Relocating the engine., Sounds stupid, right? Options

[richee3]

I'm just gonna go ahead and put this on....



Alright, now I'm ready. We all know that our Celicas have terrible weight distribution. Having a cast iron block practically sitting all the way out in front of the axles isn't helping our case any. I'm not saying I want to move the engine to the trunk and have an MR Celica. As a matter of fact, I'm talking about barely moving the engine at all. It wouldn't even be noticeable. But it's well-know that placing your engine lower down and further back helps improve the handling of a car, and our motors weren't placed carefully at all. So I've had this thought in the back of my mind... Can we move ours? I don't have a Celica with a motor in the bay right now, so I can't go look and see how much room I have. I'm not talking huge movement. Just MAYBE an inch lower and an inch further back if there's any room for it. I know some damn good fabricators who are capable of helping me with the mounts. My main question is, can this be done? Maybe extend a hose here, move a wire there? Axles are the biggest issue I see. They would no longer be lined up with the wheel hub, so I'd imagine I would go through CV joints like nobody's business, and I might even have to get a different axle made. What do you guys think? Worth a try or should we lock this thread and ban me now?

[yellowchinaman]

It'll be a lot of work for a no noticeable difference.
Like what most people said, you're better off relocating:
Washer bottle, Battery, even break fluid and pump and even the entire radiator system and water tank with some extreme plumbing.
Moving it back isn't imposable. You can cut back the fire wall by about 6 inches allowing much more space and even move back the drivers position and controls too at the same time which allows better weight distribution.
But for the amount of money you spend doing so, a lighter engine would be much better.