Living in Ohio, I often find it impossible to drive any of my cars in the winter. I wonder how hard it would be to fab up an AWD system? When I was in highschool in the mid 90's I had a geo storm gsi and the guys in the storm owners club were doing it... something about a second transmission? I dunno... can't remember that far back... could be fun. - Nate

 

Im sure with enough time, effort and money someone could do it. No one wants to drive their camaro during the winter though.

 

Do a search. It's been discussed before. Easiest way would be to retro-fit one from another car, but then why not just drive that car? An all weather camaro sounds nice in theory until you look and see what the salt damage does to it since you drove it in the winter. I live in Cleveland. I know.

Anyways, there's a good possibility you'd have to alter the entire underbody of the car. I don't know how the strut towers would play into this either.

If you have the money to be able to afford to do this, then you have the money for another car to drive in the winter even if its a beater.

Mathius

 

thanks for the good replies guys. Maybe someone could find an old subaru or something. I've seen them rusted out b4. Anyway, yeah my crown vic was given to me by my father in law. He's from cleveland too. Rusted all to hell. I cover it up in the winter. Still, it would be cool as hell to have an awd camaro.

 

My name states my reason for why this should never be attempted.

Not to mention it would KILL our 40 odd degrees of steering angle we have now, which if you have tried drifting or getting sideways you'll know you cant go far at all.

Otherwise buy a cheap dsm and after every winter blow it up, ridding the world of another POS...HAHAHA.

No rant, just hyper right now.

NEXT!!!

 

dsm?

 

Diamond Star Motors

its like eclipses, talons, lasers, gallants, and correct me if im wrong wasn't the sebring too?

I'm also pretty sure that in the end chrysler sold out and thats how mitsubishi got into selling cars in America.

that concludes my lesson in lesser-know automotive history.

 

thanks!

 

This has been discussed a few times before. Try searching it.

 

I do.....All year round, regardless of weather.

Just that some weather requires more (or less!) driver input, than other weather.

But yeah.....This (an AWD 3rd gen) has been discussed before. Do a on the subject & you'll find the thread.

 

you would have to remove and rebuild the entire front frame, the axles would have to travel right through the frame rail, then the spindles would be in the way, so you would also have to fab a complete new front suspension.

It would be a very long very expensive job, especially if you don't already have all the tool and know-how to do it yourself and have to pay some one to try.

 

Or you chop the front off a typhoon or syclone and go from there.

 

No offense, but Texas winters are quite mild in comparison to up here in the Chicago area. Unless you aren't a Texas native, in which case I will just shut my mouth.

A good car for winter beaters are taurus/sables because they are cheap, mass produced so parts are in the junk yard and fairly large so no need to fear lil 4 cyl cars because they bounch right off of you.

 

 

if you cared about your car you would not expose your car to road salt.
Ive always had 2 cars since i was 16. But i also have intense winters (4-5 months long) i never considered driving any thing in the winter that i did not consider to be a disposible vehicle.

But if you have the time/ money it should be a blast to drive. Just not my cup a tea.

 

i've thought about that idea. amazing traction, all weather abilities, the unique factor. its similar to converting a camaro to front wheel drive, try thinking of ways to do that and then once you have that figured out in your head try and figure out the awd part.

 

Simple ( ) really.....

Drop a 3rd gen body on a AWD S10/S15 & cut the 3rd gen floor to fit & sit right.

Not much different than the lifted 4x4 3rd gens we've seen built.

 

They made an AWD s10? Or do you mean like a bravado or blazer platform?

Mathius

 

Syclone.....Typhoon....

 

What about using the front subframe from a GMC Safari van.

 

ok using the AWD platform from a dsm wouldn't help because they are setup on a transverse setup, what you want is a longitude mount like in a subaru or a skyline. The S10 came in 4WD but there was a safari that was AWD and it didn't have the extra shifter. In my honest opinion its not worth it to go AWD on these cars even if you have to drive on snow. I like AWD but RWD handles better in my opinion and is more controlable in slippery situations where AWD is scary but doesn't happen as much.

 

definitely think about making an entire k member to make it work.

 

awd only helps take off and get outa the driveway if you dont shovel(in case of the second one its not gona help you anyway since the cars are so low to the ground), dosnt do crap on helping you stop and tbh the only times ive ever had problems(i live in the general area of cleveland also) is when stopping when the extra weight of the awd hurts you. well and when i dint feel like shoveling but thats just me being lazy so i bought a truck =/

 

awd helps braking and cornering. cornering because the power is evenly distributed to all the wheels makes slippage less of a problem.
braking is better because of downshifting. downshifting slows you down. the front wheels doing a lot of work downshifting (keep in mind about 70% of a car's weight is on the front under hard braking) that rear wheel drive doesn't do. there's a reason WRC cars are all wheel drive.

 

eh thats debatable i think the suspension and braking systems have much more to do with that. your tires only have 100% traction devided between acceleration,deceleration, and turning. this traction comes from the tire contact patch and is maximized by optimizing the suspension to give the most contact patch during the conditions the vehicle will see the most. braking system comes into play when you arnt overpowering the wheels when correctly braking, you go as big as what the tires can handle, downshifting to slow you down is going to be exactly the same as stepping on the brakes except its gona wear your clutch more instead of your brake pads(which imo ill take the brake pads anyday since they are easyer to change). theres nothing magical about awd that allows it to handle better or brake better then another platform its about optimization. a properly setup nissan 240sx will out handle any set up awd vehicle simply due to chassis and suspension, that car was built for handling and is rwd. also wrc cars arnt awd for the reasons you say but for the reasons i say, they are on dirt and mud most of the time and are trying to max accelleration which is what awd excels at, also the awd benefit has the benefit of little to no understeer/oversteer so when all four wheels are spinning flying around a dirt corner sideways it helps pull through the turn like and fwd car will, and on the little road they have the rwd portion helps push the car through the corner to try and prevent understeer

 

Miata is better than 240 but still rwd either way. AWD tend to have understeering issues that plague FWD but easily over come by an adjustable transfer case and 30/70 power distribution.

 

sorry, when i said that about awd cars, i was refering to lower traction, off-road conditions. for on road, good traction conditions rwd is best. like you said, wrc cars are awd for your reasons. maybe my explanation is wrong, but from the awd cars i've seen they all have impressive stopping distances.

 

or you can build one of these :P lol

 

Well.....It is still, more or less, AWD! Click the transfer case into High Range & you've pretty much got AWD.

I've actually seen several of those. To me, something like that is not real uncommon to see. :P

 

A few years ago over hear in Dubai a budy of mine converted a FWD Northstar Cadillac to RWD and used to smoke the rich in there ferraris.

 

that thing looks f-ing dangerous. could you imagine trying to see the road? the seats are already low enough on my car where i can hardly see. gnarly

 

who needs to see the road just drive over them lol

 

But seriously... This is a sports car, not inteded for the snow (does pretty crummy in the rain too) - if the snow is THAT big of an issue I bet you can find a beater 4x4 truck to get you around in the winter for about a grand.. That would be WAY less than it would cost to attempt an AWD 3rd Gen! Not to mention all the wear, tear, salt and grime you'd be saving your prized Camaro...

 

i think this is more intended for the brainstorming of what it would take to build an awd camaro not really about what you would use it for. but i have to agree, a winter beater is a must with a camaro. if i had an awd camaro i would take it on some gravel roads and crap and do plenty of fun ****. and sandy areas. and pretty much low traction places. you know, areas average camaros are afraid of.

 

i did for years. every thursday during winter all the ski equipment went on top and off to the mountains, snow covered mountains, we went.
car handles well and i just put chains on half way up.
but i would not want a 4 wheel drive camaro. where would you put the front diff? car would have to be raised up and that would look like crap.

 

I live in Cleveland as well. But.. i wouldn't mind lowing thorough snow piles with a Camaro or a Bird.


Wait... epiphany.. since i plow snow around here, why not plow snow in a camaro? man that could be great... haha

 

this would take away any amount of fun you would have driving a camaro.

I'm driving an impreza right now, and my old camaro was WAY more fun to drive. RWD FTW.

if you want AWD, go buy a subaru or something and keep the camaro under wraps during the winter. Thats what I'll be doing once I put aside enough cash for a decent camaro.

 

Buy a Jeep

 

i do it all the time! in florida at school and last year in the snow in maryland!

 

Mitsubishi started selling the Montero (Raider) to Chrysler @ 1980. In 1982, Mitsubishi opened up 60 dealers in the U.S. and started selling a small lineup. Mitsubishi now has about 633 dealers here.

At one point, Chrysler did own 1/3 of Mitsubishi, but a few years ago, The Bank of Tokyo bought back that 1/3 back.

And yeah, the Sebring was built on the Eclipse line in Normal, IL.

 

i dont think he is talking about a 4x4 camaro! a AWD camaro would dominate!! if you have dout do so home work befor you shoot your mouth off. back in the 80's in the europe the FIA had a class for two door sedans (road race) and the audi quatro V8 cars KILLED!!!!!! turboed 800-1000hp v8's, AWD, acceleration out of a corner up through the gears was unparralled in that time. they won EVERY race for 6-7years! to slow them down they had the teams add weight (i think 100#) every time they won a race. WORNG! all the extra weight did was give them more traction. every year the rule stated AWD cars started the season 250# more than the year before until after wining every championship for a decade the FIA killed the class. so, AWD camaro? I WOULD BUILD ONE IN A MINUTE! but hey, thats just my opinion. my bad...... those were hairdryed 6 bangers. you tube AUDI 90 IMSA GTO. watch anything about racing audi's in the 80's and you'll start to get it.......the FIA V8 audi quattro's raced in europe in the 90's

 

Build one then

Once you figure out how to fit a differential under the oilpan without building the monster truck-camaro you can talk about how awesome AWD or 4x4 really is

Until then, its wasted breath on a project noone has tried or will try in the near future

Most import AWD/4WD cars used a FWD transverse axle which solves the front wheel drive aspect and use a simple single output to power the rear differential

 

it would'nt be that hard guys. AWD rods have been poping up for 20 years. give me 6 months, 100 grand, and a nascar fab shop. then find one junk 3rd gen, a old bravado and a dry sump set up. and maybe a few odds and ends. hahaha

 

What isn't made easier when handed a shitload of time and money?