Engine Compartment: donor vehicle was rear ended and pushed into a pickup, bumper was pushed in bowing the radiator and causing some coolent leaks on the radiator but the engine was undamaged.
Some side profile shots to give some idea of the dimension of the engine and its placement over what will be the rear tires.
I may yet fab up rear A-arms but im a bit worried its a bit out of my league. I have moderate mechanical experience as previously posted. On the plus side this build is not limited by time and is not constrained to a capped budget. Id like to keep total cost under $6000 but if it takes an extra year and a few thousand more then so be it.
My inital plan is:
Donor vehicle -$950 (purchased)
Mig Welder- $500
Inital steel alloted budget- $500
Front VW suspension refurbished including disc breaks- $450
This will be around $2,500 and my up front budget is $2,700.
I have an old beat up fiberglass body that will be cleaned up and painted black for the inital build and then eventually ill drop another $1650 or $2400 depending on if i go metal flake or solid color. I also have an old rusted front suspension i can bolt on as a place holder for fabrication reasons.
If you include the final body then that leaves a grand for lights and seats and misc bits. I think i may hijack the stereo and CD player out of the donor because it comes with decent sound system.
Once it is built and prooven to work I hope to pick up 2 backup engines. One will be stripped bare, and built up again, possibly with a supercharger.
Since rear mounted transverse setups seem to be somewhat rare compared to the more traditional build Ill share my interesting find link wise.
http://www.offroadfabnet.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9493He is from new zealand i believe. Making a RWD mid transverse engined rail buggy for racing. He has an impressive youtube collection of videos explaining his build and how to make your own carbon fiber parts and what not. An interesting read.