Am i crazy?

I was given a 85 firebird and a newer cavalier for free!!! i came up with the idea that i could make a rwd cav if i had taken all the rwd components out of the firebird and fabbed up mounts to place the rearend and the fron axle into the cav. THe end plans are for a chevy 305 i have to be thrown into the mixture... who thinks it will work? Who thinks im half retarded? Now who thinks im a genius and that it will be the funnest cavalier to drive in the world?

More than possible...but instead of makeing it front engine RWD..make it Mid engine RWD...much easyer since you can eliminate the need for a custom drive shaft...make a good suprise...a cavi hitting donuts...

Honest opinion...

...sounds good in theory, but I think you're fairly ignorant to think that would work as easily as it sounds.

you'll need to tub out the whole floor of the cavalier and rip out all the dash and most of the interior.

you'll need to tub out the whole floor of the cavalier and rip out all the dash and most of the interior.

And Build a new frame.

yeah, 305 will twist a cavalier, its a unibody. But its more than possable, theres a guy in the civic forum making a 350 civic with stuff from an s10

DO IT! It would be the coolest cav ever. Mostly because cav's suck :p j/k

And because you got them for free. I mean, hey, whats to lose, right?

Its possable but frame reinforcements are needed and your gonna have to build up the rear end to take the torque at the wheels. I cant see it bein a midship engine setup cus I dont personally know of any chev/gm trannies that are used for mid engine rwd. If it was a ford engine you could use a 302 or a 351 with either a pantera transmission or a gt40 transmission but I havent seen any cars like that from chev and gm. If there is some out there Id like to see em that would be cool.

Easy....
Go from the output on the tranny, and instead of having a driveshaft, just join the output shaft to the rearend with a U-Joint. I've seen it done...
(on Junkyard Wars....)

^^thats what i was saying...ive seen a CRX with a 350 like that. but yes you will need ot build a tubeular frame to keep that unibody from folding over when the enigine begines to torque.

also, there are GM transmissions that work in a Mid-engine setup as people swap V8's (norhtstars, LT1's, etc) into Fieros all the time.

Its possable but frame reinforcements are needed and your gonna have to build up the rear end to take the torque at the wheels. I cant see it bein a midship engine setup cus I dont personally know of any chev/gm trannies that are used for mid engine rwd. If it was a ford engine you could use a 302 or a 351 with either a pantera transmission or a gt40 transmission but I havent seen any cars like that from chev and gm. If there is some out there Id like to see em that would be cool.


Yeah, bolt on a transaxle to it. Fieros have them. If you use one of them, do know you will want one out of a GT fiero. The ones from the 2M4's(4 cylinders) are a weak isuzu transmission. The ones from the GT's are Getrag designed and muncie built. Its called the Getrag 282.

the fiero transaxles are just that.. transaxles, made to work with a sideways mounted v6. Dont think hes going to be able to mount a v8 sideways in it or make it work with that tranny.

ya, thats why you use a Grand Prix or Cadillac transaxle but a Fiero subframe

Its nuts but freaking awesome, and a lot of work, rwd rocks

Its possable but frame reinforcements are needed and your gonna have to build up the rear end to take the torque at the wheels.
What rear end? Cavaliers don't have rear ends, and the Firebird's was made for that 305. Also, I think the whole idea is ridiculous, but I don't want to ruin you guys' fun of building it in your minds(I know how that is).

First off mike... i never said it will be easy.... second off, it is going to be an oversized go cart.... no suspesion (keeping things simple here).... yes im am building a frame (you really think i would try to do it with the stock unibody?)... everyhting is coming off i 1985 firebird (rearend, front end).... I am placing a 305 in it... so it aint going to be high horsepower by any means... the cavalier is already stripped... no front clip, no interior, no trunk lid... it is going to be really simply built, im not trying to make it practical by any means... i think many of you were under the wrong impression.

I think it would be more fun to just blow them up...

Edit: You said building your own frame, do you have any, I mean any, clue as to how complicated and how much geometry is involved in designing a frame?

its going to be a gocart... i aint goign to take it to the strip or down the road. Im using the existing subframe/unibody and tack welding square tubing to the body and the subframes and them welding it all thogether... more or less it is reinforcment.

:disappoin i thought it was gonna be a real car. oh well... in that case you should have driven the cavi into the ground before starting this whole fiasco. imean it has an e-brake doesnt it? and the right foot likes to stay to the floor...