mid-engine sunfire?

[kach22i]

Originally Posted by IsaacCarlson

It scared us pretty bad the first time it happened. It was winter and we were going around a corner at a reasonable and prudent speed and the back end came right around on us.

If just one of your tires is a little off, lets say one worn more than the others, or one tire is under-inflated on a FWD car, especially if that is a rear tire - then handling disasters are sure to happen.

It doesn't take much.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

If you were lurking around a mid-engine layout for fun, that would be prefectly understandable. But if you wanna improve the handling, there are other options that would be easier and more cost-effective.

[IsaacCarlson]

It is not oversteer exactly, it is more of a really light rear end not having enough traction to hold the road. Like I said earlier, My brother and I picked it up and swung it around to get it where it is now. The front end is much heavier. It doesn't help that the engine weight is semi-cantilevered. It has always been light in the rear.

I thought it would be fun to have a mid engine car since it is under construction already. I love the feel of a rear wheel drive compared to front wheel drive. It would be partly for fun.

I was thinking of keeping putting front hubs on the rear beam and extending the beams past the hub so there is about a foot sticking out toward the rear and putting air springs on them. That would support the extra weight and would reduce roll. I could also put air on the front end. I have some rear air shocks from the caddy that I could fab in. If those won't work, I could always put air springs in the front. I have them in the truck and they work wonders.

[Frank Lee]

You can conjure up many reasons to support the middie idea but fixing your car's weird handling isn't one of them.

[IsaacCarlson]

Hey Frank, what should I do? I know I need a front sway bar. I would like the car to handle well so I can have some fun when I want to. I am still looking for good mileage, so don't think I am going on a "fun run" brain trip.

I think it would handle better as a mid engine car vs fwd, but I need to make sure the suspension is working correctly first.

[Frank Lee]

First, why is there no front sway bar?

Second, get to a scale and tell us how much weight is on the front axle and rear axle.

[IsaacCarlson]

I don't know why there is no sway bar.


I can't really get it to a scale because it is taken apart in the shed. A sunfire is supposed to weigh about 2650 lbs. The published weight split is 63/37.

This puts the weights as follows:

Front: 1670 lbs

Rear: 980 lbs

[Frank Lee]

It came with a sway bar.

I know that 65/35 results in good daily driver handling.

[IsaacCarlson]

There is no evidence whatsoever of any front sway bar. The parts store lists a regular control arm and a sport control arm. Maybe the sway bar was on the sport version.

I have some time to think it over. I would really like to make it a mid engine, as you can tell. I have measured things out and it would fit perfectly. All I would have to do is cut the bottom out and attach the sub frame and struts. I need to remove some surface rust under the car anyway, so it would be a good opportunity to take care of anything that needs attention. My mother in law drove it for a while and she is murder on cars. She said, that before she got her van, she ran over a tree that was laying in the road!!!!!! That explains the control arm bushings that were ripped out of their sockets. Don't worry, I fixed those already. She also backed her caddy into my wood pile, then I hear VROOM, and she is ON my wood pile.......

Anyway, I am going to hash this over and see what happens. I may end up putting the motor up front for now, with a sway bar, and see how it handles.

[Frank Lee]

There has to be. FWD cars simply are not sold without them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfVU3m-Ayj8

Here's what it looks like ( I only watched the first 40 secs).