01 Chrysler sebring rwd conversion

I picked up a nice looking sebring convertible a couple years back with the crappy motor already ruined. After looking for some reasonable options of repair/ and alternative engines I thought, this would be a good canidate to convert to rear wheel drive. I have wanted to do something this radical for years now, and threatened to do it to a few cars before. But this car I thought pretty enough to actually do it. The project started shortly after getting the car so I have made some progress after a 1 year hiatus. It currently has a lincoln town car rear end mocked up in it, chevy 305 and 700r4 mocked up, and steering rack from an 03 explorer mocked up. Anyways I will try to start rolling out some pics as I get a chance. It will be a long drawn out adventure as my past projects have been, so be patient:)

Look forward to seeing how it comes together

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This was oct 2015 bone stock and broken

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Foam engine block and a spare gutted transmission will make life a lot more tolerable.

Post up some pics of the chassis fabrication required.

Agreed, but this is what I had on hand..hope to get the modified engine cradle back out for final welding in a week or 2...will get better pics of it then

I have had the same idea rolling around the back of my head for my 04 Sebring convertible, except I thought of the LS motor and Corvette torque tube/transaxle setup for better weight distribution. There's an awful lot of engine forward of the front wheels. I'm going to watch your progress with envy since my 2.7 still runs strong and I can't justify the swap (yet!).

For curiosity sake, I figured the LS a better choice for reasons such as distributor clearance and access under the cowl. How does that look on your mock-up?

Cheers,

Mark

I considered ls1 and sbf just for that reason. Iam not pleased with the distributor clearances at the back. In its current configuration I only have about 4-5 inches of clearance under the engine. I can live with that for this round. Might be some taller rims/tires in the future, but 1st its gotta find its way outta my garage. Things have a bad habit of dying in mid idea here, and I dont want this to be 1 of them...lol. so iam trying to push through with most things good enough, so it sees some kind of completion.

Well, at least there is clearance. How about the bellhousing clearance and trans/driveshaft tunnel?

Mark

As I recall the bellhousing sat in a rather large void at the rear of the factory engine compartment made for exhuast components. The driveshaft tunnel isnt too bad either, will need to gently message it at the trans output for the yoke to clear. The real sticky part was the main case of the trans. Had to get pretty physical with the floor boards on both sides, some cuts/heavy hammer blows etc...its not pretty underneath, and the trans case is right on the sheet mtl. Will probably give it a heavy rubber shroud in that area to cut down on a lil rubbing and noise. All I need to look untouched is the exterior and interior, under the car iam not too concerned with at this point...will need to pull the pwr train out at some point to finish it up. Will try to get pics of the sheet mtl at that point.

Needless to say this isnt a project for the faint of heart..lol

I wouldn't have considered the Sebring to be a good candidate for anything but the crusher, but this? This, I like.

STOP THIS RIGHT NOW!! every time I see something like this it makes me want to take my '03 Aurora and put the engine, cradle and all in the back seat. Keep up the fight , this will worth all the effort.

Lol...you and me both. I have a special distaste for most mopar related machines...but they sure do make some sharp looking bodies, just often in need of better power trains:( Seriously who would build a car like the prowler and power it with a V6! Really! Awesome looking car though. And the list goes on with mopar. I think the only mopar I truly respect is the viper. If it can even be considered mopar. Bet this opens a can o worms...lol

This doesn't have the same goofy longitudial engine w/ transfer case setup like the Intrepid/300 right? That would have been a lot easier to convert compared to a traditional transverse/FWD layout.

Exactly! Transverse layout but with a lot of room at the back, much to my surprise. It hasnt been horrible (yet) I would imagine a fwd only offered with a 4cyl might be much worse then this has been so far.

In reply to Graystang:

Built off the Mitsu Galant platform, so there's a version of that platform with AWD.

The hardtop Sebring was built off a different platform.

That explains the large void I bet then:) lucky for me. Thanks for the heads up

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Lil more progress, roughed in the mtr mounts today

Need to add a vertical section on each side of the mtr mounts after looking at the pics me thinks

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And this is the rack from the 03 explorer I am gonna use..mounts for it fabed up soon

Interesting. I was definitely expecting a Sebring coupe when I clicked.

Stefan wrote: In reply to Graystang: Built off the Mitsu Galant platform, so there's a version of that platform with AWD. The hardtop Sebring was built off a different platform.

The coupe and convertable share the mitsu platform the sedan is a Chrysler platform.

Ah. That was the split, thanks. I should have double checked that instead of relying on old man memory :)