how hard is it to convert an awd car to rwd?

[mranlet]

Originally posted by TeamSLIPdrifter
In the article the owner said so himself its just a fuse. The entire skyline atessa system (pardon if its mispelled) is electronically controlled of course. The torque split in skylines is electronically controlled, instead of mechanical, thats why you see them still accelarating into turns after everyone else brakes, because the computer monitors tire slip and modifies the torque to front and rear so the car can go into turns at much greater speeds. 92 DSMs (eclipse, talon, laser, vr4 galant, and early vr4 3000gts) are pretty much just thrown together with the intention of being ripped apart for racing. Mitsubishi knew people would use them for that purpose so they didnt waste money mass producing systems that would be tempered with anyway. Go to www.dsm.org if you wanna find out more on just how thrown together these cars are with a rockhard 2.0L turbo 4g63 engine (same as used in the evos except inverted). All it was was i think some electrical and a matter or ripping off the front diff. He has AC and full interior cause thats the class he races is. Those things are required and all other modifications are unlimited.

If all that is true, that's cool.

I know about the ATTESSA but have never worked on it, but am wary of magazine articles that claim that something is so easy, because most of the time those things are not.

What is the initial split on the DSM's AWD? IIRC it's mechanical similar to the viscous coupling in the Subarus and the Realtime in the CR-V, but how would all of the power go to the rear by removing front differential unless there's some sort of center locker or something (becuase otherwise te motor would try to turn wheels that aren't connected).

-MR

[TeamSLIPdrifter]

Im not completely sure on the entire process but it involves some fabrication. Its still pretty sketchy and not up to its full pontential as a rear wheel drive car but he ripped everything off that drives the front wheels. Tie rods, front diff., drive axles, etc. He did it all in his garage at home. I know the system is ment to have more power to the front wheels then the rear but i heard it was pretty close. I dont know the exact numbers. He also said that the drivetrain in DSMs is pretty much all mechanical so it doesnt make the ecu go nutz. It took him 2 years to finish the conversion and its now the only (known) rear wheel drive DSM in the world.

[TeamSLIPdrifter]

Oh yeh, and there is a rear wheel drive R33 in Chicago. He also said its just a matter of taking out a fuse. But its not very efficiant cause your still hauling an entire front drivetrain around that just sits there. And i also heard that the ecu makes some lose in the power going into the rear during hard cornering cause the system isnt made to have the front ever disconnected.

[mranlet]

He must have fabricated a spool or something for the center differential. That's cool though, you ought to try and persuade him to take it drifting - the 4G has tons of bullet-proof power!

-MR

[nissanguy_24]

Originally posted by TeamSLIPdrifter
nissanguy_24 is the Jesus of drifting.

Drifting 101 is my bible.

you guys are embarrassing me...

[TeamSLIPdrifter]

Lol, would you like me to take it out? But honestly, ive read drifting 101.... it should be published and handed to every drifter in the world. Its awsome. It taught me alot. I also wanted a 240 when i started drifting and you said a bunch of things that helped me in my decision on persuing an s13. Thanks a million.

[WytKnight]

someone makes a WRX RWD kit

There was a story in Import Tuner a couple months ago. This guy made a replacment part you could switch out in about 30-40 mins that would take the car to RWD only without welding gears or messing up the tranny. He says he switches back sometimes but in RWD his car in autoX beats faster WRXs just because hes RWD only he says....

[TeamSLIPdrifter]

I heard something about a kit. He should mass produce that... he would make a ton of money. Unless someone already does.

[mranlet]

AWD can pose a understeering problem in low speed tight tracks like parking lot autocross, unless you're spinning the tires like Gymkhana.

The "Kit" is most likely a spool-type spider gear replacement that eliminated power to the fronts. Braille Auto is working on a kit to incorporate the CR-V drivetrain into B-series Hondas and make them either AWD or RWD - development of this sort of thing is slow becuase things break when they are asked to do whta the factory didn't intend.

-MR