Fozzy1013

Ok, first of all I hope I am starting this thread in the right place. If not, my apologies in advance. My son bought me a 1991 CRX Si a couple weeks ago. Something I have wanted for many years. It's a little rough and needs some TLC which I love. I was looking at some CRX modification photos online for inspiration and ran across one that looked like a CRX mini pick up which I thought was awesome as well as shedding some poundage from this Heifer! I watched an episode of JLG the other day and discovered something called a "Twini", and it was a sweet concept. Now, for those of you that do not know what a "Twini" is it is a twin engine Mini Cooper S hence the name "Twini". One engine drives the front wheels and one drives the rear making it AWD/4WD. Well Lord have mercy that got my wheels turning!!!! Shed a couple hundred pounds of dead weight and replace it with a couple hundred pounds of power? Lol, what the hell could go wrong? They basically removed the engine, drive axels etc.. from a donor car, then built a rear cradle including motor mounts etc.. and voila. I've seen some CRX's converted to rear drive so I am assuming the same process would work. Now, my questions are.

1. Has anyone here done this, seen or heard of it being done and if so point me in the direction of some information on it?

2. I am thinking 400 AWD hp would be ideal PTWR in this little jewel so with your guys experience would it be cheaper to gouge the B16 for another 92hp or use a different engine/engines?

3. Does anyone know if there is a category for something like this in SCCA or IMSA?

I have done a few swap projects so I am somewhat savoy to it but I am new to the whole Honda thing so any suggestions are appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

stupidhard

that would be a huge project! seems like a neat idea but imo the wheel base is a bit short for such a mod. I know its been done with minis (fairly short base) and I think Suzuki did it with their pikes peak vitara (longer wheel base).

syncing the shift linkage between the two trannies would be difficult. idk maybe not if you use cable shift trannies. custom cabling for the rear trans would be in order, of course Im not too familiar with rwd conversions in crx's. you could do twin b16 with bolt ons and a tune, if you can get 200 hp individually that would achieve your goal of 400 awd hp.

I mean what do you want to achieve with this car? the chassis you have chosen is a high performer in the right hands with the right mods.

I would subscribe and it would be neat to watch it come together, but unless you're chasing pikes peak or the like the cost/benefit ratio would definitly be less than stoic.

-chris

also, the class you would race in I think is open modified or something like that. I looked at class brake down a while back so I could be wrong

hondamark35

there was a guy who did something similar with an MR2. He ran in in the 24hrs of Lemons. I think it was a manual MR2 stock drivetrain (in the back of course) with an auto corolla drivetrain in front (the two engines are similar if not identical.)

I like the idea of a "mini-truck" project, but I feel that would be better suited for a civic hatch which would have a much more usable "bed"

a well built turbo setup could net you the same power as two B16s just without the added weight... or AWD. But it would be much less work. If you have a good, local high-turnover self-service yard you could make the twin-engined build pretty cost effective.

oh, another project you may draw inspiration and info from is the Gemini Project. pretty much the same as what you're talking about.

Fozzy1013

Well fellas honestly the goal behind this is to waist some time, waist some money and have something fairly original to show and race. I am not overly interested in making it a high performance vehicle on a budget I basically just want to do something stupid for fun. :D I have a few other runners that I've already built and it would take a fortune to make this little baby compete with them. As far as trucky space in the rear there will be zero anyway as I will probably use an insulated tonnau to cover the secondary engine bay. I will try and attach a photo to this to give you a better idea of the look I am trying to similarly achieve.
It'll be the second photo. Black with Lime Green trim. I am thinking of doing something in Laguna Seca Blue and Black. I had seen some of the Gemini project. VERY nice and outside the box just the way I like it.