What would you do...

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Feral Pigeon

Feral Pigeon

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Houston, TX
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FireLite MS9600
let's say you have a junked-up car, or something kinda vanilla, what would you do to make it un-boring?

I'd take a Nissan Quest and drop a VQ30DETT in it, make it RWD, put it on O.Z. Alleggerita HLTs(Orange), give it 355mm tires in the back, 255mm in the front, and put racing springs/shocks and brakes on it. that's all. the engine is somewhat easy(go to a junkyard), the wheels, tires, brakes and suspension is easy as hell, the only hard part is the RWD conversion.

why would I do this to a minivan? well, it might be my only choice right now(looking at my first actual car, and it might be an '05 Quest, due to price and the amount of mileage it has.)
 
You seem to completely underestimate the work involved here.

Also, VQ30DETT? Have fun with your custom twin-turbo setup. ;)
 
Why a VQ :lol:

You realize this will cost more than that Quest ever did, period. And then a lot more on top of that.
 
I would put up with driving something boring for a couple of years and save my money to buy a genuinely good car rather than spending the same amount of money as a good car and still only having a shopping car with some halford bits tacked on.
 
I would have any Eclipse, and then make the hood chalkboard paint and then put a 6foot wing on the back....maybe take out a seat to save weight and perhaps add a roof scoop to keep dust low in the cabin....if only. Oh wait.....:p
 
I drive a 04' Ford Focus that's completely stock. I think that qualifies for vanilla. Its not but the ride, its all about the driver :D
 
i've owned 13 of them, people. and I'd still only take my first and work on it.
 
Something I wouldn't mind doing would be to buy a 4 cylinder S-10 from a fleet auction, and these trucks can be had for sometimes less then a $1000. Then stuff a small block in it. You buy the kits online and it's more or less just bolt on. The hardest part is the wiring from what I've been told. Put a static drop on it, some decent tires and there you go. You got a sporty toy and you didn't break the bank.
 
Rotary Junkie
You seem to completely underestimate the work involved here.

Also, VQ30DETT? Have fun with your custom twin-turbo setup. ;)
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I've done an engine swap on a Camaro once. Took me 8 weeks to get it all together.

also, look up the VQ30DETT on wikipedia. actual engine, not custom. I may have confused VG30DETT and VQ30DETT, but I'm pretty sure it's VQ.

--EDIT--

it is VG30DETT. VQ30DETT is a Super GT/JGTC racing engine.
 
Feral Pigeon
why would I do this to a minivan? well, it might be my only choice right now(looking at my first actual car, and it might be an '05 Quest, due to price and the amount of mileage it has.)
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Wool gathering and dream-building fun projects is fun and a great way to waste a few idle hours, but you really do have a knack for finding ways of "saving money" that are actually orders of magnitude more expensive than whatever the original cost was.
 
Duke
Wool gathering and dream-building fun projects is fun and a great way to waste a few idle hours, but you really do have a knack for finding ways of "saving money" that are actually orders of magnitude more expensive than whatever the original cost was.
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went in one ear, and dribbled out the other, D.
 
2nd Generation Ford Aerostar 4WD.

Turbo Coupe engine.

Much larger turbo.


There. The rough equivalent of the OP, probably buildable for $1500.
 
Feral Pigeon
I've done an engine swap on a Camaro once. Took me 8 weeks to get it all together.

also, look up the VQ30DETT on wikipedia. actual engine, not custom. I may have confused VG30DETT and VQ30DETT, but I'm pretty sure it's VQ.

--EDIT--

it is VG30DETT. VQ30DETT is a Super GT/JGTC racing engine.
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*sigh*

A Camaro I could probably swap from a V6 to a big-block in about two weeks...

You know why? They make mount kits for that.

What you're thinking of would be massive amounts of fabrication and assorted clearance modifications, etc etc.

Personally? 4.6 DOHC into SIII Jaguar XJ6, T56/TR6060 trans, IRS stolen from a Mark VIII/Thunderbird/Cougar and narrowed to fit properly. Tons of work, result completely useless aside from having a Jaaaaaaaaaaaaaaag with a proper engine and serviceable rear brakes. Add boost for great effect.

Same deal for a Mazda6 actually, though run MS6 rear suspension instead with a stronger diff + axles. Either route gets you a 3-800hp RWD sedan that looks good; one will just weigh several hundred pounds less than the other.

In faaaaaaact... The 6 would wind up having better weight distribution than the MS6 by a bit and quite a lot lighter too... 3300lbs wouldn't be a difficult target weight... Time to stop thinking about it before I go do something stupid in an attempt to get the money required to do such things.
 
Toronado
2nd Generation Ford Aerostar 4WD.

Turbo Coupe engine.

Much larger turbo.


There. The rough equivalent of the OP, probably buildable for $1500.
Click to expand...

Now that's what I'm talkin' 'bout. Though $1500 would be tough unless you got lucky finding parts and could do all the fab work yourself.
 
Rotary Junkie
A Camaro I could probably swap from a V6 to a big-block in about two weeks...
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You probably had help with that. I was alone due to general douchebaggery of my friends who said they would help, but flaked at the last minute and went out to wherever they said they went, while I had to work alone. It was frustrating, but I got it done. also, I did a few things wrong here and there, so it took longer. the swap was a 350 to a 454.

Now that I've done that, I know how long a Nissan swap should take (probably equally long, because I'm prone to screw-ups as much as a Jaguar is to breaking down).

Again, all the non-engine stuff (minus the drivetrain swap as well) should be the easiest, so that'll take me literally a day to do... maybe the night as well.

--EDIT--

Duke
Now that's what I'm talkin' 'bout. Though $1500 would be tough unless you got lucky finding parts and could do all the fab work yourself.
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Duke, you've probably already figured out that I'm slightly deranged. If I'm going to spend $20K on modding a minivan, I will do so, much to the dismay of anyone who finds out about it. If you think I'm crazy, I just might be.
 
Duke
Wool gathering and dream-building fun projects is fun and a great way to waste a few idle hours, but you really do have a knack for finding ways of "saving money" that are actually orders of magnitude more expensive than whatever the original cost was.
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He should go into politics. :)
 
Feral Pigeon
Duke, you've probably already figured out that I'm slightly deranged. If I'm going to spend $20K on modding a minivan, I will do so, much to the dismay of anyone who finds out about it. If you think I'm crazy, I just might be.
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Oh, I have no problem with the concept of building something that is expensive and oddball. That's not the issue at all. I put a '98 Stratus 2.4 DOHC into my wife's '95 Neon long before the SRT version ever appeared.

The issue is doing something bizarre and expensive while claiming the idea is meant to save time and money.
 
Feral Pigeon
Eh? when did I ever say that???:confused:
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Right here:

Feral Pigeon
why would I do this to a minivan? well, it might be my only choice right now(looking at my first actual car, and it might be an '05 Quest, due to price and the amount of mileage it has.)
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I'm also referring to your earlier thread looking to buy a JDM car because you didn't like what was available here that you could afford. Buying JDM is an easy way to double the cost of a car.
 
Duke
Right here...
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Bah... I was talking about the price of the car initially, but I do see where you're coming from...

Duke
I'm also referring to your earlier thread looking to buy a JDM car because you didn't like what was available here that you could afford. Buying JDM is an easy way to double the cost of a car.
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I was being immature back then; I'm beyond that crap now :yuck:
 
Duke
Now that's what I'm talkin' 'bout. Though $1500 would be tough unless you got lucky finding parts and could do all the fab work yourself.
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How much would you have to fab? I can't imagine the turbo 2.3 would take up more space than the two big V6s that Ford tossed in there while the thing was in normal production, plumbing or not.
 
Toronado
How much would you have to fab? I can't imagine the turbo 2.3 would take up more space than the two big V6s that Ford tossed in there while the thing was in normal production, plumbing or not.
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something tells me that Duke thinks that every engine swap needs a ridiculous amount of fabrication to work properly.

--EDIT--

I'm not judging him/making him look like an airhead, but it's just an opinion. engine swaps do take a bit of fab, don't get me wrong, but not all of 'em take a metric butt-ton of fab to do so.
 
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Toronado
How much would you have to fab? I can't imagine the turbo 2.3 would take up more space than the two big V6s that Ford tossed in there while the thing was in normal production, plumbing or not.
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Size isn't an issue; it's mostly mounts and exhaust. I also don't know much about Ford bellhousings. It might be a bolt-up, it might not. Besides, there's always the miscellaneous little crap.

Feral Pigeon
something tells me that Duke thinks that every engine swap needs a ridiculous amount of fabrication to work properly.
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I've done enough or been involved with enough to know that it's never as easy as it sounded before you were out in the garage with a rolling chassis and a bunch of parts spread on every available flat surface.
 
Duke
Size isn't an issue; it's mostly mounts and exhaust. I also don't know much about Ford bellhousings. It might be a bolt-up, it might not.
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I'd have to imagine it would be pretty straightforward. The Aerostar was available for a couple of years with the Pinto engine, so it should mount correctly. And I'm pretty sure the same transmissions that came with the Aerostar can still be found in the base model, Pinto-engined Ranger.

However:
Duke
Besides, there's always the miscellaneous little crap.
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That stuff is never fun.
 
Wait, Feral, you are saying you don't think there will be that much fabrication required in making an FF minivan into an FR layout?

:lol:
 
Azuremen
Wait, Feral, you are saying you don't think there will be that much fabrication required in making an FF minivan into an FR layout?

:lol:
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I think it's funnier that he's saying there isn't much fabrication required when it comes to putting an engine in a car in which it wasn't made for. Never mind the drivetrain. :lol:
 

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