Mid-Engine Mustang Fastback

[vipercuda]

They list the Ricardo/GT transaxle in the Ford motorsports catalog and say "ofr mid-engine kit cars". So I'm surprised they said they wouldn't sell it to you without a VIN ??

What I can't figure out is I also looked at making a mid-engine mustang and could not figure out how the driver would sit. I think i calculated the driver seat would have to move forward about 8-10", putting you ridiculously close to the windshield.

let's see, the approximate distance from the axle to the block is 8.5" on a G50, and a SBF engine is at least 27" with accessories, its possible you could clear 1-2" off of that length with some cleverness ala Saleen S7. With a bulkhead, that means the seat cannot start until 37" from the rear axle. Assuming the bulkhead angle fits the seat angle, the driver still needs 50" measuring along the floor to fit, which means your new firewall is 87" ahead of the rear axle, leaving only 21" to the front axle. Since my Mustang is far from stock I don't remember where that leaves you in relation to the stock seating position, but I remember when I figured it out it just didn't work very well if you didn't like hitting the windshield with your head.

Between that and the cost of the Transaxle I went the opposite direction and moved teh front engine back 14", and moved the driver back 10" instead !

So needless to say I will be interested in how it works out !

Preston

Thanks for the comments and thoughts. Have you driven you car yet? You should love how it drives we have built more than 10 cars just as you described and they all drive incredibly well.

With the rear engine concept, I have wanted to do it for 7 years now and believe our plan will work quite nicely. I will post pics as we have them available. We have the mustang stripped, we have the viper chassis stripped as well, I am waiting to receive the transaxle but I can tell you we are quite excited about this unique concept.

Thanks
Mike