Yeah those plastic bags and corn cobs are a pissa! Looking forward to see what you come up with on this one. Would it be possible to engineer and rego one of these with a mid mount V8? Is it just that the engineering process would be too long/involved/expensive and the owner doesn't want that?
There are a couple of major reasons for not chasing the mid mount set up. The main one is rego. To go mid mount would mean the whole rear part of the chassis would need to be removed and converted to a live rear axle or IRS of some sort with a diff e.g BMW, commodore etc. Qld rego wont allow those sorts of modifications as suspension mods are a big no no. I wasn't even allowed to fit a bolt in 4 link kit from the states into the 68 firebird.
The other main reason is with the rear mount engine, the radiator can go in the middle of the car, out of sight. If the motor was in the middle, the radiator would have to go out the front, and that's just not an option.
I'm thinking about tossing the iron 350 idea and going with an LS1 instead, so if anyone knows of one for sale with computer and loom let me know. I wont need a gearbox, so I don't need to go the expense of getting one with a T56. I've seen them with computer, loom and auto for around the $2500 mark, so something like that would be perfect.
Fair enough. So is Queensland particularly anal about that sort of thing? Not allowing you to fit a bolt in four link kit to a car is pretty rude of them.
I reckon the LS1 is a great idea. They're so cheap to buy and easy to hot up now and they're a bit lighter than an iron block. Go for it!