What about running a dry sump system to get more clearance with the ground with a lot mounted engine?







(runs and hides for adding to this )

 

I haven't been under a RD in a while, but on the GK the channel for exhaust could double for a driveshaft tunnel pretty well as it is way oversized. You would still need to modify the firewall to fit a transmission or cut out some rear structure to run a rear transaxle though.



If you're going to run a full roll cage as I suspect, chassis alignment is quite a bit easier than chopping things up stock would be. I would do the cage, then weld temporary chassis supports in place, then cut out sections of unibody you're removing, weld in the new sections and permanent bracing, then cut off the temporary bracing. Things might not be perfect, but they should be as good as any repair you would make after drifting the car into a wall.



Mounting an engine at the rear wouldn't be as difficult, but if you've ever tried to drift a mid engined car you'll know it's not optimal.

 

187sks beat me to it: reinforce, THEN cut. Pretty standard for replacing major sections of car bodies undergoing restoration. Also +1 for the exhaust tunnel becoming a drivetrain tunnel, but have fun with the firewall.

 

That would give you engine clearance, but not transmission clearance. You need to mount the Tranny low to allow the drive shaft to clear the frame as it routes back. to do that you need to drop the engine/tranny low enough.



187sks-

What's wrong with Drifing mid engine cars? While they may be slightly harder to learn on, once you master, them, you're ready for anything!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FeHaMdset9Y

 

doh! good point.

 

It's definitely possible, but there's a reason you don't see many people drifting mid engined cars. It is a lot harder to slide them just a little, and they break away quite a bit more violently in my experience. If you started with an MR2, fine. But I wouldnt set out to build one personally.

 

I've done tons of research/design on this. Mid engine RWD to keep hyundai parts/engine. If you have TIME, and I mean serious time available to you, go for it. I don't, so I had to put it on the back burner for now.