4 wheel drive, im 90% sure its possible now

[antnee]

you'll have to excuse me but surely... buy an S3. faster, more comfortable, similar engine so you can make that into a project. it just seems an insane amount of work and a waste of money trying to make your ibiza into... well, your choice. For the cost, i'd buy a new car.

prob not a popular opinion but hey

Maybe not everyone wants to blend in and just 'buy' something. Like the saying built not bought. Anyone can go buy an S3 but not everyone has the skills to make an Ibiza 4wd.

If I had the money, skills and space I would be doing it right now, but at 18 I wouldn't be able to insure it!

 

[BHP Addict]

yeah. altho if i had money burning a hole in my pocket, that 2.8 would be long gone out the bay! R36 Leon would be evil.

Love the sound of it mate...........

What BHP is the 2.8 kicking out on the 4M?

Could a Turbo be added to that??? lol

 

[philsip]

some things do make sence about converting it! placing a race tank in the back boot would solve the fuel tank issue!

as for drive train, changing the gear box to either a 180 or 210/225 S3 or TT gear box would allow the transmission to be set up! then gett rear subframe from a 4x4 golf non haldex unit with the diff fitted, if its a case of modifying the subframe or adding brackes, then by all means do it, flanges can be made to match for drive shafts, then as the sub frame has been fitted, hopefully coming with the hubs, it would be a good fit!

alot more people need to be on the positive side of things, not hindering others by making them worry!

adam by all means, if you can get the above lined up in your own time, then go for it

and ill speak to you about it later in town

 

[Adam180]

haha cheers phil, it must be a crazy northern ireland 250+ bezza thing,
yeah i think its alot more possible than any1 cares to admit, at the end of the day, a syncro cost a grand at the most, whats stopping any1 from buying one, putting it on a lift, comparing mounting points and giving it a blast, in my opinion, its all nuts and bolts, one, cog, turns another cog, turns a diff, turns the wheels, and after alot of carefully thought out planny, and collecting of parts, some lucky fella has a little hatchback, that will quite simply DESTROY any standish evo, and who knows, cupras are coming up cheaper and cheaper every few months whats saying once a few people have grown a set and given it ago it could be the next big thing, 4x4 cupras for evo money, i know which one id have?
what about you? big jap shouty rally monster which every chav in the country expects to be a rocket or the ten yr old little seat?

its not even a fair question in my opinion

 

[philsip]

haha cheers phil, it must be a crazy northern ireland 250+ bezza thing

Darn right

as you've just said, its just nuts and bolts, careful planning and patients

this makes me want to do it more so!

 

[pj1985]

Fitting a 6 speed box isnt nuts and bolts, its modifying the chassis leg etc although a 5 speed 02j from an audi A3 quattro or skoda ocativa could be used but thats with haldex. What gearbox would you use that can take 20vt power and can be used with the synchro rear diff? Fitting a prop isnt nuts and bolts either you will have to modify/cut out and tunnel the floor pan for it to fit. Fitting the rear diff...oh yeah plasma cut out the bottom of your boot then refab something to fit the whole as where your spare wheel well is is where the rear diff needs to fit. Mk2 golf rallye/synchro rear diffs are known to do the seals and fail at 300bhp or 300lb/ft and are over 20 years old so I would not be bothering doing all that hard work to get it to fit when it will more than likely fail. The fuel tank would be the least of your worries and I wouldnt even really call it an issue. Haldex is the way forward over synchro anyway hence any good power 4x4 mk2 golfs either have been or would change to haldex if funds allowed. And all this is if the prop and drive shafts are the right length which more than likely they wont be.

If you think its just nuts and bolts then you'll be in for a big surprise and headache! Good luck if you try to do it.

 

[Adam180]

pj, thanks for your input but can we take a step off the pesimistic ladder please, i thought this site was full of " can do'er"s
my point about the syncro is that straight 4 wheel drive is " in my opinion" better than halidex, i think halidex is to front wheel drive diast and restricts power to much, any stand LCR would destroy a tt or s3, FACT however, i garentee a g60 syncro for example would be a much more BASIC(keyword) vehichle than the TT. hince the choice to use syncro, it could be made stronger, half shafts and a prob can all be modified and fabricated, odds are taking them from a 1987 i mk2 golf they wont be in supper dupper shape anyway buddy,

really, team work hear, im all up for a contructive ideas,
to many people wanting to wimp out and use money as there excuse, would an AWD ibiza cupra not be the perfect weapon for straight line stability when running 300+hp and competing with machines which have all that standard,

plus its always nice to be the first to do something
first AWD seat ibiza, doubt anybody would turn down that opertunity, and its not like its gonna be just jumped into, maybe a years worth of research. sorcing parts design, ect. time and effort will provale

 

[CupraR-34]

if your 300bhp 4x4 ibiza was doing 70 on the motorway and a fwd 300bhp ibiza pulled along side and wanted to race he would win as the 4x4 would create aot of drag and be a good bit heavier, off the lights for obv reason it would be quicker but over the standing mile i would think the fwd would win

 

[Oj 89]

What about if you get stuck on our lovely great british B-roads then? Personally, I'd prefer to have 4wd on my side, racing or not! then there's our summer snow we've been having recently...

 

[CupraR-34]

well the ideas great go for it, but for the money your about to spent you could have a nice 550bhp evo 8 and then you dont need to worry about the b road and summer snow

 

[JB!]

were polo dunes 4x4?

 

[pj1985]

my point about the syncro is that straight 4 wheel drive is " in my opinion" better than halidex, i think halidex is to front wheel drive diast and restricts power to much, any stand LCR would destroy a tt or s3, FACT however, i garentee a g60 syncro for example would be a much more BASIC(keyword) vehichle than the TT. hince the choice to use syncro, it could be made stronger, half shafts and a prob can all be modified and fabricated, odds are taking them from a 1987 i mk2 golf they wont be in supper dupper shape anyway buddy,

really, team work hear, im all up for a contructive ideas,
to many people wanting to wimp out and use money as there excuse, would an AWD ibiza cupra not be the perfect weapon for straight line stability when running 300+hp and competing with machines which have all that standard,

Im all for 'can do' but this is getting ridiculous. How is straight 4x4 'better' than haldex, (synchro isnt straight 4x4 in my understanding anyway). 4x4 will lose you power if its running when not needed. Haldex comes in when its needed. How does haldex restrict the power too much? 60/40 split with 60% of the power to the rear on a haldex car is a pretty good set up. Handling isnt all down to 4x4 and the S3 and TT as standard dont have very good suspension set ups where as the LCR is better so thats a stupid comparison which I dont think is exactly 100% accurate anyway.

The synchro set up is much more basic because it was introduced so long ago, it uses viscose coupling which in a way like haldex engages the rear drive when needed. You cant make the seals stronger on the rear diff, dont you think if you could people would have done it instead of spending thousands fitting haldex!

I dont think people wimp out because of money. Its feasibility, end product reliability, useability and the other cars out there in the vag range with 4x4 already on or that it would be better to fit it to than an ibiza. Something which has a longitudinaly placed engines and uses quattro so no imo an AWD Ibiza would not be the perfect weapon for straight line stability. And anyway you dont need 4x4 for 300+bhp it is manageable and perfectly driveable, when you get nearer 400bhp and over then 4x4 is a good thing to have.

 

[CupraR-34]

depend on what tt your talking about if it was the 225 quattro it would beat the LCR

 

[Fl@pper]

pj, thanks for your input but can we take a step off the pesimistic ladder please, i thought this site was full of " can do'er"s

you need to change the title of this thread in all honesty to YES 100% it's possible and before you slam it YES I'm all for it ,of course it is possible ANYthing is, no one is saying it isn't and up to you whatever hassles it may cause (positive enough for ya ?) and its the truth too

have you sat down and thought about WHY yet? and then when you have done that take a moment to think HOW!

 

[Adam180]

im all for it, honestly, researching it sold, want to base it on a mk 2 golf. purely on how close thre floor and wheel base is, im al for halidex since s3/tt's already have the 1.8t gearbox transfer box, my issue with halidex is that it just seems to(i dont know) stand offish. id want the 4wheel drive there ALL the time, its all research, something it would appear hasnt been done, goodness knows, it would be ALOT simpler than thought, or impossible withing reason of a £1m budget, but i cant see it being that bad, really, even to use a full BAM drive train from an s3 with the same prop/ halfs and drive shafts and modify the floor, nuts and bolts, spot of cutting and welding, well see how it goes, in the mean time, every1 do a spot of investigating, im sure well get to the bottom of it shortly

 

[Fl@pper]

i admire your optimism and it's not that bad in principle - easy in fact - implementation is a different story

to be honest i would suggest syncro is going to be the closest in dimension and style if you are looking for an easier option but parts alone would make this a hells own job to setup but would be the start point for research

Haldex 6 speed is alot more available and initial cost without luck but will certainly be a lot lot more than a spot of cutting and welding

sign up to vagcat epc (its free) and actually look at the parts you are considering compared to parts you are replacing if you get stuck msn me - ill link you/mail ya the right pics

 

[Feel]

an ibiza hasn't got the bolt in sync/rallye floorpan though for starters

said many times before about many suggestions that appear along these lines that I agree it's not impossible for sure but a case of TIME / MONEY / SKILL and what you lack in one will cost you in others

A) if you are ringing round asking for prices on a conversion then you have more money than sense and use it as you like and good luck to ya
B) if you are looking for a cheap bolt in conversion then keep looking
C) if you wanna strip ya car bare, cut half of it away, weld in an adapted floorpan and design/engineer/make a selection of untested custom unique parts then hell go for it i can't wait to see it but don't expect to drive it to work every day or finish it in 6 months

before you go anywhere near a/b/c just sit down relax and write down 3 good and 3 bad genuine reasons why you want/need to do it - then come back in an hour and see what you wrote and add it to the pile you write daily from now on

mine's a huge pile of drawings and doodles of twin bike engined arosa's / rwd toledo V8's /slammed+chopped alhambra's you name it it's there for when i win the lottery and get bored

Top post, Flapz.

Particularly like the chopped & slammed alhamabra idea

 

[Fl@pper]

The alhambra does look quite cool too especially the oldskool crewcab lowroof bus version but i have just had a dozey for 5 mins sat up right in my chair and woke up with an idea using some Vdub tricks of the past and no, not been drinking. yet !

chopped out S3 floorpan so all bolt in rolling gear as should be but maybe shortened to match ibiza wheelbase
maybe a little extra length to get a promod style front end (might be more toledo V8 that bit so save that one)
match width by having it tri-sliced down centreline wide middle and then thinner outside sections as subtle as possible with a minor roof chop

sort of the same ibiza silhouette but no matter how you look at it will just have that something different edge to it by an 1" or more down and out, maybe not even see it unless next to a standard one

hell i've seen audi TT full setup squeezed under a mini shell and a TVR floor chopped under a Golf so anything is possible once you get a hacksaw/welder out and dream a little

brb - god bless photoshop

 

[Fl@pper]

yes yes i know before you all email me and say i pshop suxor pwnd blah blah i'm a dabbler and just trying to visualise an idea in my head that's all

standard

S3 4x4 spec

Stealth Version

with enough spare time/boredom and downright lunacy and having seen many a rod/bug done in similar style i know that it would be possible to do somehow and sure beats the hell out of a stick on glassfibre kit but would i reccomend being insane enough to so it ?? ask me after the Rat Rods finished

 

[Fl@pper]

Here ya go adam, if you want a more realistic view of what would be involved just take a look at minimivic's build gallery

http://www.16vminiclub.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=597