20-06-2020, 06:37 PM
Hello everyone:
I am new here and not wanting to offend anyone, is this forum open to those of us with modified cars? A few years ago, I purchased a 1934 Ruby at a swap meet here in Canada. It did not have the engine and transmission nor a bunch of other pieces and these cars are definitely on the scarce side here. I have an old magazine article on car that had a Datsun engine in it so I figured that as long as I found a small 4 cylinder RWD car for drivetrain, I would be good to go. I bought a Mazda MX5 and discovered that was not the case. These cars are tiny. Next attempt was Chevy Sprint 1000cc three cylinder. These are also badged as Suzuki Forsa, Sprint, Cultus, Geo Metro, and Pontiac Firefly - not sure of what they were called in the UK. These are normally FWD but can be converted to RWD by using a transmission from a Suzuki Samurai (Jimny). This engine fits real nice but the distributor sits within that storage box at the top of the firewall. For a rear axle, I managed to find a narrowed Ford 9" unit that previously was in a ProStreet Mustang. A bit of overkill with that tiny engine, but the price was right and it fits. I think with a 4.56:1 gear set, it should work out. I am a bit puzzled as to what to do for front suspension since coming from a hot rod background, I like my cars sitting a bit lower in the front than they were originally. I had purchased a Kawasaki Mojave ATV to use for an independent front end but after getting adapters made so that I could mount car wheels on, it turned out to be too wide to work out. Last week, I discovered a thread on Youtube where two men managed to import a very low speed electric car from China into the USA. They went into detail as to how sophisticated the car was for something that cost $1200. It had a tubular front axle with coilover shock front suspension. They brought the car home in the back of a 1/2 ton truck and it occured to me that is basically the size of my Ruby. From there I went searching on Alibaba and found a small electric car front axle assembly with rack and pinion steering and disc brakes for $250 US. However it is a straight axle so it would require a bit of work to get it to sit lower. Since I am considering importing something from China, it isn't much of a stretch to consider getting something from the UK, so what are my options for getting a dropped axle and decent front brakes from your side of the pond?
I am new here and not wanting to offend anyone, is this forum open to those of us with modified cars? A few years ago, I purchased a 1934 Ruby at a swap meet here in Canada. It did not have the engine and transmission nor a bunch of other pieces and these cars are definitely on the scarce side here. I have an old magazine article on car that had a Datsun engine in it so I figured that as long as I found a small 4 cylinder RWD car for drivetrain, I would be good to go. I bought a Mazda MX5 and discovered that was not the case. These cars are tiny. Next attempt was Chevy Sprint 1000cc three cylinder. These are also badged as Suzuki Forsa, Sprint, Cultus, Geo Metro, and Pontiac Firefly - not sure of what they were called in the UK. These are normally FWD but can be converted to RWD by using a transmission from a Suzuki Samurai (Jimny). This engine fits real nice but the distributor sits within that storage box at the top of the firewall. For a rear axle, I managed to find a narrowed Ford 9" unit that previously was in a ProStreet Mustang. A bit of overkill with that tiny engine, but the price was right and it fits. I think with a 4.56:1 gear set, it should work out. I am a bit puzzled as to what to do for front suspension since coming from a hot rod background, I like my cars sitting a bit lower in the front than they were originally. I had purchased a Kawasaki Mojave ATV to use for an independent front end but after getting adapters made so that I could mount car wheels on, it turned out to be too wide to work out. Last week, I discovered a thread on Youtube where two men managed to import a very low speed electric car from China into the USA. They went into detail as to how sophisticated the car was for something that cost $1200. It had a tubular front axle with coilover shock front suspension. They brought the car home in the back of a 1/2 ton truck and it occured to me that is basically the size of my Ruby. From there I went searching on Alibaba and found a small electric car front axle assembly with rack and pinion steering and disc brakes for $250 US. However it is a straight axle so it would require a bit of work to get it to sit lower. Since I am considering importing something from China, it isn't much of a stretch to consider getting something from the UK, so what are my options for getting a dropped axle and decent front brakes from your side of the pond?
