Common FWD only car with the most Torque?

This may be a strange request, but what (common, i.e. available under $1000) FWD car has the most low end torque? Considering an odd build...

Mid 90's Cadillac STS with a 4.6L Northstar was my first guess

First generation Toronado maybe. 425 ci and 475 ft-lb of torque. Could be hard to find but a heap might be free.

Easier find might be any sort of Bonneville/GM S/C 3800?

NordicSaab wrote: Mid 90's Cadillac STS with a 4.6L Northstar was my first guess

Cadillac STS was RWD. You're thinking of the DTS. But a first-gen Toronado would be most-torquey FWD, or possibly a 7th-gen Cadillac Eldorado (They had a Caddy 500 in them). Most common would probably be any of the GM 3800S/C cars though.

Impala SS with the LS4? More common and best of all no Northstar.

Olds Aurora had 260tq and can be had cheap.

4.0 Olds Aurora?

If you're looking for a modern transverse drivetrain the LS4 is the way to go. Just pull an entire subframe out of a wrecked V8 G/W-body Impala SS/Grand Prix GXP/Monte Carlo SS.

The FWD Northstar doesn't make as much torque is just as big and is harder to work with. The only advantage is that you can get one wired for OBD-I. There were actually two slightly different versions of the FWD Northstar. The "base" version was tuned to run on mid-grade and made less power but about the same torque and the "high performance" version was just tuned to make more power up high. They were very similar.

If you want something more compact, the Series III Supercharged 3800 (L32) is the best option - although they were hard to find. The Series II L67 is almost as capable and much easier to find and has more technical resources out there.

Older engines - yeah, the Olds 500 from the 7th gen Eldorado and the 455 from the Toronado were torque monsters, but keep in mind that they were longitudinally mounted, not transverse, so they would be difficult to package into a modern FWD car.

If you're opposed to using a GM that doesn't leave many options. The '95-'02 Lincoln Continental used a 4.6L DOHC Mod motor mounted transversely, but the stock transmission could barely handle it and they were huge. It would be theoretically possible to mount a modified MTX-4 out of an SHO onto one to get a manual.

If you're up for building an engine, then you could look at SHO engines, VQ35's, VG30's, J32/35's, etc.

4th gen (95-99) Maxima was decent for a V6. Rated at 205, I think. Can be increased relatively easily, and they can be found cheap and parts are plentiful in junkyards because they made tons of them.

Also, 5th gen Maximas have even more torque, but a sub $1000 one might be harder to find.

To provide more details, I'd prefer biger displacement for the purpose of turbocharging. Gen 3 sounds like a great option, but I'm prefering the sound of the 4.0 Aurora Engine.

NickD wrote:

NordicSaab wrote: Mid 90's Cadillac STS with a 4.6L Northstar was my first guess

Cadillac STS was RWD. You're thinking of the DTS. But a first-gen Toronado would be most-torquey FWD, or possibly a 7th-gen Cadillac Eldorado (They had a Caddy 500 in them). Most common would probably be any of the GM 3800S/C cars though.

The only 90's rwd caddy was the fleetwood(brougham) until the catera came around. STS, deville, eldo all FWD. Adding to the confusion there was a FWD fleetwood as well early in the decade.

Under a grand probably northstar but due to their issues I'd opt for a supercharged regal/gp/bonnie. If for driveline donor especially, smaller package and toss on a 3.4 pulley and blow up northstar numbers

the supercharged 3800 is the way to go.. they are common as dirt- you can get running but rusty Grand Prix GTPs for $500 around here- and respond well to slight modifications. they are a nice simple 90 degree OHC v6, so there are no huge and expensive timing chains/belts to worry about- just a single little chain on the front of the engine under the water pump that never wears out.

i find the LS4 to be intriguing, but everyone i know that has ever had one got sick of the transmissions blowing up on them out of nowhere.. but upgrade parts are also readily available for them- if it bolts to or into any other LS engine, the odds are pretty good that it will fit on this,too..

you couldn't pay me to own anything with a Northstar or it's Aurora offspring in it.. partly because the cars they come in are too freakin complex, but mostly because nothing is cheap or easy on those engines.

What about 6th Gen (67-70) Eldorado? 1970 was 550#/ft of torque

oldeskewltoy wrote: What about 6th Gen (67-70) Eldorado? 1970 was 550#/ft of torque

QFT.

In reply to Woody:

Those are either a Olds 455 or a 403.

If you get a s/c 3800 get a Regal GS.

88-92 Probe GT's/ MX-6 GT's can be had for less than a grand. A manual boost controller and a ECU Chip will net you 200-220whp & close to 300ft/lbs on a stock engine.

MkIII or early MKIV TDI. Toss in injector nozzles and a chip and see roughly 300lb-ft from a 1.9L

SHO because they sound great.

Are rough 2.4 turbo pt cruisers entering that price range?

The 99-02 Lincoln Continental had a special FWD version of the 4.6 DOHC that makes 275 hp and 275 lb-ft. Might not be the most torque, but I'm willing to bet you could find some pretty cheap.

4g63t or a 2gr with a trd blower?

I just bought a 98 regal gs for 1k. It had a bad s/c coupler ($20 part that makes the s/c clack loudly at idle/startup) so the guy thought the s/c was shot. Other than the horrific 90's GM playskool interior its not a bad car. I found that premium fuel really wakes it up.