# RWD swap



## chevrasaki (May 1, 2015)

MCcruze78 said:


> I've been looking into some serious future mods for my cruze, but I've always wanted to end my car doing the most expensive mod possible to the car, a rear wheel drive conversion! Definitely not going to be attempting this one for a good while but I also have not heard of it attempted before. If anyone has looked into this please let me know what you've seen.


The best and easiest way to do that would be to buy a Toyota 86 and replace the body panels with Cruze body panels.


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## MCcruze78 (Jul 31, 2017)

that would be a cool idea if I had a scrapped cruze but I've already put 10k into it. Would be a waste. At the same time I would just want the 86 to mess around with anyways lol


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## chevrasaki (May 1, 2015)

MCcruze78 said:


> that would be a cool idea if I had a scrapped cruze but I've already put 10k into it. Would be a waste. At the same time I would just want the 86 to mess around with anyways lol


You can pick up a 2006 MX-5 pretty cheap that might be a better investment moving forward?

The cruze just doesn't give you a whole lot of return for investment when it comes to mods. Really beyond a tune and bolt ons, there's not much more room before you get into diminishing returns.


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## MP81 (Jul 20, 2015)

There were two or three Cobalts that were successfully converted to RWD. One was a full tube-frame car, the other kept most of the structure intact. 

I hope you understand the sheer level of work that is required...

I don't believe the first car was ever finished, but the second one, called the "Gobalt" was.

GM EFI Magazine


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## Snipesy (Dec 7, 2015)

You'd need (well.. should) to turn the engine the right way. Which... I doubt it would fit without cutting into the firewall and doing a lot of rerouting of exhaust, intake, everything.

You'd also need to make room for the rear differential, which I'm not sure how much cutting your need to do. A lot. Probably enough that I would start calling the integrity of the car into question. An AWD conversion may be easier since the rear differential can be small.



An alternative mod would be to replace the drive with a giant alternator. Then all you would need to do is run wires to all 4 wheels and install motors. You could even keep the front wheels as is and just run the rear on electric. If you did it right you should also get a lot more power too.


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## MCcruze78 (Jul 31, 2017)

I've already realized the distance you'd have to go to complete this. That's why I was saying it's without a doubt the most expensive mod you could do to the car. I've thought about AWD too wich might even be better in the long run but I've just been curious to see if it's been done. I've thought about harvesting the new chevy super sport chassis and shortening it. It would handle a lot more power to the rear (if it was doable) and would be a lot better than electric motors to run the wheels. I'm not too familiar with that kind of work so I might stay clear of that plus I wouldn't want to rely on that. But for the time being ill just be doing research until I have money to throw into this crazy idea


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

Nobody does it for the same reason nobody has swapped the 2.0T from the Verano: it doesn't make financial sense. You could sell your Cruze and buy a comparable mileage 2.0T car that is significantly faster stock. Same concept with RWD. The only reason anyone ever does something like this is novelty, and to be difference. To say that you have one of X number of cars that are like it, or to say you're the only one who has done something in particular. One guy even insisted endlessly that he'd swap a 5.3L V8 into the Cruze (transverse). It never happened. I told him it would never happen, and he got very irritated with me.


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## Aussie (Sep 16, 2012)

A friend recently sold his 1.6T tuned by BNR Cruze hatchback and bought a Ford Focus ST. When he took me for a drive in it the thing absolutely flew. My sons Tuned Commodore LS1 6m would not be as quick, it was scary and he has now tuned it.


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## Eddy Cruze (Jan 10, 2014)

I watched Red Green do it some years back and just watched it again, it CAN be done!


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## MCcruze78 (Jul 31, 2017)

The reason I was aiming for was the originality. And the reason that my car is currently far from stock I wouldn't want to sell it and just start over again with a slower stock car. My goal is to eventually breach 350hp with the Cruze and by then I would hope to be able to start cutting the **** out of my car to make it rear wheel drive because of how small the engine is and the size of the bay, it's made it extremely easy to put in everything I wanted and I still have room but if I would have to turn the engine because it sits basically sideways in there now, I'm not sure I'd have the space.


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## XtremeRevolution (Jan 19, 2012)

You might grow to hate the car if you swap it to RWD. There's so much that goes into engineering an RWD system that it's not just as easy as bolting a bunch of parts to the chassis. You'll be needing a roll cage at a bare minimum, and that means a lot of sanding, hacking, welding, painting, and interior work, and you'll end up with a chassis that was never intended to handle the twisting loads of a longitudinal drivetrain. If you want to do something original, swap in the Verano 2.0T engine, build the bottom end with forged internals, and fab on a custom turbo. Make 400whp to the front wheels and you'll have more car than you can handle.


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## Rivergoer (Mar 30, 2017)

*Something Like This?*

I'd be down with this in a Cruze version...


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## MCcruze78 (Jul 31, 2017)

I'm already pushing the limits of the Cruze so I understand all this. I already have a roll cage in mind but that's just whenever money is available to just spend on my car. I didn't expect it to be an easy job, that's why it'll be the most expensive thing you could possibly do to the car wich I've said already, but I'm saying that because I know it is no where near as easy as said than to be done. It's more of just a hypothetical thing right now. If I had stupid money in the next 5-10 years of owning the car I would look into it more but I'm building a practical track car out of the Cruze without completely making a whole new car with a chevy cuze fiber glass body like every race car cruze is made. I just like the idea of the car being rwd at the point of me being done with the build. I already have mods that nobody else is doing to their Cruze. I'm just brainstorming the possibilities and trying to gain new ideas from other owners of the vehicle.


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## Merc6 (Jun 8, 2013)

Totally untested but AWD Trax and Encore are 1.4T but based of Sonic. I take it you are gonna put a Fuel Cell in the trunk for clearance? 

As the others said, to accomplish what you want you need to dig deep into your pockets and decide if what I would cost would be cheaper than buying a few years used 2.0T ATS. I take it you have successfully paid the car off before going this far into a project?


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## Blasirl (Mar 31, 2015)

Eddy Cruze said:


> I watched Red Green do it some years back and just watched it again, it CAN be done!



I have one of these for sale if you want to try it!:grin:


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## Cruze11’RS-ECO (Apr 12, 2020)

Snipesy said:


> You'd need (well.. should) to turn the engine the right way. Which... I doubt it would fit without cutting into the firewall and doing a lot of rerouting of exhaust, intake, everything.
> 
> You'd also need to make room for the rear differential, which I'm not sure how much cutting your need to do. A lot. Probably enough that I would start calling the integrity of the car into question. An AWD conversion may be easier since the rear differential can be small.
> 
> ...


What a great short but well explained idea👍🏼👍🏼


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## Snipesy (Dec 7, 2015)

Cruze11’RS-ECO said:


> What a great short but well explained idea👍🏼👍🏼


Yeah but at the end of the day the opportunity costs will get you. The sheer time to plan it all is going to get into new car territory.


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## Aussie (Sep 16, 2012)




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## Cruze11’RS-ECO (Apr 12, 2020)

Aussie said:


>


That THING IS A F***ING MONSTER MATE 😂!!!!!!


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