Mid-V8 swap, how hard is it, really?

[HotRodKush]

Assuming I find a motor/trans/transaxle that fits, how much work is actually involved in hacking up the car to mount it all? I know about the crown/kelmark kits, but if a guy wanted to attempt this from scratch how much work do you think would be involved?

[terribleted]

I have had 2 of these cars, both Crowns. One I bought and sold sans nicely built 350 engine. The other I re-built from the ground up (the car was originally converted in 1970 or so) making some modifications along the way. I moved the engine mounting subframe rearward not quite 2 inches to make space forward of the engine for some real seats. The cockpit seating area was minimal (I am 5' 10"" tall). Herein lies the real problem with Mid engine setups.

The real problem is finding an engine and transaxle combination that is not too long to allow reasonable seating in front of it. The axles must be located pretty close to inline with the rear wheels. If one has good welding and fabrication skills and pays close attention to measurements custom building brackets, subframes, transaxle mounting plates, etc. should be doable. Nothing used in the Crown is high tech or truely close tolerance except the modified transmission main shaft, throwout nose, clutch shaft, and bearings. The Kelmark setup allows more seat space as the tranny is rearward instead of between the engine and the diff. It is also weaker.

[flat6_musik]

Hey, here's a convertible one for sale here in L.A. This guy's been trying to sell it for well over a year; I don't know what's the deal, but....shoot, for $5K I don't see how you could go too wrong for the complete car. However, sometimes he puts pics of it (and it ain't all that pretty)

http://losangeles.craigslist.org/sfv/ct ... 03958.html

[martyscarr]

terrible ted wrote: The Kelmark setup allows more seat space as the tranny is rearward instead of between the engine and the diff. It is also weaker.
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I totally agree, it is weaker; *much* weaker. I have known a half dozen guys with Kelmark setups and all of them have had ring/pinion failures, most failures in 5K miles or less. The gears don't do well being driven on the "coast" side.

Jim Acker in Seattle used a Porsche transaxle for his mid-engine car, you can check it out here:

http://www.corvair.org/chapters/chapter ... index.html

Marty Scarr

Marty Scarr

[terribleted]

terrible ted wrote: The Kelmark setup allows more seat space as the tranny is rearward instead of between the engine and the diff. It is also weaker.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I totally agree, it is weaker; *much* weaker. I have known a half dozen guys with Kelmark setups and all of them have had ring/pinion failures, most failures in 5K miles or less. The gears don't do well being driven on the "coast" side.

Jim Acker in Seattle used a Porsche transaxle for his mid-engine car, you can check it out here:

http://www.corvair.org/chapters/chapter ... index.html

Marty Scarr

Marty Scarr

Sweet I had not seen this link. Acker's setup looks excellent.

[HotRodKush]

Me neither, thanks! Thanks for the info guys.

[flat6_musik]

terrible ted wrote: The Kelmark setup allows more seat space as the tranny is rearward instead of between the engine and the diff. It is also weaker.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I totally agree, it is weaker; *much* weaker. I have known a half dozen guys with Kelmark setups and all of them have had ring/pinion failures, most failures in 5K miles or less. The gears don't do well being driven on the "coast" side.

Jim Acker in Seattle used a Porsche transaxle for his mid-engine car, you can check it out here:

http://www.corvair.org/chapters/chapter ... index.html

Marty Scarr

Marty Scarr

I know!!....what an awesome link! Makes me wanna do one.....