mid engined, rear drive coupe?

[Error404]

I was thinking today about dream projects, and wondered if anyone has ever made a mid-engined, rear drive coupe?
It seemed to me the 20vt engine married to a strong fwd gearbox (TDi box maybe?) *could* be a good starting point for an MR coupe, as if the drivetrain layout Audi came up with could just be picked up and put behind the front seating position, the fwd gearbox is already in the right orientation to drive the rear wheels.
The coupe could be made into a very well balanced car and retain the IL5

Has anyone ever done anything like this? My skill level is about 10,000 light years from being able to achevie anything like this, but i thought having seen some of the mental projects people get up to on here, it would be an interesting one, and very different and also have the potential to make an extremely capable machine.

[s2driveruk]

surely an interesting thought.....equally miles away from completing anything that complex but be good to see it in the flesh!

[Rusty]

Should be quite a possibilty based on the fact that the front and rear suspension are very similar, the gearbox and front subframe could be grafted in and there's plenty of space behind the seats although I doubt there's enough space there for an I5!

[magarv]

Hacke racing have done this to a heavily modified Nissan 200 sx S14. (With Audi IL5) I think there is a thread in here somewhere on that car... "Hacke racing goes crazy" or something like that...

So I think it is possible. Ithink he used a 6 speed quattro gearbox with welded centerdiff...

[Acidburn]

Should be quite a possibilty based on the fact that the front and rear suspension are very similar, the gearbox and front subframe could be grafted in and there's plenty of space behind the seats although I doubt there's enough space there for an I5!

True, you'd struggle for space there plus you might find that the heat would be just too extreme compared to some of the other cars that have had problems with MR conversions.

Plus biggest offset is that admitted it would have the weight over the rear wheels you'd still be sliding and drifting everywhere in it. A good compromise if someone wanted to do this is use a 4 cylinder 1.8 turbo and mod it a bit.

[magarv]

Not much left of the S14, but same "layout"

[Rusty]

That's pretty mental!

1.8T would fit a lot better.

[stiglet]

I reckon that by the time you're done modifiying the chassis and the suspension to cope with a now rear biased car, you'd have very little Audi left. Witht he same amount of work you could probably do it to any car.

Would be awesome once finished though

[Rusty]

An Audi that handles!!! Shock horror ... I'm now completely against this idea

[Error404]

haha - that "S14" is mental. I can't see space being a major problem.
It would be interesting to see what well set-up, stiffened coupe chassis would handle like with proper weight distribution - we need less Sport quattro replicas and more adventurous projects

In my opinion it would be a LOT quicker on track than a conventional quattro coupe

[Rusty]

Why not put the engine sticking out the back and then run the drivetrain in reverse and put a 30 year old body style on it and call if the Audi 119

[Error404]

[Keeper of The Kitten]

I've spoken to other peeps about this in bench racing sessions.

While it would shift the bias to the rear, firstly it's much better on pure weight distribution, and secondly it would reduce the moment of inertia enormously by bringing the largest mass inboard of the wheels. And yes, in theory, you can take the whole package from the front end and throw it in the back. You can even dial in some passive rear steering by altering the inboard mounting height of the (fixed) track rod ends.

[re2500]

What about two 500bhp I5T's one in the front and one in the back both with FWD gearboxes??

1000bhp!!

[Rusty]

What about two 500bhp I5T's one in the front and one in the back both with FWD gearboxes??

1000bhp!!

Hang the rear one out the back to counter the weigh issues and give a fairly massive moment of inertia! Be good for sprints but not much else!