Some of you may have seen a concept threat of mine, bashed severely for mentioning the possibility of converting a 3rd Generation Maxima to RWD. I've done alot of research, and after lots of stopping/starting at chasing down parts and organising fabrication, I've got a fairly good idea of what needs to be done. Better more, it can be done for roughly $5'000-$10'000 AUD.

Fabricating an engine crossmember is easy and cheap enough, but has nowhere in the chassis to mount to. Where the crossmember would meet the chassis, is currently exactly where the wheel is, either side. Its a catch-22, it can't be half assed. Its either extend the chassis all the way to the front, and get a custom suspension setup, or dont do it at all.

My question, how safe is it to extend the frame to the front. Is it safe to weld something that would be under multiple strains (engine weight off crossmember, play off struts/suspension, etc)?

I'll go have another chat to this new guy thats fabricating my crossmembers, he definately has the skills to do it, but wants me to do as much research as I can before hand, and run it past government standards and his engineer, before attempting any of it.

 

*BUMP*

Suddenly there arent as many experts on this kind of topic on the forum anymore???

 

Only thing I can add is if you know there are gonna be multiple strains on your welds, add bracing to help hold the pieces together.

 

You posted on a Saturday. The experts were at the race track.

Based on my "research" of staring at the engine bay, I don't see why you need to extend frame rails anywhere.
Look at the design of the old 240/260/280Z as well as the somewhat more current S13/S14 chassis.
The steering rack and front control arms attach to the engine subframe, which is tied to the frame rails with two bolts on each side. Said frame rails are about as beefy as the Maxima rails.

See where I'm going with that? (Maybe you should pick up a Sylvia parts car and go to town..........)

 

You have any links to pictures of the underside of these said cars by any chance?
You're saying I could just fabricate a crossmember and bolt/weld it straight in? I can't really see a point strong enough to hold a heavy VG there.... Maybe it can just pin to the current chassis, but I'd rather be safe, than sorry

It's spelt Silvia :P

 

nope. no pics. google has a bazillion though. Download the service manuals and start reading too. tons of information in them.

If you think the frame rails aren't strong enough to mount the engine to, then what do you think the front of the engine crossmember (and thus radiator core support) mounts to?
what about the front suspension on the car? it's alllll tied into the front frame rails.

 

OK, good call it is strong enough.
The crossmember pins underneath the radiator support rail, which is basically another rail in itself. That would mean it sits slightly lower than a crossmember running accross, yeah?

Can you recommend any specific online FSM's of S13 chassis vehicles?

 

the FSM for the S13 SUCKS. look for one for an S14. they're everywhere. under the car is almost identical between S13 and S14. exact same layout, but the parts are all slightly different. S14 is a bit bigger than S13 for the main part.
(hint... browse around this forum for FSM links to maximas. the same sites host other nissan products)

 

based on the few fwd to rwd conversiopns i helped with at a race shop we used a stock frame pan for a 98 grand am (in a 98 grand am) we then welded some braces to it and created a crossmember all tig welded together. im sur eyou could get away with mig just make good welds. on that particular car we went from the stock fwd 4banger and tranny to a turbo 3.8 series 2 engine rwd. it was a drag car as was the other 98 grand am we put a 454 into. did the work for a car dealership that wanted more advertising. i would suggest get good at welding, try it, beat on it with a hammer a bunch of times. if the welds dont crack move forward and make sure when its ready test it in an open area and with help close by.
i found this a while ago and held onto it you might find it helpful. once i get a bigger garage i might try to rwd the max or awd?

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/665715

 

Thanks a million man, good info.

Started and stopped the project a few times now, keep pausing when I find things that arent going to match up.
I'm in the middle of gutting one 3rd gen to get rid of, before stripping my base car. Had a few more obstacles as well, like rebuilding my shed, and I'm going into hospital on the 28th and will be out of action for 3 weeks.

Did you have to do much tunnel and firewall work on that conversion?
It looks like I'm going to need to raise the tunnel the whole way through and open up the firewall a little, unless a 300ZX 5 speed box is tiny, I havent actually seen one, besides pictures.

 

have you done any further research into converting a 3rd to RWD?

 

any updates???