Coleman Racing Products makes a "build-up" front knuckle that is basically just a flat plate that you add ball joint bosses, spindle, steeering arms, etc. to. Combining that with a bolt-in S10 front drive hub should allow you to set it up however you want.
I can't see you wanting enough torque split to the front to blow up a later model S10 diff...but I could be wrong.
__________________
Ray Kaufman-Wyotech chassis fab instructor
Custom suspension design and consultation.
(Now 2) Big Block asphalt supermodified ('cause too much is never enough...)
Im resistant to use a transaxle because then that located the engine way forward in the car. I want it actually to end up being mid engine. Im planning to cut the firewall and push it back around 10 inches. Im not running anything under the dash board (HVAC) so I figure why not put the engine there.
i was concerned with cutting the closed knuckles open for strength reasons, I just was not sure if they were the same thing except one of em was cut by the factory and one was not.
I still want to run a 5x4.5 bolt pattern so any hub that I run, Im planning to have redrilled since most chevy parts ran 4.75.
Is the geometry of the s-10/blazer knuckle good enough to run in a car like Im building? Id really like to get the best and lightest parts I can afford.
Im not trying to use any special one-off parts for this build if I can afford it. The STS diff is made by getrag but Im not sure what size the ring gear is. The one I found has a 3.23 which should work out great for me.
The trans I want to use is the 545rfe 5 speed auto that comes stock behind the 5.7 Hemi which I also want to run. I have one sitting around rite now from a 4x4. Im trying to just bolt a gutted transfer case to it to send power to the front. The trans is rather large and heavy but at least all that weight will be behind the motor and very low to the ground, helping out weight distribution.
The car Im building is a '68 Dodge Charger. Its pretty much a bare shell rite now so I have a blank canvass to build from. Im obviously not doing a typical resto on it. This car is getting to most ridiculous parts I can think of. I have a 3 link rear full floating 9 inch already in place minus coilovers, watts link and sway bar. I just bought lower control arms which are chromo pieces from a nascar, uppers will come from the same genre. I want it to be built to excess in terms of performance. I want it to be an engineering exercise I can drive.
Ive seen that AWD Vette, it looked just a vette with the front end of an S-10 frame welded onto it. Its neat but not what Im going for. Obviously I want it to be as light as possible and have the best weight distribution I can build. The STS front diff is a very compact unit which will not take up much space and have minimal weigh impact. Then just the CV shafts that plug into what ever knuckle/hub I can figure out to run. One good thing to see is that the vette had iirc a 7.2 inch front ring gear which was able to live with all that power.
Ill look into those parts from coleman, thanks for the tip. The motor Im running will have 4-500hp/tq, I figure that the front end parts should be able to live with half of that. I see FWD cars with 300hp w/o many problems.
Isn't there an AWD version of the Chrysler 300? Perhaps there would be parts there worth looking into?
Shiny Side Up!
Bill
__________________ You ever wonder what medieval cook looked at the guts of a pig and thought, "I bet if you washed out that poop tube, you could stuff it with meat and eat it."
Yep, there is. That was my first place to start looking for parts. Ive been trying to find em for it and for the life of me, I cannot. I do know a few things about it. The front diff goes thru the oil pan. Also, the 5.7 Hem in the LX platform(300, charger, est...) gets a mercedes transmission. A Wa580 or something like that. Its overly complicated and not conducive to modifications or being swapped into some other platform. From what I can find, the transfer case in those cars may be the same as the ones in the SRT-8 jeep. A NV147. That is also an overly complicated piece that will not bolt up to my transmission. I need a NV231 or something similar to use in my car
Like I said, its very compact and will be easy to build around/into the car. Im getting the driveshaft with it and will still have to figure out what CV shafts to run. Most likely I will just do the STS shafts and have to get em modified for lenght
If finding parts or using that Getrag diff proves difficult, keep in mind that you can use any IRS rear diff by running it upside down (high pinion). Some factory 4wd applications actually used this setup without any oiling problems.
Not sure what you mean by cutting open a closed knuckle... If you're referring to the 4wd front axle "closed knuckle", they are NOT designed to run open. They would be full of oil or grease, and have an open CV (commonly known as a Birfield joint) at the steering axis. I don't think you could get a closed CV type 1/2 shaft in there without some MAJOR re-engineering. That's why I like the S10 hub for this kind of thing...just bolt it on and go.
__________________
Ray Kaufman-Wyotech chassis fab instructor
Custom suspension design and consultation.
(Now 2) Big Block asphalt supermodified ('cause too much is never enough...)
Brian Hobaugh SCCA National Tour June 2014
First Hemi 'Cuda Convertible Ever Built
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