I'm just BSing here but I'm about eye deep into minitrucks and like the idea of a LS1 minitruck but minitrucks are usually equipped with rubberbands for tires as my Toyota (92) is. In order for a LS1 too hook with my 215/35YR18s I would need AWD but if I used a truck drivetrain I wouldn't be able to get the front end back down to where it is now (on the ground). But then I got to thinking..... Porsche started making AWD cars in 86 (I think) and I know of at least 1 LS1 Porsche swap (RWD), why not put the LS1 in the rear and use a lengthened Porsche AWD drivetrain? It would be stout enough to handle a stock LS1 as Porsche engines are pretty stout and if you know 92 Toyota pickups, you know that they have a really fat *** that would surely be large enough to fit a LS1. Like I said I'm just BSing but I would like some input anyway, and fabrication isn't a huge detail because what's been done to the truck as it sits now was done by myself and by friends when I wasn't capable of handling it on my own.

 

Why not use mini-tubs and ladder bars, and put 315/30/18s under your truck instead?

Why not start with a conventional 4WD pickup and use an LS1 with a fulltime AWD transfer case from a Bravada/Astro/Syclone? you can lower a 4WD Toyota just like the 2WD because it has torsion bars too.

Why not use a complete Supra or C4 Corvette rear suspension to maximize the hook of a small tire?

It sounds like you're not really aware of the costs involved with a project like you're talking about. A nice used 4x4 Toyota SR5, and an LS1, and a transfer case would cost considerably less than just the donor parts from an AWD Porsche. Hell, a Porsche G50/50 trans ALONE will set you back nearly $8000.

 

I already said why I don't want to use typical 4wd from a truck, and a Supra or Corvette swap wouldn't be THAT much easier, the hardest parts of the rear engine swap would be working out the front suspension because it wouldn't be anything that currently exists and adapting the LS1 to the Porsche transaxle.

 

I've seen 4WD Toyotas with the frame on the ground. I think you vastly underestimate how low they will go.

Getting back to the Porsche stuff, I'll be assuming for the sake of the argument that you'd be using a early 90s 993 Carrera 4 chassis as a donor. This would be easier to get than a 993 Turbo or any 996 chassis and much cheaper (if ~$10,000 for donor parts is cheap).

A Porsche 993 has a strut front suspension like this:



Note that you'll have to come up with a place to secure the upper strut mounts, something to bolt the cradle to, and then figure out how to maintain steering geometry at whatever ride height you set it to.

Next up, lets look at the rear suspension...

Here, you'll pretty much want to cut the frame off behind the cab and start over from scratch. You'll basically need to mirror the mounting schema of the front suspension, although the 993 has an oddball skewed lower control arm mount in the rear that's a leftover from the early swingarm cars.

In all honesty, getting the LS1 bolted to the porsche tranny is by far the easiest part. just order a SBC adapter ring from Rod Simpson, Renegade Hybrids, or Kennedy and follow the same steps you'd use when adapting any LS1 to an old SBC trans setup.

One good thing is the track width on a 993 is about 54.25" in the front and 54" in the rear, versus the Toyota's 53.9" on front and rear. This means you won't need stretched/shortened control arms or goofy offset wheels.

The length difference may be another story altogether, since the truck has a 14" longer wheelbase (assuming its a shortbed, standard cab). Plan on driveshaft stretching there.

The parts are all readily available on Ebay, but like I said plan on having about $10k in a complete suspension, differentials, brakes, and a trans. Budget a couple of extra grand for the later 6 speed versus the earlier 5 speed. Then you'll need a $3,000 LS1 with harness and PCM, and figure $1,000 for the motor/trans adapter by the time you buy all the crap that goes with it and a clutch.

Its original, and its the equivalent of using a howitzer to kill a housefly, but it would certainly cure your traction woes.

 

993 c4s have a toqe tube thats gonna be a bitch to strech. suspension setup would be a nite mare mine as well strip a 911 and set a truck body on top

 

I have seen slammed 4wd Toyota pickups and I don't like the extreme angle of the cv axles. As for the Porsche I was actually thinking even earlier when they used the exposed shaft, and the suspension would be custom without struts and tubular upper and lower control arms, most likely Vette hub carriers and possibly truck cv joints adapted to Vette carriers for the front (not sure about that).

 

Put a bravada AWD tcase behind a built 4L80E.

You will need an offset front differential and use a jackshaft and hanger bearing to glean equal length half shafts...

Honestly try to graft the front spindles from a FWD/AWD (dont matter) car on there...

Use the porsche front diff but push it over to the pass side using a shorter pass CV and a solid shaft to cross over under the oil pan like I said before...

Just look at a dodge magnum AWD...

 

If your concern is traction, why not use a C5 vette rear half and do away with the torque-tube. You could mount your LS1 mid-engine and bolt it directly to the vette transaxle. There you go... All the traction you want, no AWD BS, and a lot cheaper. Plus, how many mid engine trucks have you seen? I considered this for my project. Good luck with whatever you do.

 

iirc all the early c4s used torque tubes it wasnt untill the 996 c4 that it had just a drive shaft

 

Using the Vette transaxle without the torque tube would put the engine in my lap, lol. It's a long setup, there's a guy building a LS1 Corvair that way.
If I were to forget the AWD idea I would just use the RWD Porsche transaxle with the engine in the rear still since I know there's room.

 

an audi trans and make it mid engine
should be the same pattern as a porsche trans, id look into like a s4 transmission or a biturbo a6

 

Sadly, I don't believe there is enough room to fit the engine in the middle behind the bed without cutting into the head of the bed or stretching it. The main thing that got me thinking about this is the big *** that the truck has.

 

it cant be that far off. Porsce axles are not a straight shot to the wheels
boxsters come forward from the trans and 911s go back towards tha back.
Now a carrera4 trans with a custom drive shaft to a factory 92 toy front 4x4 axle or if you can use a solid axle maybe get creative and use a rear gmquadra steer axle for the front so you have center loading front axle