First of all I would like to say hello to everyone here, I just have a few questions for now. I am looking to do a Corvette\Beretta Hybrid the only concern I have is the wheel base center to center is 3.5 inches to long for my. Now for the question is it possible to shorten to torque tube and housing by 3.5 inches? Without having any adverse effects on the driveline? I really want to pull this off I know it is going to take a lot of fabrication and that stuff (I am not worried about that) Thanks for any help you can offer..

 

Wow, you sure about that? Thats a ton of work and money for a Baretta. I would do a Reatta if you want something unusual! Either way good luck, I will let the other guys chip in about shortening the tube and shaft. It seems pretty straight forward though.

 

yes the tube can be shortened without any issues

 

Yeah didn't Civette shorten his tube/shaft.

 

Yeah I want to do a Beretta, It has not been done yet and I would like to do something different. As far as doing a Reatta it is shorter than the Beretta so I would have to further shorten the torque Tube, and it has less interior room so I could very well end up sitting in the trunk to drive it once its done.. Straight forward I doubt that. It is going to be a lot of fabrication to do this. plus I will have to roll all four corners out about 1" to 1.5" to match the the track width of the corvette chassis. It is going to be a fun and interesting project. I am just trying to gather information now. I will not be starting this project until winter is here. Because of college and work I will not have time right now to do anything and I need my V6 for the trips back and forth to school.

Jay_LT4 Thanks for the info on the Torque tube.. that is good to hear that was one thing I was worried about when it came to this swap so again thanks have a good one..

 

as far as the civette go's I don't know I read that whole post and did not see anything about him shorting the tube. not to say he didn't but I did not see it.. thanks though

 

http://www.beretta.net/board/ib3/iko...f=9;t=261;st=0

Heres Norm's swap on Bnet...

 

It's been done before.
https://ls1tech.com/forums/showthrea...hlight=beretta

 

From what I understand Norm scraped his I was looking a corvette chassis when I thought I should see if anyone had done it and I found his but after 23 or 24 pages he said he was gonna scrap the car all together. and he sold all the corvette parts.

 

Unless I am wrong I have not seen the finished car with the car actually bolted\welded to the corvette chassis, just the body sitting on it. I mean if I am wrong that is sweet because I want to see how it came out, so if there is a link that I am missing let me know.

Thanks
Jason

 

Insane ammount of work! Good luck with it, that will be one hell of a sleeper.

 

I'm not sure I can explain this so it will make sense, but I'll give it a go.
In the Corvette chassis, the engine sits almost behind the centre line of the front wheels. Unless you wish to set the engine rearward a large amount in the Beretta, you may not need to shorten the torque tube. Of course, if your intention is to swap in the 'Vette's front suspension as is, you may not have any choice.
I would suggest you modify the 'Vette's front cross member to allow the engine to sit 3.5 inches further forward. This way you wouldn't have to mess with the torque tube and you wouldn't have to move the fire wall as far rearward.

Ken

 

You'll have to cut the whole thing. I was going to sugest you to play with the engine supports, but 3 or more inches is too much.

My best wishes with it. Hope you make it!

 

I have been looking into moving the engine forward the amount I need so that I will not have to shorten the Torque Tube. I am going to research this idea, I have plenty of time before I start this and I want to have it all planed out before I go cutting the car up. I don't want to just do this on a whim and not ever get it finished because I didn't look into it enough. also yes I would like to keep the corvette front suspension the way it is, but I need to do coil overs to bring the chassis a little lower to the ground because, other wise it is gonna look like a truck. I don't want that. I will update when I have more information..


Thanks everyone,
Jason

I am going to make it happen one way or the other and its going to be done right..

 

I've cut 4 different torque tubes before. 1 for a 66 Corba (shortened 2 feet) one 32 3 window coupe (shortened 3-6" i don't remember) and 2 57 Chevy's (made 11" longer). I can tell you where to go to get it done but your looking at 600-800 to shorten both and balance the drive shaft if your biskets are good if not I don't remember what they cost.

-R^3

 

Oooo, a last-generation Buick Riviera with an LS would be sweet...

Sorry, that's not constructive in any way at all, I know.

 

yeah Shortening the the torque tube is not a bad Idea but I want the engine in the engine bay so I am going to have to move the mounts some otherwise the engine will be farther under the the window than an F-Body. maybe a combo of shortening the tube a little bit and moving the mounts a little bit..

 

If your going for a road racing set up you will have a better handling car with the motor as far back as passable. Getting the motor closer to you means that the weight of the motor will generate less centrifugal force and you'll be able to control your cross weight better making the car grip better going into the corner. Your going to end up doing the frame why not make a few small mods to the body and gain a some more performance out of it. The C6's went for a longer wheel base and moved the motor back further than the C5's to better control cross weight for entering corners.

The cheapest way would be to swap the trans axle for a traditional differential. That's what we're doing for our C5/C6 to A body frame. Except I'm building an adapter to fit the corvette diff and put a traditional yoke on the front so your not our hunting down a Viper Dana 44.

-Russell

 

Ahhhh...the Corvetta. Interesting. Good luck!

 

Alright so your saying not to move the engine. So how hard is it going to be to keep the dash up in the window like its suppose to be, and keep the room in the floorboard for the peddles and crap. that is about the only thing I am having a hard time coming to terms with, thats why I thought about moving the engine froward some so I would not have to lose so much of the firewall. I'm not sure about this but even the LS6 should be lighter than the 3.1L V6 (Cast iron block) and trans axle that was forward of the wheels so even if I move the engine forward a little bit there wont be nearly as much weight forward of the wheels (compared to now). I am not making any final decisions right now anyway so we will see how things go when I start cutting and fitting everything together If I can do it without moving the engine then I will. thanks for the info and I will be sure to keep all of this in mind. anyone know of a good place to get good building materials for frame work.. thanks..

Jason~