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- Nov 5, 2025
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Hello,
I'm looking for any comments or suggestions from anyone with experience with running a stock engine & transmission but turned around to get a mid/rear-engine solution. My intent is to support an AWD build (custom front axle solution for steering, add a transfer case for AWD, etc etc) and save money by reusing as much as possible. I'm looking to use a manual transmission to decrease the amount of computomancy or billet-part-ery I need to pay for with automatic transmissions or sequential transmissions respectively. My biggest immediate concerns are the backwards shifter gate, and the location of the shifter not being close enough to the front of the vehicle to actually use it.
Does anyone have experience with this, or anything similar?
If anyone tried but the project died, what was the "gotcha" problem that killed the project?
Anyone with success, what are your biggest complaints about the final result?
Is there any way to reverse the effective shift gate pattern with some kind of "magic" linkage?
Regarding the build, assume I'm taking a 3.0 Vulcan V6 Ranger W/ 5spd MT 2WD and rotating the entire drive-line to make it mid/rear-engine... you'd be pretty close to the same type of delusion that I'm hoping to make reality. The actual donor vehicle has a few things going for it that *hopefully* will make the front steering design easier. I don't want to spoil all my fun by spilling the beans before I've even bought the donor, so forgive that I might be a bit guarded there. I'm keen to keep the manual transmission in this build because I figure it would be easier to deal with a "dumb" manual compared an electrically controlled "smart" automatic, and it would be easier to justify compared to a sequential setup since this is my first project of this scale.
Thank you for any help,
TH
PS: If there's another racing forum that could better point me in the right direction, please let me know. I gather this is a pretty general place so this discussion might be a long shot to land with people who have relevant experience. Its not obvious to me what alternative forum sites might have great seasoned off-road builders, especially if I can only find that most of the recent boards are inactive.
I'm looking for any comments or suggestions from anyone with experience with running a stock engine & transmission but turned around to get a mid/rear-engine solution. My intent is to support an AWD build (custom front axle solution for steering, add a transfer case for AWD, etc etc) and save money by reusing as much as possible. I'm looking to use a manual transmission to decrease the amount of computomancy or billet-part-ery I need to pay for with automatic transmissions or sequential transmissions respectively. My biggest immediate concerns are the backwards shifter gate, and the location of the shifter not being close enough to the front of the vehicle to actually use it.
Does anyone have experience with this, or anything similar?
If anyone tried but the project died, what was the "gotcha" problem that killed the project?
Anyone with success, what are your biggest complaints about the final result?
Is there any way to reverse the effective shift gate pattern with some kind of "magic" linkage?
Regarding the build, assume I'm taking a 3.0 Vulcan V6 Ranger W/ 5spd MT 2WD and rotating the entire drive-line to make it mid/rear-engine... you'd be pretty close to the same type of delusion that I'm hoping to make reality. The actual donor vehicle has a few things going for it that *hopefully* will make the front steering design easier. I don't want to spoil all my fun by spilling the beans before I've even bought the donor, so forgive that I might be a bit guarded there. I'm keen to keep the manual transmission in this build because I figure it would be easier to deal with a "dumb" manual compared an electrically controlled "smart" automatic, and it would be easier to justify compared to a sequential setup since this is my first project of this scale.
Thank you for any help,
TH
PS: If there's another racing forum that could better point me in the right direction, please let me know. I gather this is a pretty general place so this discussion might be a long shot to land with people who have relevant experience. Its not obvious to me what alternative forum sites might have great seasoned off-road builders, especially if I can only find that most of the recent boards are inactive.
