So Who Here Hates Fwd Besides Me???

Well... I tell you what... I have never been a FWD fan EVER.. and the alero being my 2nd and best fwd car i have ever owned.... Even tho i love the car i still HATE and i mean HATE fwd... we get like an inch of snow here a year so that reason to keep a FWD car is irrelevant.... So... that leaves one of 2 options... Conversion to RWD or AWD....Now either way would be arse loads of work....BUT i think id be willing to do it.... So i guess the question is... Is there room for it to be done??Now if i was going to do a RWD setup i would probably use a 4.3 V6 with a 5spd manual. I know lots of custom parts would be involved but oh well... But if i was to do AWD... What engine and trannys will work? so what do you all think?


Jeremy

[FrankNY]

Anything is possible, but since everything would need to be frabricated, the cost would be very high. You should just buy a car that already has what you prefer.

[SilverBullet256]

yeah, dont do an engine swap for everyday driving, its not worth the work time or money, only do an engine swap if you want to have something special like a show car or something like that

[Silentalero]

trust me i know your pain

i went from the alero, then started driving my eclipse which was AWD turbo (96 GSX) and then went to the acura.....the acura has balls but its also auto and fwd again....gawd do i miss my eclipse

[springs fastest alero]

there was a guy that did a rwd alero with a small block. he used an S10 frame under it.
obvioulsy if you wanted a 4.3 manual this would be the easyest way to do it.
easy being used very loosly.
more or less you would be notching the alero body to fit on the s-10 frame
honestly if you were to do a swap of this nature I'd go v-8 becasue fot he more power potential.
there is a guy on ebay that sells these all the time 2wd and 4wd

Like stated before I would suse it as pretty much a show car i already have plans for some interior work.... So this is just one of my ideas for the performance part of it... Infact i did think of using an LS1.... Or an LS6 hehehe


Jeremy

I dwelled over the thought of converating my fwd to a rwd but when I looked underneath the car, I thought relocation the gas tank, replacing the exhaust adding an axle, then making sure that the suspension will hold and on top of that trying to fab mounts for the motor, I pretty much gave up the thought as soon as I dream it up. But if you do make a rwd or awd setup I give up props and all the support you'll need. Cuz that just too much time and money to be spend doing that. You'll definately be my hero if you can pull that off.

[Vtolds]

On SPEED they made a FWD Toyota Paseo RWD in 1 week using a A small Toyota 4 banger from a truck, so anything is possible you see. Moving the Gas tanks is easy all you need is a Baffled Fuel sell in the trunk mounted in the spare tire whole. as far as Suspension you would wanna do somehting like a 4 link so you could use the stock shock placement in the back. All together I think it is a good Idea, unless you really wanna do it on the Alero you own currently you could always go to a junk yard and look for a Alero with a Blown engine. :thumbsup:

The only thing holding you back from doing whatever you want to your car is your wallet..

Also, why the 4.3L V6? That's a big, heavy iron pig, and it'll handle worse with that driving the rear wheels in the snow than what you have now driving the front wheels.. in fact probably even on dry pavement it would handle like ass..

[mike2002]

what did i tell you guys about peoples first posts?? LOL

anyways, ive never owned a rwd car, a 5.9 rwd dodge ram yes. and i dont really see the who-ha about it, but that things a boat with no balls. maybe a rwd car would change my mind.

if you HATE fwd so much, look into a upgraded rear sway bar from pfyc. id will greatly reduce your understeer, may even induce some oversteer. thats what sucks so much about fwd, the understeer (you turn the wheel, but it still wants to go strait) its supposed dramatically change the way your car handles. although you may want some stiffer drop springs and upgraded struts to go with that


its not so much the fwd that bothers me, but the fact that its a automatic. i CANT STAND driving a automatic anymore. ive never driven a stick, but my next car for sure will be (either a 2000 eclipse GT or if i have the $$$ mazda 6s 5door...two awesome cars with 5-speeds available)

An LS-1 would be awesome...my friend has a 95 S-10 that he just dropped an LS-1 into and is now making 394hp to the wheels...it's badass

Wait, why don't we go back to his original argument, FWD is worse in the snow? I don't think so. I drove an rx-7 for two years when I first moved to Denver. I was in the mountains every weekend during the winter, and God, what I wound't have given to have FWD or AWD car. I was all over the place, all of the time. Then I bought my GA, and what a God sent gift to use in the mountains. I never had a problem getting around after that. With a FWD car, if you start to slip sideways, all you have to do is blip the gas pedal and you are going straight again.

[SilverBullet256]

front wheel drive definately has more control in the snow and under bad road conditions, and as far as put an ls1, forget it, just go with a northstar, and to so rear wheel drive on our cars would really be pointless on our cars unless only for show, which like said before is like getting kicked in the wallet, well more like balls, but your wallet will feel the pain, either way, this is a serious project and should not be taken so lightly

[-Alero-]

meh it doesnt matter to me which drive it is, to me i'd die either way ^_^

As a side note i never said FWD is bad in snow... All i said is that where i live i dont get much snow... And when we do get snow no one drives in it anyway. I dont need a car good for snow....But as i said earlier it would pretty much be for show.... Personally the reason why id like to do this so much is because it would be very unique... I love the look of the alero... and i think it would be a bad ass RWD sedan.... I would even settle for AWD if there is an engine and tranny somwhere in GM's lineup that would work.... And seeing as how im not a big GM fan i dunno all the engines and transmissions that they offer.... I really appreciate everyones opinions. As for the fuel tank relocation to the rear inside the spare wheel housing... I would think that the housing would need to be cut out for the rear Differential am i corect??? Anyways Keep your opinions comming... i like hearing them!!!! good or bad!!!!oh and btw who ever said this was my first post.... whatever... Just cuz i dont post much doesnt mean i dont do alot of reading on here...(which i do PLENTY of). This is not some spur of the moment idea. This is an idea that i have given a good thought on for a while.... There would be pretty much two things holding me back from doing this.... one being the lack of a vehicle while the work is in progress two is of course the wallet.... BUT that still doesnt mean that it WONT happen... If i happen to get another ride and pay this one off... Im pretty sure that slow but steady work will start happenning.


Jeremy

[springs fastest alero]

where does he say rwd is better for snow?
all I see in the post is that they only get an inch of snow there a year so keeping a fwd for the snow is irrelevant.

[springs fastest alero]

as for awd options besides the s-10 layout... the caddy sts comes optioned awd now, pontiac aztek has the 3400 with a 4t65-e optioned awd so if you wanted to stay 3400 that would be one way of doing it
the track is 2" wider but bolt pattarn on the wheels is the same. not sure if its offset or suspension arms that make the wider track.
looking at how it bolts in it prolly wouldnt take a ton to get it under the alero.
gas tank relocation or mods and exhaust relocation since the drive shaft would run where the exhaust is stock

Is that AWD system for the STS and the AZTEK a part Time AWD and sends torque to the rear when you need it??? And if it is o you think there would be a way to be able to switch it to mostly rear wheels driven and let the fronts kick in when it needs to? And then be able to switch it back and forth.... That would be nice if i didnt have to screw with new mounts....Just as long as that trany can take but loads of power.. cuz i want alot of it!!!!



Jeremy

[-Alero-]

um im pretty sure you would need some sort of sensor device for the fwd to be activated when "needed" and switchign back to forth would have to be a manual type of deal. as for the tranny you'd definatly have to get a completly new tranny. im dont know much about manual trannys for the 3.4

[mike2002]

within everyone's first posts there "what kind of engine can i swap in" "how do i do RWD" "im going to custom this or that...that no one's ever done" and it never really goes anywhere past that. reason being, if you want rwd, buy a rwd car. its just about impossible to turn a alero into rwd. there's no room for it, no driveshaft tunnel, no room for a differental. you'd have to make the tunnel, custom console and seats, custom floorboard, blah blah. the only option is to put it on a different frame, then its possible, but with all the fabrication needed, it would make since to just buy that car with rwd to begin with, instead of spending 40k+. im not making this personal or anything, just stating the obvious. i guess its fun to daydream or brainstorm.

i just think your better off making the car handle more like a rwd car, because the chances of a rwd conversion are 246239847239847239487 to 1