Relocating the engine., Sounds stupid, right? Options

[richee3]

I'm just gonna go ahead and put this on....



Alright, now I'm ready. We all know that our Celicas have terrible weight distribution. Having a cast iron block practically sitting all the way out in front of the axles isn't helping our case any. I'm not saying I want to move the engine to the trunk and have an MR Celica. As a matter of fact, I'm talking about barely moving the engine at all. It wouldn't even be noticeable. But it's well-know that placing your engine lower down and further back helps improve the handling of a car, and our motors weren't placed carefully at all. So I've had this thought in the back of my mind... Can we move ours? I don't have a Celica with a motor in the bay right now, so I can't go look and see how much room I have. I'm not talking huge movement. Just MAYBE an inch lower and an inch further back if there's any room for it. I know some damn good fabricators who are capable of helping me with the mounts. My main question is, can this be done? Maybe extend a hose here, move a wire there? Axles are the biggest issue I see. They would no longer be lined up with the wheel hub, so I'd imagine I would go through CV joints like nobody's business, and I might even have to get a different axle made. What do you guys think? Worth a try or should we lock this thread and ban me now?

[richee3]

Not moving the engine to the back. That's what the MR2 is for. I'm only considering moving it a slight bit- like I said, MAYBE down an inch if there's room and MAYBE back an inch if there's room.

Noberto- I've already got my battery in the trunk. No spare tire though, so that's not helping my case any. There will be a sub in the car after I get it running, but only a 10". I might as well have a pair of socks in the trunk to try to help the balance of the car, because a 10" sub won't do much.

Delusionz- I agree that the Celica handles great. But these poor puny USDM models need all the help they can get. I'm putting a slightly better motor than the 5S under the hood, but I'll still be sub-200 hp. I'm contemplating LSD, but like I said, I'm not going to have loads of power when I'm done. Better handling will make this car faster than the engine I'm dropping in it. Also, the fabricators I'm talking about, one is my uncle and the other is a good friend from high school. So I can get the mounts made for free, assuming there's room in the engine bay to move the motor around.

EKAn- There are a few V6 options that are lighter than a 5S, but I've got the IS 300 for when I want a 6 cylinder. My Celica will be more of a DD/gas mileage car than anything else, but I figure if I can help it out in the corners, why not? For what it's worth though, I've considered swapping in a V6 and the work involved with that would be very similar to attempting to relocate the factory motor mounts since I'd have to have custom mounts made either way.