carfreak85 Posted December 29, 2004 Share Posted December 29, 2004 Not sure if this is the appropriate forum. I was wondering if those folks who have run their cars without the front axles could tell me about the handling of their cars. Is there a lot of drag in the system? What is the handling balance? Economy improved or worsened? How much of a beating can the rear CVs take? Overall I want to know your thoughts on the car after the swap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sportsterbrat Posted December 29, 2004 Share Posted December 29, 2004 My rt front axles is clicking like crazy I might be able to tell you in a week or so after it flies south! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSubaruJunkie Posted December 29, 2004 Share Posted December 29, 2004 Ive driven in RWD alot. It changes the characteristics of the car alittle, you can definatly tell its not FWD anymore. Ive also been forced to drive from Redding California to Albany Oregon in RWD and also from Medford Oregon to Sacramento California in RWD and I noticed an increase in my MPG. -Brian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carfreak85 Posted December 29, 2004 Author Share Posted December 29, 2004 Hmmm, I wonder how this would feel in the turbo wagon. I do have a set of 13x6" enkeis that match the set on my car and could fit a wider tire on the back... I wonder... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
archemitis Posted December 29, 2004 Share Posted December 29, 2004 its fun, i ran alot of the summer in my hatch, in rear wheel drive. with the ea82 mpfi it was still underpowered, so the only time it got noticable, was in the rain. spun a full circle once tryin to get around a corner fast. theres not much weight back there, which equals not much traction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caboobaroo Posted December 29, 2004 Share Posted December 29, 2004 '78 Brat, JDM high compression FE motor, RWD.....makes some badass burnouts I say! With it lowered, it would posi the rear like crazy and would like to drift going in a straight line. Got some great looks from a couple guys in a gen 2 Camaro when I came down the road sideways past them:D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MorganM Posted December 29, 2004 Share Posted December 29, 2004 the only time it got noticable, was in the rain. and in the gravel! it felt kinda asshappy there on that gravel road Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSubaruJunkie Posted December 29, 2004 Share Posted December 29, 2004 My Brat in RWD was ALOT of fun in the rain. Expecially taking on-ramps at 40mph A few i was able to merge onto the freeway completly sideways. -Brian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MSSLGECKO Posted December 29, 2004 Share Posted December 29, 2004 . . . I noticed an increase in my MPG. Did I hear you correctly? Was it a substantial increase in MPG (got any numbers?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
archemitis Posted December 29, 2004 Share Posted December 29, 2004 i noticed no difference in mileage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calebz Posted December 29, 2004 Share Posted December 29, 2004 I felt kinda asshappy Too much information Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MorganM Posted December 29, 2004 Share Posted December 29, 2004 Too much information eeek.... bad typo IT... IT was asshappy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSubaruJunkie Posted December 29, 2004 Share Posted December 29, 2004 Dont have figures, but i averaged 28mpg and i kid you not. Almost as good as the 40mpg I got when i followed Jared from Oregon to Cali (tail gated and made excellent milage). -Brian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ballitch Posted December 29, 2004 Share Posted December 29, 2004 you probably wont notice any improvement in gas mileage in just RWD because your right foot is always down, lol. oh, and just remember, if your car is N/A, the rear end will more than likely be okay, if it's turbo, then your going to have trouble, remember the front takes half the power, the rear takes half the power, with that set-up both halves are happy, take one half out of the equation and something might get towe-up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSubaruJunkie Posted December 30, 2004 Share Posted December 30, 2004 Wrong. Turbo RWD will have no ill effects. Unless your car is FT4WD, then you'd have to lock the center diff. I wouldnt recomend that. If your turbo has a FWD/4WD selector, you should be just fine in RWD. I noticed an increase in MPG. Like i said, it went up to 28mpg from around 20-22mpg. That was in the brat. -Brian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carfreak85 Posted December 30, 2004 Author Share Posted December 30, 2004 This sounds like a spring project! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MilesFox Posted December 30, 2004 Share Posted December 30, 2004 yo, running in rwd makes the steering light and easy! no torque steer, drive with your pinky Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MSSLGECKO Posted December 30, 2004 Share Posted December 30, 2004 Anyone consider spinning the wheels of a RWD RX (or RX sedan) on an autocross course? That sounds like it would be pretty cool. Might want to give the 'ol turbo a little more power. . . Maybe use a dif. transm. w/out the center locking dif.? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subarutex Posted December 30, 2004 Share Posted December 30, 2004 88RXsedan blew up his center diff lock driving it in rwd I'm pretty sure. I wouldn't do that to a perfectly good RX trans... My buddy dan just did a auto -> manual swap in his turbo wagon. We swapped in a pushbutton 4x4 5spd from an 85 turbo wagon. The car was amazingly hard to drive and not light up the front tires in FWD mode. (upped boost, IC, exhaust done to wagon). Running in 4x4 made the car bind, and was generally a hassle unless travelling straight. We took out one of the front axles, and put in a stub. Ran it in4x4 with just the rear wheels getting power. FUN!!! There is something very unnatural about seeing an EA82 wagon sideways around corners. However, on launchs, wheel hop was horrible in the back. 3 weeks later, spontaneously, the tranny bound up. We couldn't even push the car, it would bind so bad. Last sunday we swapped in a FT4wd 5spd w/ difflock from XSNRG (thanks Mark!). Car feels much better to have all 4 running. In short... If you do the RWD conversion, I would strongly reccomend using a manual selecting S/R or D/R trans. I don't think the "locking" mechanisms can take the abuse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mudduck Posted December 30, 2004 Share Posted December 30, 2004 how did you got rwd? just pull the front axles and engage the t-case? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
archemitis Posted December 31, 2004 Share Posted December 31, 2004 drove that same hatch alot today, but with a bigass motor. it has no hookup compared to frontwheeldrive. i need some sandbags, or some front axles. all you do is pull ONE or both front axle and engage 4x, then you are rear wheel drive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nkx Posted January 1, 2005 Share Posted January 1, 2005 stupid question: why would you have to engage the difflock on a FT4WD? i thought torque was split 50/50 at all times with that tranny. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calebz Posted January 1, 2005 Share Posted January 1, 2005 stupid question: why would you have to engage the difflock on a FT4WD? i thought torque was split 50/50 at all times with that tranny. open center diff.. It sends all the power to wherever there is the least traction.. which if you have no front axles, would be the front. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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