rear engine donor body suggestions for smart fortwo .8l cdi diesel engine/trans

[rmay635703]

Originally Posted by samwichse

Fiat 850 Spider

But honestly, maybe just try and shoehorn it into a Beetle? They're cheap, common, and the chassis is oh-so-hackable.

Sam

I've seen Subaru 360's for $200, they are easy to fix and the smart motor will drop right in.

A 360 has under half the CDA of a beetle

[Hersbird]

Thesamba.com although freebeard might kill you. I think a squareback or fastback might be cool. Here is a $500 'truck'
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifi...php?id=2032790

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by samwichse

Fiat 850 Spider



But honestly, maybe just try and shoehorn it into a Beetle? They're cheap, common, and the chassis is oh-so-hackable.

Not sure if that could be done with a Fiat 850, but I have already seen it done (mostly) in French cars. An uncle of mine used to have a Simca 8 that had been rebuilt around a shortened Beetle chassis.


I've already seen even a Citroën Traction converted from its stock FWD configuration to RWD also resorting to the Beetle powertrain.

Originally Posted by freebeard

Perhaps surprisingly, my candidate for an aerodynamic Beetle rebody:

Doesn't seem like a bad idea at all. And those Beetles turned into some sort of coupé-utility are quite cool

Originally Posted by freebeard

[freebeard]

http://www.race-dezert.com/forum/threads/new-vw-bug-body-if-you-havent-seen-this-project-you-probably-should.112008/

Don't cut up old cars! Start with new fiberglass, it will be cheaper in the long run.

Edit:Hersbird — Au Contraré. Anything that keeps it on the road. I hadn't mentioned Type III because they're heavier (but more aerodynamic and with a better ride). I went with the Beetle/Squareback hybrid.

[cajunfj40]

VW Golf/Rabbit pickup is pretty light, for example. Challenges vs. rear engine are attaching appropriate half-shafts to drive the front wheels. If the smart transaxle is narrower than the stock donor car transaxle, you can center the Smart unit and run custom spacers that adapt the Smart transaxle to the Donor half-shafts. There are loads of small, cheap, lightweight FWD cars out there.

If you want something "completely different", try a (Ford Model) T-bucket roadster/pickup. You'll need to fabricate the rear subframe to hold the Smart transaxle/rear suspension, but everything else is available off the shelf. There's also the grand tradition of building it from whatever you can find cheap. Use the cavernous empty space under the hood as a "frunk" and/or to make people scratch their heads when you leave the hood up at a car show and there's nothing under there... Classic homebuilt registration could be easier, too, depending where you live.

You could also do a variant on the old VW-based Trike conversions. Use the Smart transaxle with a suitably sized (say, Honda Goldwing or so) front end. Not the best handling configuration as a tadpole trike, but generally straightforward to design and it registers as a motorcycle, making that end of things possibly a lot less hassle. Along similar lines, there's that XR3 3-wheel delta trike from R Q Riley that uses either a front wheel drive setup, a rear wheel drive setup, or both. They've also got a ton of other plans for lightweight vehicles. Lots more fab work, sure, but you end up with a different/unique vehicle.

You've got a really nice little engine package, have fun putting something neat around it!

[freebeard]

I haven't seen a requirement for it to be street-legal (outside Florida or Hawaii).



The Fad T suggestion is a good one. Here's Kent Fuller's Volksrod T



I've got the original R&C articles somewhere; but PDFs of the plans are at Volksrods.com. I don't link to them, because they're hostile to lurkers, so try q=T-Bucket+Volksrod+PDF.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by freebeard

Most of the sand-rail buggies that I've ever seen were longitudinally-engined, relying on either the air-cooled boxer or the EA827 engine, but I've already seen at least 2 with transverse engines out of a regional derivative of the late-type Opel Ascona and a handful with motorcycle engines. Anyway, even though the electronics can eventually be placed out of harm, I'd still be quite concerned about the reliability of the transmission of a Smart under harsh environmental conditions.