RWD cars?

I am trying to build a fairly comprehensive list of RWD cars that we can get here in the States for a car project.

Actually I'm mostly looking for the smaller cars.

Of course there are the myriad of trucks and then the Mustang, but how about something a little lighter or econocar?

BMW's not econocar or especially light.

Miata

thread closed

What time frame? There are some good small import rwd cars from the 80's, but that style of platform has all but dried up by the 90's.

supra, older celica, ae86 corolla, volvo 2 seriesand my fav the 240sx!

Fox chassis Fords, any GM G, F, B body, Chevette, Starion/Conquest, SC 300, IS 300 to name a few.

You need to be more specific, lol. At least add, like, fuel injected, or something, to the list of requirements!

Here's a list of what I can think of off the top of my head. Pre-'84 Corollas, Pre-'88 Corolla Sports, Pre-'86 Celicas, All Supras, All Nissan Z cars, 200SX, 240SX, Starion/Conquest, All Mustangs, All Camaros, All pickups except VW Caddy, All MR2s, All BMW cars that don't end in 'x', Miata, Solstice/Sky, Hyundai Genesis, okay, I'm tired now, lol.

Toyota Corolla AE71, TE72, AE86-Basically any Corolla 1983 or before, and then also SR5 2-door and 3-door from 1984-1987 and GT-S 2-door and 3-door from 1985-1987

Toyota Celica RA22/23, RA28, RA40, RA65-Basically any Celica 1985 and earlier, maybe also 1986?

Toyota Starlet-all

Toyota MR-2-all first gen (AW11) and second gen (SW20)

Toyota Supra-all years

Toyota Cressida-all years, but hardly small

Any Lexus except the ES

Pontiac Fiero

Pretty much any Peugeot, but the 505 springs to mind

Mazda RX-7 all generations and RX-8

Mazda RX-3, RX-2, RX-4

Mazda GLC

Mazda 626-up to 1982

Mazda 929-all-although not really that small

Mazda Miata

Nissan 240SX

Nissan 200SX mid-80's and earlier

Datsun 610 and 810

Datsun 510

Datsun 210

Datsun 1200

Alfa Romeo (Gulia, Alfetta, Spider etc)-Basically any model except the 164

Mitsubishi Starion/Dodge Conquest

Plymouth Sapporo

Plymouth Cricket

Dodge Colt up to 1979

Plymouth Arrow up to 1980?

Isuzu Impulse-80's

Ford Pinto/Mercury Bobcat

Ford Mustang II

Ford Mustang-all

Chevy Chevette/Pontiac T1000

FIAT 124 or 131

BMW E21/E30

BMW 2002

Triumph TR7 and TR8

Merkur XR4Ti

Volvos- P1800, 122, 140-series cars, 160-series cars, 240-series cars, 740-series cars, and 940-series cars.

That is most of the ones I can think of, leaving out the old stuff, the big stuff, and the really odd stuff, but I am probably forgetting some...

The original VW Beetle and it's Porsche copies.

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technically all Porsches'... 924 and 928 from the 70's, 924/944/928 from the 80, 944/968/928 early 90's from $200 to $45,000 pick your poison. an early 924 with a late 928 engine swap would be a killer v8 little monster the rest of the models in the line up as well, but all the weight is in the back...

Falcon and Opel GT come to mind.

maserati biturbo

merkur XR4ti

fiat spider and X1/9

The rwd peugeots you would be likely to run across are a 504 or 505, or possibly (but not likely) a 404 or 604. With most small rwd cars, you are going to making alot of compromises as far as handling, power, fuel economy, etc unless you get something like a miata, e30, corolla gts, 944, or other more performance oriented car. Most of the older japanese 4 cylinders and things like that are less than impressive when compared to newer cars.

I do know that the E30's will get significantly better MPG than my 240SX.

I have also heard that RWD Corolla's weren't exactly fuel-sippers either.

Kind of depressing considering the rather low power that the popular drift cars make.

my 318ti is 'light" by todays standards at almost 2700 pounds.. and can, with a light foot, return 35mpg on the highway

man, where i live the only coinciding of RWD and "affrodable" is in Panther cars and trucks

A-body Mopars, of course.

Small RWD cars:

AMC - 68-70 AMX, Spirit (including GT and AMX), Eagle, Hornet, Gremlin, Pacer, and Concord (including wagons).

Ford - Maverick, Falcon, Mustang II, Pinto, fox Mustang (79-93), fox Fairmont, fox Futura coupe. Fox-4 Mustang (94-04) could be considered small to some.

Chevy/GM - Vega, Opel GT, Chevy II, Nova/Omega/Ventura/Apollo.

Dodge/Plymouth - Duster/Demon/Valiant/Scamp/Dart/Swinger

Toyota - (already well covered in this thread) basically early Celicas and Corollas plus Supras and really old stuff (Starlet, Cressida, Corona).

Mazda - R100, RX2, RX3, RX4, Cosmo, 1st-Gen RX7 (79-85)

Nissan - 240SX, 240/260/280Z

I didn't think Miata needed to even be mentioned on this forum. I thought it went without saying.

But looking mostly for newer cars that have smaller suspension uprights, brakes, etc. that are currently being produced or just stopped being produced so the parts would be available for a long time to come. We are wanting to build a few Locost type cars.

Pretty much just the Miata then...

I wanna see a turbo 3tc-powered Locost!

Or a 7mgte locost!

EricM wrote: Mustang thread closed

carguy123 wrote: I didn't think Miata needed to even be mentioned on this forum. I thought it went without saying. But looking mostly for newer cars that have smaller suspension uprights, brakes, etc. that are currently being produced or just stopped being produced so the parts would be available for a long time to come. We are wanting to build a few Locost type cars.

Look into the fiat 124... it's suspension can be easily removed from rust spiders and into locosts.. basically the only thing you need to worry about are rusty "uprights" on the front suspension where the spring mounts are. Chances are you will want to go with coilovers anyway.

Rear suspension is by 5 link solid axle and the front is held in place with a bolt in crossmember

carguy123 wrote: But looking mostly for newer cars that have smaller suspension uprights, brakes, etc. that are currently being produced or just stopped being produced so the parts would be available for a long time to come. We are wanting to build a few Locost type cars.

I have been wondering about the usability of a Fb or Fc Rx-7 as a locost donor.. what is the word on their rear ends and the uprights? are they SLA?

Fb is solid rear axle (what power could that take in a locost app and diff? width?) Fc is IRS.. so the uprights could likely be used.

it looks like they are strut front though..

Miata Torsen bolts into later (83.5-85) FB rears and some are running 10's on slicks with those, so easily tough enough for a Locost. The early rears are pretty stout as well and Locosts are half the weight of an FB so pretty much any will do. The problem is that stupid bolt pattern!

I would actually look at 4-lug FC stuff. Nobody wants it because of the prevalence of 4-piston GTU/GXL/TurboII stuff on 5-lugs. The 4-lug FC is 4x114.3 so it's easy to find wheels plus they're all 4-wheel-disc.

How about a ratty mercedes 190E. Too bad performance parts would be hard to find. You'd need to get the 2.5l so you could find parts from the cosworth.