Not sure if this is the appropriate forum. I was wondering if those folks who have run their cars without the front axles could tell me about the handling of their cars. Is there a lot of drag in the system? What is the handling balance? Economy improved or worsened? How much of a beating can the rear CVs take? Overall I want to know your thoughts on the car after the swap.

My rt front axles is clicking like crazy I might be able to tell you in a week or so after it flies south!

Ive driven in RWD alot. It changes the characteristics of the car alittle, you can definatly tell its not FWD anymore.

 

Ive also been forced to drive from Redding California to Albany Oregon in RWD and also from Medford Oregon to Sacramento California in RWD and I noticed an increase in my MPG.

 

-Brian

Hmmm, I wonder how this would feel in the turbo wagon. I do have a set of 13x6" enkeis that match the set on my car and could fit a wider tire on the back... I wonder...

its fun, i ran alot of the summer in my hatch, in rear wheel drive. with the ea82 mpfi it was still underpowered, so the only time it got noticable, was in the rain. spun a full circle once tryin to get around a corner fast.

theres not much weight back there, which equals not much traction.

'78 Brat, JDM high compression FE motor, RWD.....makes some badass burnouts I say! With it lowered, it would posi the rear like crazy and would like to drift going in a straight line. Got some great looks from a couple guys in a gen 2 Camaro when I came down the road sideways past them:D

the only time it got noticable, was in the rain.

and in the gravel! it felt kinda asshappy there on that gravel road

My Brat in RWD was ALOT of fun in the rain. Expecially taking on-ramps at 40mph A few i was able to merge onto the freeway completly sideways.

 

-Brian

. . . I noticed an increase in my MPG.

 

Did I hear you correctly? Was it a substantial increase in MPG (got any numbers?)

i noticed no difference in mileage.

I felt kinda asshappy

 

Too much information

Too much information

eeek.... bad typo

 

IT... IT was asshappy

Dont have figures, but i averaged 28mpg and i kid you not. Almost as good as the 40mpg I got when i followed Jared from Oregon to Cali (tail gated and made excellent milage).

 

-Brian

you probably wont notice any improvement in gas mileage in just RWD because your right foot is always down, lol. oh, and just remember, if your car is N/A, the rear end will more than likely be okay, if it's turbo, then your going to have trouble, remember the front takes half the power, the rear takes half the power, with that set-up both halves are happy, take one half out of the equation and something might get towe-up.

Wrong. Turbo RWD will have no ill effects. Unless your car is FT4WD, then you'd have to lock the center diff. I wouldnt recomend that. If your turbo has a FWD/4WD selector, you should be just fine in RWD.

 

I noticed an increase in MPG. Like i said, it went up to 28mpg from around 20-22mpg. That was in the brat.

 

-Brian

This sounds like a spring project!

yo, running in rwd makes the steering light and easy! no torque steer, drive with your pinky

Anyone consider spinning the wheels of a RWD RX (or RX sedan) on an autocross course? That sounds like it would be pretty cool. Might want to give the 'ol turbo a little more power. . .

 

Maybe use a dif. transm. w/out the center locking dif.?

88RXsedan blew up his center diff lock driving it in rwd I'm pretty sure. I wouldn't do that to a perfectly good RX trans...

 

My buddy dan just did a auto -> manual swap in his turbo wagon. We swapped in a pushbutton 4x4 5spd from an 85 turbo wagon. The car was amazingly hard to drive and not light up the front tires in FWD mode. (upped boost, IC, exhaust done to wagon).

 

Running in 4x4 made the car bind, and was generally a hassle unless travelling straight.

 

We took out one of the front axles, and put in a stub. Ran it in4x4 with just the rear wheels getting power. FUN!!! There is something very unnatural about seeing an EA82 wagon sideways around corners.

 

However, on launchs, wheel hop was horrible in the back.

 

3 weeks later, spontaneously, the tranny bound up. We couldn't even push the car, it would bind so bad. Last sunday we swapped in a FT4wd 5spd w/ difflock from XSNRG (thanks Mark!). Car feels much better to have all 4 running.

 

In short... If you do the RWD conversion, I would strongly reccomend using a manual selecting S/R or D/R trans. I don't think the "locking" mechanisms can take the abuse.

how did you got rwd? just pull the front axles and engage the t-case?

drove that same hatch alot today, but with a bigass motor. it has no hookup compared to frontwheeldrive. i need some sandbags, or some front axles.

 

all you do is pull ONE or both front axle and engage 4x, then you are rear wheel drive.

stupid question: why would you have to engage the difflock on a FT4WD? i thought torque was split 50/50 at all times with that tranny.

stupid question: why would you have to engage the difflock on a FT4WD? i thought torque was split 50/50 at all times with that tranny.

open center diff.. It sends all the power to wherever there is the least traction.. which if you have no front axles, would be the front.