ya i plan on reenforcing the entire frame, im going all out. Im putting a 1/2 or 3/4 ton axel in the back to hold the horse power. and its going to be a 2wd so i dont need a 4x4 chassis, its going to take alot of money and even more time but time or money doesnt really matter. I plan on building this for a year or a year and a half, so i will have the time to do it all legit!!!

never did get it, and what purpose are you doing this for again? and I don't want the "I just want to be different" answer. happens way too many times.

cause i want a challenge and a new crazy project. all i do is build cars and trucks and then trade or sell to get some other P.O.S. to build. Just one of those challenges i want to make happen

OMG has anyone seen an 4wd cavalier?.. I think i want that to be my next crazy project..

at that rate ill just go all the way and lift it and make it into a 4x4...

^Nice sig!


Go beyond the "bolt-on".

Personally I would just buy an F-body and be done with it.



2003 Sunfire with 2 1/4 inch turbo muffler, 2 1/4 piping, 2 1/2 inch resonator, a 2 1/4 inch catalytic converter, 2 1/2 inch down-pipe, a 4:2:1 RK Sports 'clone' header, E-bay strut brace, ground wire kit and an AEM true cold air intake NOPI edition.

Well, that's what most rodders I know have done... That or snatched-up a Fox-chassis 'Stang.


Go beyond the "bolt-on".

already have a fox body. a 91 already built.

In that case, I wish you luck with your 'wheeler project.


Go beyond the "bolt-on".

hey i'd say go for it it would be sweet and a bit different most of the V8 cavys i have seen are tube chassis that have the sheet metal tossed over them that isn't a v8 cavy its a drag car with cavy skin i am all for it (if my cavy isn't running by next summer i am pulling my motor and making a custom tubular subframe and dropping in a 4.3 from a astro van and making it 4x4 but keeping it low not jacking it up if i can i would like to build a twin turbo 4.3) anyway will be fun just take ur time and build it so u think there is no way u think u can brake any part off it (ex suspension steering)u probly could get away with using some steering parts form an f-body or an s-pickup

good luck with the low 4x4, especially with the chopped off 350. those things are too big to go with a 4x4.

I'm doing the twin turbo 4.3 in my RX7 if I can find one with low enough K's.

the astro vans come with 4x4 and a 4.3 and they are lowered compared to a s-10 pickup (i have had both but it probly won't be worth the hassle building it cuz the front diff that the astro comes with can't handle so much power so a twin turbo 4.3 would rip the drive train apart in no time)

no pics yet? i was getting excited



"still want to smash that like the fist of an angry god"

awful lot of dreaming in this thread...

Hey, if you can fit a 350 or cadillac northstar into a fiero, you can fit a 350 into a J. ha! That's my new philosophy... I've always thought about doing this, but dont have the finances.

Didnt one guy make a drag cavy with a 350 in it? And if I remember right it was in the back of the car...





"You can only feed them semen for so long before their legs fall off."

if a corvette engine can fit in a honda civic, than a 350 will fit in a cav, and there is allready a cav with a northstar v8, so why not.

I think it would be better with an independent rear suspension, but I am not the one doing it, so my opinion does not really matter,


good luck with your project!


cheers
steve

brooks foth wrote:the astro vans come with 4x4 and a 4.3 and they are lowered compared to a s-10 pickup (i have had both but it probly won't be worth the hassle building it cuz the front diff that the astro comes with can't handle so much power so a twin turbo 4.3 would rip the drive train apart in no time)

trust me when I say it only looks lower. it's on the same frame as the S trucks just with an overall lower body. trust me when I say I know more about the Safari vans than you as we've owned one since brand new in 95 and I've taken the damn thing apart more times than probably needed.

Actually, the M-van has it's own chassis... If you can call a ladder-style unitized frame w/stub that. Heck... many of the front suspension pieces (on the 2WD models) interchange with the Caprice. About the only part that it shares in that area is the steering gearbox. And the diff is shared with the S-truck 4WD models, so...

If I were you, I'd look into what's involved with mounting straight-axles w/trianglated 4-links. Many serious wheelers I've seen are built that way and do quite well.


Go beyond the "bolt-on".

DaFlyinSkwir(LS61) /PJ/ OEM+ wrote:awful lot of dreaming in this thread...

Honestly.

I miss more posts where people actually start the project and then show their progress. Such as this. And the thread itself

And to all of the "If it fits in XXX it must fit in YYYY"... none of you have a clue. The northstar doesn't "fit" in a J-body for one. 1997ztwo4 even admitts this fact. An LS1 does not "fit" in a Civic. An SRT-10 Viper engine does not "fit" in a 2nd gen eclipse. Can they fit? Of course, and people have made them, but there is serious modification required for all of these types of swaps. Modifications that go far beyond cutting the firewall, throwing on a rearend and calling it a day.

brooks foth wrote:hey i'd say go for it it would be sweet and a bit different most of the V8 cavys i have seen are tube chassis that have the sheet metal tossed over them that isn't a v8 cavy its a drag car with cavy skin i am all for it (if my cavy isn't running by next summer i am pulling my motor and making a custom tubular subframe and dropping in a 4.3 from a astro van and making it 4x4 but keeping it low not jacking it up if i can i would like to build a twin turbo 4.3) anyway will be fun just take ur time and build it so u think there is no way u think u can brake any part off it (ex suspension steering)u probly could get away with using some steering parts form an f-body or an s-pickup

Then what makes it a "cavy"? The amount of bracing/reenforcement required to spin the rear wheels no longer makes it a cavalier, anyways. But if you must know, there are RWD conversion parts for 3rd generation J-bodies.




I have no signiture

I never said it was easy to fit the bigger engines in, just that it can be done.

and it would make a great project too,
tough, but very enjoyable if you like to trouble shoot so many things.

There will be a lot of stuff to move, brake booster, steering linkage, steering rack.... Just thinking of the insane length of a 350 with a 700r4 or similar transmission will require quite a large tunnel under the car. For some reason I keep picturing this thing with a huge hole in the hood with a motor popping through from the valve covers up. I wouldnt think you would have enough space either to run leaf springs in the rear unless they were installed "flipped". A coil spring and 4 link combination seems to make a lot more sense.


00 cavalier (5 speed, 2200) 84 chevy c-10 (v-8, 700r4) 64 volvo 122 ( everything......)

That's more-or-less how such mods have been done up to this point. Although, if you use a dry-sump oiling system it definitely won't poke the valve covers above the hoodline. You will need to mod the firewall to set it in properly, just to achieve an acceptable weight-balance. Modding the firewall to clear an engine is as old as building a hot-rod, so it's not that unusual. And using a 4-link in anything Pro-Street'd ids very common. Just don't do like Dobertin did back in the mid-'80s... Using valve-springs as rear suspension springs on a Pro-Street'd Pontiac Sunbird. Unless you want it to be nothing more than a fairgrounds-cruiser. But please, don't go that way... Too many Pro-Street cars that were nothing more than fairgrounds cruisers is what killed the Pro-Street movement. And I can't stand to see that happen again...

Viva Pro-Street!


Go beyond the "bolt-on".

http://www.smithperformance.com/catalogue_cav.html

this has been done before

strip the body. cut the whole unibody floor out. go tube frame with a cage and make it pro street lol call it a day. after you drop the 100k+

just put a corvette engine in it..only cost u an arm and leg since ur already making a frankstein cavi