Hi Dean,
The Honda Civic shuttle would be the perfect donor vehicle to do a awd (not 4wd) conversion with. The engine is identical to the B16A, with DOHC and EFI, but without VTEC. In 1984, the original release shuttle came out with the 1.6L 12-valve engine straight out of the Civic 2-door, it was silky smooth and developed 85bhp.
In 1987 the car was released with full time AWD
By 88-91 the car had been upgraded inline with the rest of the Honda engine range and was fiited with the CRX motor. This 16-valve mill was a real gem from Honda and developed in the CRX 145bhp, in the shuttle this was benchmarked at 125bhp. With the VTEC head, which bolts straight on, the magical 1 bhp per cc is acheived, i.e 165 bhp with no other mods. Formula Atlantic trim will see them blow out to about 190kw.
The other donor vehicle worth mentioning would be the Toyota Corolla awd (AE95). This has similair specs to the Honda and ois a definite worth contender as the 4AGE bolts straight onto the gearbox. One os threse with a silver-top or black-top 20-valve would be an absolute rocket and if I had a preference, this is the route I would follow.
Hi Matt - the Fiat Panda came out in the very early eighties (82 I think) and was powered by a 965cc three cylinder engine producing about 47kw. By the later half of the eighties this was updated with the 999cc 'Fire' engine and EFI - which produced about 55kw. Top speed was blistering 83mph. The Panda was discontinued in 1992. There are no engine upgrades other than standard for the Panda so you are stuck with 55kw and 999cc. BTW - they are 4WD not AWD as they had front wheel drive most of the time until you engaged the Steyr-Punch developed 4WD system. They were utiliatrian at best and agricultural at worst. Not for me and I doubt if it would fit anyway as the Steyr-Punch dog-box for the RWD was hung off to the side a bit.
So the contenders as I see them are:
1. EP85 - easy fit, uses 4EFTE, but fragile transfer box. Could possible fail with more than about 150kw put through it. Unsure, but I think it has VLSD b/w front and rear. Unsure on torque split.
2. Civic Shuttle - Great engine, great box, easy fit. Would redily handle 200kw plus. Plenty getting around and big in Japan and UK. 57/43 torque split F/R with VLSD keeping it all under control.
3. Toyota Corolla AE95 AWD - good motor in standard 4AG, unknown how much bhp the AWD system can handle but if its Toyota its gotta be good, 55/45 torque split (??) and also VLSD. The standard 4ag can be replaced with the 20-valve giving 160 bhp plus while I have seen a dyno chart with a turboed 4AGE 20-valve head on a 7AFE block produce 350 bhp - interesting. Rarer than Civic shhuttle and possibly more $$$
4. Out of left field is the VW Golf Synchro - The G60 version of this was an absolute rocket and produced 160bhp+ from the 1.8 litre. VLSD on F/R split and 47/53 torque split. Handling for this vehicle was impeccable. I am unsure if they came to Australia or fven Asia/Pacific. Plenty in Europe. Now discontinued and repplaced by Golf RE82 (great car!)
Other than that - the floor is open to comments etc. Dont forget the Suzuki Cultis/Alto (rare as RHS and big $$$) and also the Daihatsu Scion/Sirion AWD (???)
Comments anybody........
With Love,
Andrew