the 4WD T35 - a fantasy project

[ambivert]

OK, so rational arguments aside, I know it would be expensive, time-consuming, fuel guzzling, hard to control and noisy... but...

What would be the main challenges encountered if trying to build a T3/T4 hybrid - with an engine at the back AND the front ? For starters, I guess that for gearshifting to work properly, both gearboxes (and probably engines) should be identical... And apart from maybe looking fugly, where and how to join the chassis / bodywork? and how to stop it being just a T4 with an extra engine?

[dugcati]

A T3.4 or T25.4 hehehe I like it!


where to start!
I would guess once it's done you would need to get an engineer check on it before you can drive it on the road

You are going to have some fun welding it together and getting it so it doesn't crab down the road

Electrics are going to be a nightmare I would guess

Double batteries for double starter motors?

Big fuel tank needed with double outlets/breather systems and fuel return pipes

If the gearboxes don't drive correctly with each other you would get on end pushing and the other pulling also possibly one engine screaming and the other chugging

If one engine puts out more BHP than the other I would expect the above to happen

I have no idea what/how you would do an interior!

You already mentioned it but gear linkages and throttle cable assemblies are probably going to be a mare

Your going to have twin exhausts - lots of heat under the van and running past the fuel tank

Your gonna have miles and miles of water pipes/radiators!


If your serious about it go for it but expect to come up against the wall EVERY little aspect - I would suggest using some sort of Ford XR4X4 running gear or similar and using that from the engine up front - driving 4 wheel drive from the engine at the back I cant really think of how you would get drive upto the front other than some bastardised syncro implementation


Lastly if you do go for it TAKE LOTS AND LOTS OF PHOTO'S! it will be a proper show attraction if you can pull it off and make it look/go well

[syncrosimon]

There was the twin engined scirocco

[ambivert]

that's cool, reminds me of the twini cooper, I used to be well into my mini's a few years ago, saw one once with an extra lump in the back... apparently it went really well (by which I mean smoothly, not just fast... but it was... fast)

Just had an idea, about the front engine... maybe it would be nicer to use just T25 parts, ie. two back ends of a T25, one turned round the other way, so there's an engine at each end. And - let's admit it - the shape of the front isn't too dissimilar to the back, so it might be relatively 'easy' to hide it all under a standard body.

[dink]

I thought there were new rules, from vosa

twin engined vehicles are a no go now

I might well be wrong, I'm sure I read it somewhere

a cool idea though

cable gearshift would make life in that dept easier