AWD to RWD
- Thread starter fxlr8
- Start date
- Location
- Stuart, FL
Not worth the headaches/ way too many components to change just get RWD
- Location
- South Gate, CA
- Car
- 2003 FX45 AWD
TKO is right Jeff.
Just reconfiguring to transfer all of the power to the rear and still having the front differential on and deleting the CVT joint (this will be necessary, if not you will break the bearings and the knuckle that connect to front wheels because if you don't your baby wont run at all) that provides the power to the front is ridiculous expensive..
Even if you got rid of the front differential and the CVT joint (Would take weight off) you will need to do allot of modding to get your baby to work properly to make it into a RWD.
Just reconfiguring to transfer all of the power to the rear and still having the front differential on and deleting the CVT joint (this will be necessary, if not you will break the bearings and the knuckle that connect to front wheels because if you don't your baby wont run at all) that provides the power to the front is ridiculous expensive..
Even if you got rid of the front differential and the CVT joint (Would take weight off) you will need to do allot of modding to get your baby to work properly to make it into a RWD.
- Location
- Westchester, New York
- Car
- 09 FX50
just stay above 15mph and dont lose traction---then it's all RWD (kinda) :wub:
- Location
- brooklyn, ny
hey man, sorry I never got around to answering pm's 
logically it might make the most sense for most to just sell the awd & buy a rwd, but it really wouldn't be so difficult to convert to rwd either, I considered it for a while, but I think I really like the awd now to tell you the truth, so I decided to stick with an awd setup with my swap...
mechanically, to convert to rwd is very easy, replace the tranny with a rwd tranny & driveshaft, throw away all the other awd supporting stuff like the transfer case, front diff & axles... the front hubs themselves are listed as different part #'s so the most complete way would be to swap to rwd front hubs, but in a pinch you could remove the outer cv joint from your front axels & bolt it through the awd hub as if it was still connected to a shaft & it will work fine, done some blazer conversions & stuff like this...
mechanically is easy, the complicated part will be the electronics...
if your doing a whole drivetrain swap with a complete harness & ecu then no problem as far as getting it running, the ecu communicates with the tranny computer which is in the tranny itself, so a complete swap should install & run fine... now the complicated part is that there are like 7 different computers in the fx, the ecu & tranny computer will communicate & should work fine, BUT the body computer in your fx is programmed for awd so there can be some issues there... truth is that nothing is impossible but it's hard to know how many complications there can be in this area, could be as minor as throwing a light on the dash & setting a code or 2, to something more problematic requiring you to also get a body computer from a rwd maybe.. there will be some unknowns in this project, nothing I would consider insurmountable, but again, unknown is scarry to most, especially if your going to be paying someone else for everything... at that point it may be better to just sell & buy a rwd...
to me, doing a rwd conversion will def involve some butchery of the factory electronics, & if I was going to do a rwd conversion anyway then I'd just say screw it & wind up at least making it really worth while... to be worth while for all that you'll get involved in, at that point may as well just forget about trying to keep everything compatible & just go for it all the way, an ls-x swap for example, or something radical that at that point your not even going to worry or care about seamless integration... if your looking for seamless integration then may be best to sell & buy another, but a rwd conversion with an ls-x drivetrain is very doable, practical & at that point it really wouldn't make all that much difference if you started with an awd or a rwd to begin with really...
want 700-800hp monster? that's the way to go... if your shooting for much less, & much more tame, & not so adventurous then either build the awd up to 450-475, which the awd should be fine with as long as you build the tranny & deal with the heat, or sell & buy another rwd maybe... to go through all these changes JUST for the sake of rwd without a whole lot of power I don't see much point to it...
I decided not to do a butcher swap like this because I really enjoy the fx as a daily driver, not so much into drag racing any more & I'm now starting to really like road course racing, where the awd is a definate performance advantage, so I decided to just do the HR awd swap & keep it as seamless & correct as possible with the least amount of butchery, but a rwd lsx or similar would be sick & is totally doable & probably the cheapest way to make huge power & a great idea really...
---------- Post added at 02:21 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:12 PM ----------
if I had a spare fx I would def do this, build a monster suv killer, srt what? amg what? psss, check out MY tail lights
logically it might make the most sense for most to just sell the awd & buy a rwd, but it really wouldn't be so difficult to convert to rwd either, I considered it for a while, but I think I really like the awd now to tell you the truth, so I decided to stick with an awd setup with my swap...
mechanically, to convert to rwd is very easy, replace the tranny with a rwd tranny & driveshaft, throw away all the other awd supporting stuff like the transfer case, front diff & axles... the front hubs themselves are listed as different part #'s so the most complete way would be to swap to rwd front hubs, but in a pinch you could remove the outer cv joint from your front axels & bolt it through the awd hub as if it was still connected to a shaft & it will work fine, done some blazer conversions & stuff like this...
mechanically is easy, the complicated part will be the electronics...
if your doing a whole drivetrain swap with a complete harness & ecu then no problem as far as getting it running, the ecu communicates with the tranny computer which is in the tranny itself, so a complete swap should install & run fine... now the complicated part is that there are like 7 different computers in the fx, the ecu & tranny computer will communicate & should work fine, BUT the body computer in your fx is programmed for awd so there can be some issues there... truth is that nothing is impossible but it's hard to know how many complications there can be in this area, could be as minor as throwing a light on the dash & setting a code or 2, to something more problematic requiring you to also get a body computer from a rwd maybe.. there will be some unknowns in this project, nothing I would consider insurmountable, but again, unknown is scarry to most, especially if your going to be paying someone else for everything... at that point it may be better to just sell & buy a rwd...
to me, doing a rwd conversion will def involve some butchery of the factory electronics, & if I was going to do a rwd conversion anyway then I'd just say screw it & wind up at least making it really worth while... to be worth while for all that you'll get involved in, at that point may as well just forget about trying to keep everything compatible & just go for it all the way, an ls-x swap for example, or something radical that at that point your not even going to worry or care about seamless integration... if your looking for seamless integration then may be best to sell & buy another, but a rwd conversion with an ls-x drivetrain is very doable, practical & at that point it really wouldn't make all that much difference if you started with an awd or a rwd to begin with really...
want 700-800hp monster? that's the way to go... if your shooting for much less, & much more tame, & not so adventurous then either build the awd up to 450-475, which the awd should be fine with as long as you build the tranny & deal with the heat, or sell & buy another rwd maybe... to go through all these changes JUST for the sake of rwd without a whole lot of power I don't see much point to it...
I decided not to do a butcher swap like this because I really enjoy the fx as a daily driver, not so much into drag racing any more & I'm now starting to really like road course racing, where the awd is a definate performance advantage, so I decided to just do the HR awd swap & keep it as seamless & correct as possible with the least amount of butchery, but a rwd lsx or similar would be sick & is totally doable & probably the cheapest way to make huge power & a great idea really...
---------- Post added at 02:21 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:12 PM ----------
if I had a spare fx I would def do this, build a monster suv killer, srt what? amg what? psss, check out MY tail lights
- Location
- Westchester, New York
- Car
- 09 FX50
if I had a spare fx I would def do this, build a monster suv killer, srt what? amg what? psss, check out MY tail lights
just take mine---i'm at school anyways...
- Location
- brooklyn, ny
ahh, I'd also need a budget of at least 15k to work with, maybe more like 20
- Location
- Westchester, New York
- Car
- 09 FX50
ahh, I'd also need a budget of at least 15k to work with, maybe more like 20
i'll...let you drive it a lot? :wub: