ok, now, i know it would take some serious custom fab work, but i think it can be done one of two ways

1)remember the old school AWD Civics? well, there AWD powertrain was purely mechanical, no pumps, just gears and shafts. well, with some custom powertrain items, and a basic design to go on, that could work

2)CRV drivetrain, it uses pumps for it AWD, but still, the design is there, maybe a bit more fabrication to this one, but it's a newer design, and probably a lot easier to find parts for.

anyone who has any knowledge of either of the drivetrains let me know, b/c i am going to start doing a bit more research on this. i've had this idea in the back of my mind for about a year know, and now that i've gone turbo, traction is definately an issue. if anyone has any ideas, don't hesitate. so far this is what i've come up with basically that i will need

-complete rolling chasis from either a CRV or old school AWD civic
-custom machined trailing arms to accept rear axles
-detail diagrams of how the AWD works, included F-R %s and what not
-custom driveshaft
-custom axles
-gears
-tranny work, i.e., new casing, machined to specs

that's basically what i can come up with so far, like i said, i'm taking any and all ideas here, so don't hesitate to shout

 

wow, i never there wer AWD civics. what year did they start and finish? and what model were they, 2-door or 4-door?

 

they were station wagons actually... back in like 1985

 

wow...that's hella old school for sure!!

 

dude i was thinkin the same ****!!
i wanted to make my car AWD, and i was looking into putting on the CRV tranny and mine together somehow, but im goin to automotive school next year so i'll do it there

 

A friend of mine claims that his brother once had an AWD lude...this kid does often talk out of his ***, but I had a couple other people vouch for him..It was known to run high 13's in UT.

One person told me it was a 3rd gen..the other said it was a 5th like mine!!

Im going to talk to this kid this weekend and Ill let you know, for sure.

 

Have you been drinking again?

 

With enough money, anything is possible

 

yeah, almost anything...
sure it could be done, but it would take so much fabrication and lots and lots of pesos. not worth it at all, but a good idea nontheless.

 

i could definitely see this happening, but not on a 5th gen prelude, unless there was some serious Fabrication

now a 3rd gen could definitely do this, motor and tranny wise, we already use a Bseries motor, and the CRV with our motor mounts bolt right in, use that and the tranny from an awd CRV and that should work....in theory

then again in theory anything is possible

if you actually figure out a way to do this, make sure you post it, i would really like to see if it works

 

i knwo that the accord had a auto , awd , and ther tranny should bolt up to a h22/h23/f22 so a 4th gen ahs a change of doin this with min custom work. unsure how the rear axle would work adn the other needed stuff

 

money is the only thing that will hold me back.... most of the stuff either i can fabricate, or a friends of my dad's could if i can't. there is a local place that sells powertrain parts and makes custom part such as driveshafts. to be honest, i think the biggest problem i am going to be looking at is the power distribution. like i said, i need to to a little more research on how the AWD on the CRV works, but i honestly think with time, and lots of fabrication, i can get this to work, maybe not anytime soon, but sometime...

 

So which is it? 3G or 5G? You mean they can't even tell what kind of car he has? Very reliable source you got there...

While I'm not fond of thinking "outside the box"...this one takes the cake, along with a twin turbo setup on a 4 cylinder and the twin charged (supercharge + turbo) ideas. Heck, combine all 3 and have one helluva monster!

Okay, back to more technical terms. There will be a few concerns that will need to be addressed before attempting such a task.

#1. Fist figuring out how everything works. If you have no idea how it works, how are you going to custom fit in on your car?
#2. AWD usually revolves around a center differential that distributes torque between the front and rear axles. Not only is the old school Civic's AWD setup puny...I don't think anything from that setup would be up to task of withstanding even a stock H22's powerband. In other words, it was designed with a miniscule 1.5L powering it...what makes you think it'll handle 150+lbs of torque? Sure, you can replace axles/diffs/driveshafts with custom pieces....but by then, what have you actually kept from the original Civic or CRV AWD drivetrain?

If it's traction you're looking for, try stickier tires. Or else try a boost controller with gear based boost settings.

 

[QUOTE]A friend of mine claims that his brother once had an AWD lude.....It was known to run high 13's in UT.
QUOTE]

where in UT, i havent heard of that car at RMR

 

the persons friend might have meant 4WS, which I think was available in some of the USDM 3rd or 4th Gen Ludes. Or maybe he *thought* he had AWD when it was actually 4WS.

 

No, none of the Accord Type-R's are 4WD. However, some 3g Integra ZXi's (JDM only) were 4WD with a ZC engine, you'd have to import one tho.

 

The Japanese Accord 2.0 VTS had 4wd it was a shaft system as far as I know. I t was auto though...we had a thread about it on PO.com somehwere. http://www.preludeonline.com/showthr...hlight=2.0+vts

 

so then, if i get an accord VTS rolling chasis, then i guess i would have a good start...

 

you are right, i most likely wouldn't use many of the actually CRV or Civic drivetrain components, however, i would need them as a basis for a custom peice

 

i think that the AWD theory would be agreat long term project. very complicated and expensive but probably well worth it. and if u did good development work u could probably end up making tons of dough in th future. i know i would buy it if u sold the whole kit for like 2500 or 3k. know what im sayin front trans drive shafts rear diff and the whole 9. but if u want a lil shorter term project that will help your traction problem then i suggest takin out the motor makin custom mounts and putting it in the back. me and my friend are about to undertake this in an integra. have a good time though.

 

I've seen this topic on another board, and even though it sounds great in theory, it would be near impossible to make work. The old skool civic wagons were indeed AWD, but they were lacking...The car was designed around the puny 1.5l engine. If you could get the driveline to fit/work in a lude, it would be extremely slow unless you could REALLY beef up the entire driveline to handle 2-3x the power it was designed for. Also, the AWD civic's tranny was a 3 speed, and the gearing sucked. Once again, an entire new tranny and driveline would have to be designed to support new gears and the new power. Then there's the length of the driveline. It would be difficult to make something work in a car when the wheelbase is different, unless on a driveshaft where you could shorten it easily. I haven't really looked into a CRV-based drivetrain swap, but I suspect it would be about as hard.

 

Well like I said it was on some auto tranny, and I'm not sure how you would do it at the tranny without faricating a custom tranny...an electronic system would be better I would think...

 

If you where going to do this I would say you would have to use the CRV's because I believe the AWD Civic was a solid read axle. The CRV uses CV Axles if I am not mistaking. Maybe you could use a rear dif off of a subaru or 3000GT or 300ZX or any sporty AWD car because I would think that you could get it to work some how. It would take a lot of custom work and lots of money but I think that if it works it would be well worth it. I have been thinking about this a lot lately since we have had tons of snow.

 

Like I said ...read my post... this kid does talk out of his *** alot..notice how I said claims

I believe it about as much as you do...I won't actually believe until I see it.

ONE person said it was a 3rd gen...ANOTHER person said it was a 5th gen, neither were very reliable sources in my opinion.

My feeling is that it probobly was 4WS...he got it confused w/ AWD. My other guy feeling is it was a 3rd gen..he claims it was years ago and the likleyhood that those mods done on a new car are slim to none.

I will talk to the kid again this weekend and question him a little bit further.

 

hell.... my Lude don't leave the driveway if it snows, i just want the AWD for the added traction off the line.... sure, stickier tires would help, but i don't want to buy new tires every month, i want traction all the time, not just on occasion.