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Weird situation here. My parents own a storage company. On occasion someone doesn't pay, and just disappears. Legally they can sell their stuff to cover owed expenses. Usually there is just junk, but we have something interesting this time.

In a storage unit was a Subaru Baja, missing the hood, and no engine. Otherwise it looks to be in okay condition. I have been wanting a smallish truck to haul my yard clippings to a compost site. I also have a Chevy 350 v-8 (carbureted) and 200R4 4-speed auto transmission sitting in my garage. The engine was originally from an early 90's Chevy Van (I think) and the transmission is from a 1987 Monte Carlo.

I am looking into the possibility of turning this 4WD Baja into a RWD, getting rid of the front transaxle. Not sure if I'd keep power steering or just get a manual steering box. Just eyeballing it, it looks like there would be enough clearance. Creating new engine mounts would be a necessity, as would cutting a new driveshaft.

Honest opinion, am I getting too eager for a project car, or is this just silly and orky enough to be viable.

Just by what you are suggesting, you'd REALLY have to want a project car to make that worthwhile. And for something that will only haul some yard waste around it seems like a lot of effort for minimal reward. You'd be better off buying a replacement engine.

Putting in an engine from a completely different vehicle that requires a new transmission, engine mounts, and even modifying the drive shaft is a LOT of work. I would say either buy an engine that is compatible with the Subaru OR buy an empty Chevy that your existing Engine and transmission will fit. Trying to make the two fit together is going to probably be months if not years of work.

You can probably find someone who wants a Baja shell fairly easily since they don't make them anymore.

Really it's all doable since you have a donor engine and trans. You'd most likely need to send the driveshaft out to be done proper though since that can't wobble at all or it'll shake itself apart. My brother shoved a 350 into an s10 that was originally a 4 banger truck. And other than taking a sledge hammer tothe fire wall for an hour, the coversion wasn't than hard for him.


I'd say go for,it might be a lot of fun

Since the engine and transmission I have laying around is all mechanical (no computers), I think I could basically bypass a good deal of the electrical systems in the Baja.

I'd never be able to pass emissions tests, but good thing my state doesn't have them. LOL.

Im not the most mechanically versed. . . but I kinda agree with GT here. . . Subbie engine and transmission mounts are probably WAAAAY different from the chevy parts you have on hand.

If you were wanting to take it to say, Gas Monkey (or a local equivalent) and make a hot rodded type vehicle, maybe the level of work involved would be worth it, but it doesnt sound like you'd want to put in that work.

Realistically speaking, the engine and transmission mounts would need to change. My engine and transmission are all ready built and ready to go. I can literally turn it on right now by connecting a battery. I just hope that the Subaru's radiator will be beg enough to cool a V-8.

Since I'm basically scrapping all computer systems I'm going to loose ABS (not a big deal to me). I think the gauges are mechanical, so that won't be complicated.

Really the only reason I'm considering this at all is because I'll be able to score this truck for a song and a dance, and I all ready have a spare engine.

You'd probably be better just selling the various parts and buying a working truck. Or even just a trailer if it's for hard clippings.

The Subaru will be all metric, Chevy all imperial so nothing will be quite the right dimensions down to bolt width and pitch.

 cuda1179 wrote:

Really the only reason I'm considering this at all is because I'll be able to score this truck for a song and a dance, and I all ready have a spare engine.

Yeah, but its gonna cost way more than a song and a dance to make all those parts fit. More I imagine than simply buying compatible parts in the first place and selling the other parts.

 cuda1179 wrote:
I just hope that the Subaru's radiator will be beg enough to cool a V-8.

This right here is why I'd never do it. You run the risk of doing all the work to get the thing running... and then destroying the engine in short order if it isn't cooled sufficiently.

You can probably sell the Subaru for more than enough to buy a suitable truck chassis and radiator to match the engine.

 Vulcan wrote:

 cuda1179 wrote:
I just hope that the Subaru's radiator will be beg enough to cool a V-8.

This right here is why I'd never do it. You run the risk of doing all the work to get the thing running... and then destroying the engine in short order if it isn't cooled sufficiently.

You can probably sell the Subaru for more than enough to buy a suitable truck chassis and radiator to match the engine.

Yeah, After a couple days thought I think I agree it's too much work.

Still, it would be cool to have a 350Hp Subaru.

The other option is to get a WRX engine. The 2.5 Impreza WrRX used the EJ255 & 257. The Baja apparently used the EJ251, which was also used in slower Impreza’s. In the WRX it was about 300 bop, and they are not to expensive to get reconditioned. It should just slot in without too much issue. Not sure it is a good idea, but it should work.

Best to not have gone with the Frankenstein car. You would have ruined good parts for a bad idea.

Pfft, you guys are all boring. The answer to 80% of car questions is small block Chevy. The answer to the other 20% is big block Chevy.

One of the coolest things is a crap car with an awesome engine, or have none of you watched roadkill and/or are fans of mad max?

The questions are...

Do you like the car enough to not get bored half way through the project?

Do you want to be able to road register it? (In most places putting a big carby engine in a modern low emissions car is difficult to do legally, but not a problem for a paddock bomb).

Do you have all the parts? You're not going to want to mate subie parts to Chevy parts, you're just going to want to dump the subie body on top of a working Chevy driveline.

Will it fit? If you have to start modifying firewalls, relocating brakes/radiators/etc the difficulty of the job goes through the roof.

Can you fabricate, weld and have the confidence to design mounts that aren't going to fall apart 30 seconds after the engine is in there?

I agree that you are "just" dropping a Subie body on a Chevy drivetrain. Modified driveshaft is not too hard if the rest of the engine fits. Probably need a Chevy radiator, too.

I wouldn't do it, tho. I'd look for a WRX drivetrain from a crashed car, and just drop that in
.

 JohnHwangDD wrote:
I agree that you are "just" dropping a Subie body on a Chevy drivetrain. Modified driveshaft is not too hard if the rest of the engine fits. Probably need a Chevy radiator, too.

I wouldn't do it, tho. I'd look for a WRX drivetrain from a crashed car, and just drop that in
.

It comes back to what you're gonna use the car for. If you want it street legal, sure, but if you're just going to thrash it around a paddock then the small block Chevy isnt a bad idea. No finicky computers or turbos to deal with, and the best engine is the engine you have on hand. I'm guessing the rex engine is powerful enough that you'll have to replace the whole driveline and cooling system anyway. And I'd be surprised if the rex engine/ECU can just plug and play.

But if you want it street legal I wouldn't do either a rex engine or a 350, either way it's a huge amount of work to make it all legit, more than the subie is worth.

Plus the rex engine is gonna be turbo lag city, you'll have a very different personality to the vehicle with a 350 (each to their own but in general I find torquey naturally aspirated engines more fun than turbos).

As for the radiator, you're just going to need something with enough cooling capacity either way.

Personally I wouldn't do it mainly because I have no interest in subies, so if I had the time and money to burn I'd pick a different chassis to drop the 350 into, maybe an old MG or something.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 cuda1179 wrote:

 Vulcan wrote:

 cuda1179 wrote:
I just hope that the Subaru's radiator will be beg enough to cool a V-8.

This right here is why I'd never do it. You run the risk of doing all the work to get the thing running... and then destroying the engine in short order if it isn't cooled sufficiently.

You can probably sell the Subaru for more than enough to buy a suitable truck chassis and radiator to match the engine.

Yeah, After a couple days thought I think I agree it's too much work.

Still, it would be cool to have a 350Hp Subaru.

If it's from an early 90's van it's probably nowhere near 350hp. That said throw a couple of grand of speed parts at it and it will be. That's one of the great things about small block chevies, they're cheap, plentiful and speed parts are also cheap and plentiful.

AllSeeingSkink wrote:
[]If it's from an early 90's van it's probably nowhere near 350hp. That said throw a couple of grand of speed parts at it and it will be. That's one of the great things about small block chevies, they're cheap, plentiful and speed parts are also cheap and plentiful.

The block was from a Chevy Van, as were a couple of components (or so I was told). It was what was in my 1987 Monte Carlo when I bought it before upgrading to something with more kick and better looks. When it was in my Monte Carlo it was still a zippy fun ride. .

I only suggested the Rex engine because I know it'll fit in the bay, and the lack of a hood means guaranteed clearance for the TMIC.

I've seen a friend tackle something like this, and as a few others posted that is a maaaaajor project car lol

But if you do attempt it, in any form, you'll need to post pics!

A while ago I almost attempted something similar. There are a number of "self serve" junk yards in the area. In one of them I found two decentish-condition MG Midgets. This is my mom's dream car and something she's wanted since long before I was born. It wasn't exactly practical for her though.

The better of the two had a couple cracks in the body (nothing I couldn't handle), no engine, no gauges, no rag top, and a scrapped interior. A couple generic seats and carpet would be easy enough to install, and they make aftermarket gauges, carpet and tops. I thought about getting a Nissan 4 cylindar engine and transmission for it as they are dirt cheap, reliable, and as I've been told, align with the stock engine mounts.

Alas, they scrapped the darn thing before I could get down there with a trailer and buy it.

 RiTides wrote:
I've seen a friend tackle something like this, and as a few others posted that is a maaaaajor project car lol

But if you do attempt it, in any form, you'll need to post pics!

Yeah, you got to have the mechanical skills, time, parts resource and budget for that kind of project. And sometimes, it doesn't worth it. My mechanic buddy got an F-150 truck project from 5.4 to 6.2 engine swap. He's been working on it for a year now and still got some stuff to fit. Gave him a hand installing the new rack, bakflip cover, and railings for kayak mount. We'll take it to the for a short trip soon.