personally, i dont see a reason that this couldnt work. i mean, if you got the money, you can do about anything in this world...
but all those variables asside...
if i was going to seriously attempt this kinda project, and when i say seriously, i mean that once done, i wouldnt be racing it on the streets, it would be kept in the garage, and get whored out to every freakin car parts sponsor in the universe, and taken to every show in the western hemisphere.
ok, so with that said, first thing id do is get a beater car, cause the build is going to take upwards of a year.
after that, i would start with buying my motor, and just giving it a general clean up. since the oem ecu should be able to just function with minimal input from anything else other than the engine sensors and a few select other items, i would either go that route, and make a custom harness, that covered purely the basic needs to physically start up the engine, OR, i would get an aem EMS. ems seems the simplist option imo.
so with the motor bought, and assuming its all up to stock specs, id sit it asside.
i would then order teh transmission, the driveshafts and the axles. id also get the entier brake setup for the rear of the car, as well as the fronts. of course, this would come from the donor vehicle, and ultimately, i think most of it would get scrapped in the end, since new custom parts most likely will need to be fabricated in order to run a rear differential suspension setup and driveline.
so, with all those parts bought, i would literally, tear the car appart. start saving those zip lock bags, cause your gonna need to keep track of every nut, bolt, screw, pin, stud and clip that you take off. i would start inside the car, and work outwards. remove the entire interior. remove the wiring, remove anything that is not welded to the chassis. doors included.
from there, i would start removing all the exterior parts. that being said, the motor should already be out, and either left asside as a "just in case" motor, or sold for cash to pay off bills.
when the car was totally stripped naked like a ferrari in africa, it would be time to start really going at that chassis, and spot welding every single part that can be strenthened. i would even consider welding in some kind of a frame into the car, to support it and prevent it from buckling, when you almost certainly will have to cut into the undercarriage of the car to make a new channel for the drivetrain.
that being said, you might as well split the entire car in half, along the under side, making room for a AWD transmission setup, and rear diff. most liekly, you will be able to get away with having a slightly raised floor pan, to accomodate the big transmission and rear diff, but thats just an estimation.
so once test fitted, and the distance between the motor, and the transmission has been properly measured, so that both will line up perfectly, it is time to weld on your transmission mounts, and probably the new motor mounts youll need to fabricate to align the motor to perfectly mate with the transmission.
when that part is done, and you have already set up a nice strait channel through the underside of the car, to make room for the driveshaft, you can start ordering your new custom or modified driveshaft. as well as that, id get to work on the rear suspension, cause i could see that being a pain. in my mind, what would most likely happen, is the entire rear underside of the car, including the fender wells, and shock towers would need to be totally rebuilt, almost certainly in a similar fashion to the donor vehicle of the suspension parts and tranny parts.
once youve got the suspension all figured out, and made the new trunk floor pan to accomodate the rear diff etc etc, idget the mounts for that all figured out. once thats done, i guess it would be a sensible time to get the front axles figured out. now this is where i personally see a problem -
our engines, j series included, are oriented a certain way, and i have a suspicion that the engine bay, and location of the front wheels may be off, compared to the transmission front wheel output shafts would be.... just a thought...
but providing that went smoothly, you would tentatively have the entire drivetrain figured out. PHEW!
now, after all that, i would literally stick the wheels on, and again, go through the car, and start bracing it for the added stress of being driven from the rear, and not biased totally to the front. bare in mind, these cars are built, wheel placement included, to work best for a FWD system. if you are putting too much power to the rear, the spacing between the front set, and rear set of wheels may be tooo short, making the car pop a wheelie at any more than normal acceleration... again, just a thought.
so, now that your car is free of popping wheelies, and wont twist itself into a mess of steel and aluminum under heavy load, i guess it would be a good time to get some wiring done. simce youve already spent the 2 grand on the aem ems unit and all the stuff youd need, id pretty much just make a totally custom harness, leaving off anything that is not 100% essential.
no detail really needed there, since wiring is wiring, and personally, i think that would be the easiest part of all.
so, now that your chassis drives, and the engine runs and youve custom ordered your custom spring rate coilovers and such, you can start putting stuff back in the car. first off, id check, and double check, that the steering mechanism still operated properly, since you are going to be moving a different ammount of weight on the front than its designed for, and you also need to compensate for the fact that the front wheels will now be getting less power than the rears will. so, that being said, you need to check that your steering isnt gonna be all floppy and loose, or totally stiff, and undriveable.
that being accomplished, id move on to getting the rest of the wiring done. all the lights, locks, gadgets and stuff that you may want to make the car a little more comfortable while driving in and out of your garage, and on and off of your trailer (which i forgot to mention youll most likely need to buy)
so, with wiring done, body back together, and everything working well, id get to work custom fitting the interior back together. if your cars a coupe, should be easy, as youll just run it with no rear seats. if its a sedan - good luck with that.
once thats done, make sure that the seat brackets are getting the seats to an adequate height to be safe, and i guess at that point, get some racing seats.
now, pretty muhc put it all back together, and get about every aftermarket body brace, strut bar, sway bar, and other bar that you can find, since the chassis will react very oddly to being rear wheel driven. as well as that, might as well put in a roll cage, since that may make the car a little stiffer... make it a 10 point cage to be safe.
now that its all done, get it running on just stock power, and start doing some real testing, on a track of course since the car will be so far from street legal, its not even gonna be an option to drive on streets in the United states any more.
once the car is 100% driveable, and wont implode upon taking a turn fast, i guess it could be time to pull out the motor, start on building it, whilst the rest of the car gets paint touched up, some fancy body kit to win all the show judges hearts, and some other cool show stopping gear... you know, like purple velvet jdm style VIP roll cage padding etc etc etc...
once your motor is built for some forced induction, get the rest of the setup done, probably modifying all the brakes again to handle the new weight and new power. replace the stock clutch with an aftermarket one appropriate for the engine power, and also, invest in new custom made driveshafts, axles, transmission gears and synchros, as well as a rear diff, and other goodies.
get some better wheels/tires to put that new power to the ground.
get teh car all setup, and running so it can be put on a dyno and tuned.
make sure you explain to the tuner that its not FWD, and that it is in fact rear biased AWD, so they dont strap you to the wrong dyno... youlll need a dynojet AWD dont forget!
so, with that taken care of, you should be ready to go!
