Chevy Beretta LS swap and RWD conversion - budget 4.8/5spd 1996 Z26

[woody80z28]

Oh yeah, and the basic plan...I covered this a bit on youtube, but I plan to retain the basic Beretta suspension in front. I'll convert it to front steer and use an Fbody rack under the front of the pan. (Beretta is rear steer with rack on the firewall). I'll swap strut sides and use the steering arm on the struts as swaybar link mounts.



For the rear, I'm going to fab a torque arm with adjustable lower control arms that run from the Beretta rear torsion beam mounts to mounts I'll weld on the Ford 8.8. I have to fab engine mounts and trans crossmember obviously, so I'll add in a torque arm mount on the crossmember. For rear coils I'm going to move them forward from the 95-96 location to the 88-94 Beretta location and weld a bucket on the rear axle. Pretty sure the Beretta shock can be retained.

The biggest problem is going to be fitting exhaust, etc. Thinking I'll cut the whole floor out, run some tube down the rockers to stiffen things up and raise the floor about 3in. There's room for the seats by changing the weird Beretta slide rails to traditional sliders. Should be room for driveshaft and torque arm in the original exhaust tunnel. Firewall and front tunnel will need clearance for the trans, and I'll have to use Wilwood reverse pedals for clutch and brakes. But the packaging looks reasonable.