we were goin down the free way once and we could here a noise than i got really loude anbd im lkike wtf is that and we had windows up air con on witch made a bit of noise and the radio up a bit i could only just hear my dad and it was a 180 b and im like that now runnin well and the dude inside had construction ear mufs on

Here's the idea, we'd take the Maxima front wheel drive engine, transaxle, and suspension and build a cage around it. Then we'd cut a hole in the floor of the car and drop the unibody down onto that assemby. Finger out where it all needs to attach and, voila! Just that simple! Yes, I know, they are never that simple!

As for the earplugs, I used to carry two pairs of ear muff type hearing protection thingies in the Chickenhawk for just that reason. It was uncomfortably loud in the driver's seat, not quite as bad in the passenger seat, and somewhat civilized sounding outside.

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Ha! Too funny, because it is loud, and this idea is so logical but I never thought of it before.

Quote:try removing the soundproofing... I wear earplugs when I drive my 1200 on the road! But outside the car is very quiet

Hmm a VG in the boot..I like it

they're talking about moving the whole front of the maxima to the raer of the 1200, using the fwd gearbox/transaxle, and presumably the driveshafts (with CV joints) and suspension as well. The conventional RWD diff will be on the scrapheap, and no tailshafts or uni joints in sight.

It will need custom links to control toe, but that should be easy to knock up using part of the fwd Maxima steering linkage/ tie rod ends. I can't see any real difficulties apart from making the chassis section to make it all fit in there and provide anchorages for engine/box assembly and strut (I assume) mounts. It will be a very interesting project!

My thoughts on this are in regards to tail shaft length. You'd need to use a IRS rear end, otherwise the rear axle movement would break tail shafts too regularly. And the poor universal joints would get quite hot running so far off centre so often.

Remember that the Double Cardan Joint (also called Universal Joint) (See, I did go to school), is not a constant velocity joint. So If you used IRS, you could bolt the gearbox almost directly to the diff. The movement in the rubber diff and gearbox mounts needs to be considered, so an industrial strength rubber interface should be used between gearbox and diff.

I sometimes wish I could hear my engine better, having it 1/2 a foot behind my head has to make this easier.

It's not a bad thought, but your chickenhawk is in good condition isn't it?

It would be sad to see it chopped up and not finished. But I'm sure that you wouldn't let that happen.

Chris.

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Hauling ass

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That's why I love America. We can cram anything we want into an old car... no matter how insane...

...and it'd be legal for drag racing.

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Yeah, right! Those "it shouldn't cost much" projects always wind up being the most expensive!

Sorry for the "transaxle" confusion. I use that term for any gearbox that has the ring and pinion in the same case whether it is a nort/south or east/west orientation.

Transaxle is the word we use in the US for fwd gearbox/diff units. Though when I first read this, I thought he was talking about a Porsche transaxle, until I remembered the Maxima is a fwd unit. Maxima is known as Bluebird in Japan and some other countries.

Here it is legal for road use, we can do just about anything (except import cars designed by real engineers, oddly enough). Dimlight mentioned a low-speed brake test in Texas, but most states don't have a saftety test at all.

It would just be cool to do for a street car or show car, is all. And if he has the parts lying about, shouldn't cost Dimlight much either.