I've looked around on the internets but haven't found any AWD thirdgens that aren't on truck frames. I've been fooling around in the garage for a while and I think I've come up with a way to do it . I'll be uploading pics later today but basically I noticed that the front crossmember/axle assembly from a subaru is almost exactly the same width/height/bolt pattern as the thirdgen one. It has a steering rack under the crossmember so the steering box is out of the way and a subaru engine is much smaller than any SBC so it can sit further up and forward in the car. Right now I'm thinking I'll just keep the stock rear (maybe get one from a 4th gen if I have money) and put 3.90 gears in it to match the front. Let me know what you guys think.

 

Never seen it done, but I wonder if an L-van (Astro/Safari AWD) front sub might fit?

 

^ive read the same on Astro/safari awd on here. I’m interested to see where this heads.

 

Sorry for the bad picture, as you can see they're quite similar in size (the width at the mounting holes is only 1/4" different). The shock towers are also slightly narrower in the thirdgen than the subaru this axle came from but it shouldn't be a big deal (it was only about 2" IIRC). Now I just need to get some coilovers so I can set the ride height and camber and get things mounted up.

 

Interesting project. The transfer case/transaxle has to go somewhere and looking at that k-member, it looks like that would need to live under the engine. Where would you get the room? Also, coilovers are fine for the drag strip (assuming you are using the stock strut towers), but shouldn't they be heavily re-enforced if you intend to do significant street or track driving? I would think that would be even more important with an AWD setup. Good luck and take lots of pictures.

 

Subarus have the front diff inside the transmission, the front edge of the bellhousing sits right on the back edge of the crossmember and the cv axles go straight into the side of the trans. If you look up pictures of subaru transmissions you'll see. I'd never heard that about coilovers before... Are they considered weaker than stock struts?

 

Ive been giving serious thought to this foe many years...would love to bounce thoughts around with some folks. Have you found the awd g-body yet?

 

Here are a few more terrible pictures of the axle sitting in the car, it was this close to fitting but I need to shift the holes on the crossmember by about 1/4" and trim/bend a little bit. Also those rear control arm bushing things are going to need some mounts of some sort. Any thoughts on properly locating the axle? the old one had some tapered pins to do that but I'm not sure how the subaru one was originally located against the frame, or if it even matters.

 

I had considered the subaru components in the past but moved on in thought to trailblazer stuff, the pass through oil pan and diff mounted to the pan, the subaru spindles might work but i saw an uplander in the junkyard and thought those might be a decent choice.

 

Looks like a good application for the GMT360 (Trailblazer, Envoy, etc.) inline 6 with it's pan/axle.

 

The v8 awd uses the same components. ls swapped
awd six speed thirdgen is my dream build

 

Why would u do that to an f-body ?

Shaking my head here.

 

Why wouldn't you want to roll up next to a big tire car on street tires, him thinking no way you could beat him on a dig...and then you're gone

 

If you use the Subaru stuff you'd need the struts right? Since the stock springs are in the K member, are the F-body shock mounts / towers strong enough to take all the pressure / force of movement with the springs of the strut? Just something that came to mind.



I used to see a 80s cutlass supreme that was converted to AWD on Facebook before...he showed some work etc......but it looks like the page was deleted or something.. it looked like a loooot of work though.
I think the same car is on youtube now as AWD cutlass I think those cars use a body on frame vs a Unibody like the F body though?? Might be able to take some notes from that though since I think thats closer to an F body than the subaru?

 

The awd cutlass has a oldsmobile bravada front frame section grafted onto the stock g-body frame. F body's are unibody so that wouldn't work the same.

Are you planning to use the subaru engine and trans? If not get a oilpan and front diff from a trailblazer ss and that will work ls engines would also need custom cv shafts

 

Any updates? I just ordered some parts from rockauto.com to see how they play together. I discovered that the uplander front knuckle that I spotted in the junkyard and figured would be rare as hens teeth is actually used on tons of gm vehicles. I ordered unit bearings from a syclone, 5on4.75 26 spline, but the flange is a few millimeter different. The other idea that was close was corvette rear hubs but they are 30 spline. I just found a 3.42 front diff on marketplace and hopefully will have that next week. Been researching to find a limited slip option for it but struck out so far. I ordered some 14inch vette rotors and found some Chinesium ctsv 6 pot calipers on ebay. Hopefully it will all fit inside a 17inch wheel. I haven't decided what coilovers to run. I could stick with the fbody aftermarket for those, or anything from an impala or monte carlo should fit with a plate on the tower. I'm leaning towards the latter for ride quality. I have a trailblazer oil pan I picked up years ago to play with and now that I have a differential on the way I can start mocking things up and seeing how they play together. Over the years I've been collecting ls7 parts and last winter I assembled a wet sump converted cathedral port afr1390 head and fired it on the stand. And I have a vette tr6060 I've been looking at putting the transfer case on.