas on using a PLC computer to manage the engines and shifting duties to keep them close together, while being far appart!!
Anyway, ... that is the current path I am exploring.
By the way, ... the car that did this in the shoot out managed a 0-60 in under 4 seconds and the 1/4 mile in the 10's. Both engines were mild turbo setups and automatics. So I'm going to look into this some more!
I already have the two autos, ... now I just need to do some thinking, .. then cutting!!
How about doing the Convertible conversion, ... making it a two-seater with a drop top?!! ...
Bob