Scratch Built in need of Transaxle ideas

[Sean Higgins]

Hey there guys and gals,

I'm new here (and you'll quickly find out, i'm no mechanical genius). I'm trying to tap into all of your guys' knowledge and experience to help me resolve this.

I'm building a Rear-mid engine, RWD, one-off custom car based on the lotus esprit chassis. Engine choice isn't the tough part...its the transaxle. I know its been discussed at length on here, but I can't find a solution for my situation. I've got a bad left hip, and driving stick for longer than 20 minutes kills, so i'm looking for either a paddle shifter set up or an automatic...here's the kicker, I'd LIKE to be in the 350ftlb/hp neighborhood. And unfortunately, i'm not made of money, so a 10k tranny isn't in the cards for me. I mostly intend on using this as a show and cruising car. if a manual is the only way, so be it, but if theres another way, I'd love to hear about it. Don't be shy to offer up good manual ideas too.

I've seen some mentioned before like the;

1. Audi 01E (very rare to find here) (MT)
2. Porsche Boxter S Transaxle (decent, but might not handle power) (MT/AT)
3. Porsche G50 - too rich for my blood, and i'm not tracking the car (10k+) (MT)
4. TH425 - Bullet proof and may be a decent choice, but hard to adapt, heavy, raises engine, only 3 gear

Any other options you guys know of? I'm also interested in MT if you can't think of AT's Thanks in advance, you guys are a wealth of knowledge!!

 

[Brian Kissel]

Welcome to GT40S Sean. Good luck with your search. Not many options available that I’m aware of.
Enjoy the forum !!!
Regards Brian

 

[Neil]

Hey there guys and gals,

I'm new here (and you'll quickly find out, i'm no mechanical genius). I'm trying to tap into all of your guys' knowledge and experience to help me resolve this.

I'm building a Rear-mid engine, RWD, one-off custom car based on the lotus esprit chassis. Engine choice isn't the tough part...its the transaxle. I know its been discussed at length on here, but I can't find a solution for my situation. I've got a bad left hip, and driving stick for longer than 20 minutes kills, so i'm looking for either a paddle shifter set up or an automatic...here's the kicker, I'd LIKE to be in the 350ftlb/hp neighborhood. And unfortunately, i'm not made of money, so a 10k tranny isn't in the cards for me. I mostly intend on using this as a show and cruising car. if a manual is the only way, so be it, but if theres another way, I'd love to hear about it. Don't be shy to offer up good manual ideas too.

I've seen some mentioned before like the;

1. Audi 01E (very rare to find here) (MT)
2. Porsche Boxter S Transaxle (decent, but might not handle power) (MT/AT)
3. Porsche G50 - too rich for my blood, and i'm not tracking the car (10k+) (MT)
4. TH425 - Bullet proof and may be a decent choice, but hard to adapt, heavy, raises engine, only 3 gear

Any other options you guys know of? I'm also interested in MT if you can't think of AT's Thanks in advance, you guys are a wealth of knowledge!!

A few years ago I had a Chrysler 300M- a 3.5 liter 255 BHP V-6 with front wheel drive, a 4- speed automatic transmission that could be shifted manually, all in a compact package. I think it would make a very good powerplant in a lightweight mid-engine car.

 

[Brian]

If you prefer the auto, and are OK with a V6, there are dozens of good American FWD sedan power trains that would do well planted in the rear.

Or the Nissan maxima, has a lot of hi po parts available for the Z car that could cross over.

 

[Davidmgbv8]

Hi Seth,
David from the old CVAR days..... Your are to young for hip problems..... So this guy on in Cali has been using and abusing a Cayman gearbox behind his GT40 build and he find them cheap. Look at his videos. At 2k a box it seems a lot better than the $8000 I have in a Renault UN-1

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The search engine that helps you find exactly what you're looking for. Find the most relevant information, video, images, and answers from all across the Web.

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[Sean Higgins]

Welcome to GT40S Sean. Good luck with your search. Not many options available that I’m aware of.
Enjoy the forum !!!
Regards Brian

Thanks so much, glad to be here and learn from all of you!

 

[Sean Higgins]

A few years ago I had a Chrysler 300M- a 3.5 liter 255 BHP V-6 with front wheel drive, a 4- speed automatic transmission that could be shifted manually, all in a compact package. I think it would make a very good powerplant in a lightweight mid-engine car.

Hey Neil, I have heard of this briefly before. Whats the strength of that powertrain? Do you think it would take more than 300 bhp? Thanks for the suggestion!

 

[Sean Higgins]

If you prefer the auto, and are OK with a V6, there are dozens of good American FWD sedan power trains that would do well planted in the rear.

Or the Nissan maxima, has a lot of hi po parts available for the Z car that could cross over.

I definitely don't mind a V6, in fact, I typically like the sound too. What are some that you know of that can push into the 300-400 hp range?
The maxima..whats a hi po part? Higher power? And the Z car, are you referring to 350z? If you don't mind me asking, why not just go for the Z parts then are theybcheaper from the maxima?

 

[Sean Higgins]

Hi Seth,
David from the old CVAR days..... Your are to young for hip problems..... So this guy on in Cali has been using and abusing a Cayman gearbox behind his GT40 build and he find them cheap. Look at his videos. At 2k a box it seems a lot better than the $8000 I have in a Renault UN-1

how not to build a gt40 car - Yahoo Video Search Results

The search engine that helps you find exactly what you're looking for. Find the most relevant information, video, images, and answers from all across the Web.

video.search.yahoo.com

Whats the CVAR days? Haha I know right? Old kickboxing injury thats been following me around for the last decade. Can you point me in the right direction to get more info on that? I looked into the automatic boxster S, but tracked down some info saying it couldn't handle more than 200hp?

 

[Neil]

Hey Neil, I have heard of this briefly before. Whats the strength of that powertrain? Do you think it would take more than 300 bhp? Thanks for the suggestion!

Possibly, but overdoing the power can be a road to complications and $$$$$$$$$$. Better to keep the car as light as possible and stay with a stock engine & drive train, at least initially. A Lotus Esprit chassis should give you a good basis for a lightweight design. 255 BHP in a 1900 lb car should be interesting.

 

[Brian]

I definitely don't mind a V6, in fact, I typically like the sound too. What are some that you know of that can push into the 300-400 hp range?
The maxima..whats a hi po part? Higher power? And the Z car, are you referring to 350z? If you don't mind me asking, why not just go for the Z parts then are theybcheaper from the maxima?

Hipo - High Performance. There are a lot more parts availible for the 350Z than the Maxima sedan, but they share the VQ35-DE engine. So most of the parts will interchange of you're not dealing with purely architecture layout things. It's 265 HP stock, so 350 HP is very doable without going turbos.
I would stick to the 2004 to 2008 range so you have a traditional standard or automatic instead of the CVT.
The Maxima is a FWD platdform, so the engine and transaxle are a nice little package perfect for a mid engine car and you're far more likely to find one that has been well maintained and hasn't been beat to death.

 

[Sean Higgins]

VQ35-DE engine. It's 265 HP stock, so 350 HP is very doable without going turbos.
I would stick to the 2004 to 2008 range so you have a traditional standard or automatic instead of the CVT.
The Maxima is a FWD platform, so the engine and transaxle are a nice little package perfect for a mid engine car

Thanks a ton for the info. So, I did some research and found that the 350Z uses a transmission, not a transaxle, so it would be nearly impossible to fit the engine, transmission, and a differential behind the driver. Its a bummer this wouldn't work on my set up

 

[Brian]

That's the point of using the Maxima. It's the same engine, but with a FWD transaxle in a nice neat package perfectly suited for the rear of a mid engine car. And being a nice sedate sedan, you can find one dirt cheap with 80-120K miles and it'll still be in great shape. A 350Z with the same miles will have been owned by some ricer boy who beat the shit out of it the last 50K miles yet still cost more.


I'm not positive the block is identical. I seem to remember some RWD and FWD engines of the same family having all interchangeable internals, but different motor mount bosses and bellhousings

 

[Davidmgbv8]

Quick search on ebay and Maxima motor and a Cayman transaxle can be had for a total of $3500, I wonder what engine management is needed to get the two things working? So the next question does Kennedy Engine make an adaptor for this set up already?

Now saying that... I wonder if KEP already makes a Cayman auto to LS adaptor. If so then a Chevy V6 out of a wrecked Camaro as complete pull out would be cheap and torquey, possible easy marriage to the transaxle and you are off!

 

[Brian]

Use the maxima transaxle. You'll get one with the car, already all mated up. Only pooge is the axles... unless the track is close enough you can use the half shafts and unit bearings.

Also, computer issues become not an issue.

 

[Sean Higgins]

That's the point of using the Maxima. It's the same engine, but with a FWD transaxle in a nice neat package perfectly suited for the rear of a mid engine car. And being a nice sedate sedan, you can find one dirt cheap with 80-120K miles and it'll still be in great shape. A 350Z with the same miles will have been owned by some ricer boy who beat the shit out of it the last 50K miles yet still cost more.

I'm not positive the block is identical. I seem to remember some RWD and FWD engines of the same family having all interchangeable internals, but different motor mount bosses and bellhousings

AAAHHH I see. right on. yeah, very interesting. writing this one down. I do really like the idea of keeping the engine and trans together for simplicity sake and the tcu/ecu situation would be nice to not have to figure all that crap out. Great idea man.

 

[Brian]

Track is about 72", but that's with modern negative backset wheels, so with better looking wheels, you'll be closer to 75" track, but the OEM hub bearings would be painfully simple to make an upright for.

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[Sean Higgins]

Quick search on ebay and Maxima motor and a Cayman transaxle can be had for a total of $3500, I wonder what engine management is needed to get the two things working? So the next question does Kennedy Engine make an adaptor for this set up already?

Now saying that... I wonder if KEP already makes a Cayman auto to LS adaptor. If so then a Chevy V6 out of a wrecked Camaro as complete pull out would be cheap and torquey, possible easy marriage to the transaxle and you are off!

Nice, yeah, I may look into that too depending on the ease of mating it all together and programming, only because I would imagine the boxster tranny may be a better size fit, but yeah, and interesting idea. What do you think would be the benefit of using the boxster tranny over the nissan one? Any particular reason?
I've actually looked pretty deeply into the Boxster S auto tipronic/ LS3 route...the tiptronic is woefully underbuilt for that application unfortunately...however the Boxster S 6 speed is built much better and can take up to about 500 or so

 

[Sean Higgins]

Track is about 72", but that's with modern negative backset wheels, so with better looking wheels, you'll be closer to 75" track, but the OEM hub bearings would be painfully simple to make an upright for.

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I'm planning on using the suspension from the lotus if possible, so I might need to machine up some new axles...half from the lotus and half from the mating side of the maxima, but that's doable. very cool

 

[Brian]

Making an axle to mate the supplied inner CV to the suspensions outer CV is very doable.

If you prefer there's dozens of FWD american sporty sedans that also could be tasty little drive trains. The Dodge intrepid LH platforms have the very nice 3.5 L that has the benefit ( if you see it as such) of being longitudinal . Almost all of the others are transverse.

There were a few 3800 buicks that were supercharged.

I put a 2000 Taurus 3L duratec with a 2000 Cougar transaxle in the back of a Kelmark

I looked at the 5Valve 2.5L v6 passat, but decided to not get sucked into the extra cost of German parts.


Edit- the Dodge is longitudinal