[nim_peter]

Can I change a Lancer from a front wheel to a rear wheel drive? I find rear wheel drives more appealing. Anyone in India doing it? If so how much will it cost you?

You guys can put in your opions also, both advantages and disadvantages of rear wheel drive. Why Indian cars are front wheel drives?

[1100D]

The modifications would be so extensive that it is better to say its impossible. But you can go the way of all-wheel drive after spending some dough.

RWD is purely functional on load carrying applications, moreover rear-wheel drives have more traction from launch. And Rearwheel drives (when adequately powered) can drift easily.

A front wheel drive, frees the designers of the powertrain design constraints when designing the body architecture. Hence different types of vehicle can be made on the same platform (sort of modularity) and obviously cheaper to implemet.

Most daily use cars these days are FWD only some high performance cars are RWD. So please blame Citroen and sir Alec Issignosis for our sorry fate.

[whatcanthisbe]

Originally Posted by nim_peter

Can I change a Lancer from a front wheel to a rear wheel drive? I find rear wheel drives more appealing. Anyone in India doing it? If so how much will it cost you?

You guys can put in your opions also, both advantages and disadvantages of rear wheel drive. Why Indian cars are front wheel drives?

it is very doable but the cost and the time involved would be very prohibitive
here are a couple of links
How the heck do they convert FWD to RWD - Automotive Message Forums
RWD Conversion - DRIFTING.com
Bradley Miller's Morris Minor Project -
these are not on the lancer but on a FWD car
the concept / process would be the same.

[GTO]

A better option for you would be to get an EVO conversion AWD. There are ready kits and installers available for this. Of course, it costs about 5 - 7 lacs (last I heard) so your budget will decide.

[pheonix20]

Can anyone please tell me where these kits for lancer conversion from FWD to AWD be found in India.

[Amey]

Its not as easy as it seems. It needs a lot of modifications. Your first hurdle, is to procure the Evo AWD kit which means the entire rear end of the car. The most crucial part being the Differential frame.Fitting it is not easy. There is a reason why the Lancer with FWD and AWD had entirely different chassis. For example, the Indian Lancer is based on CK2A Chassis (Petrol version) whereas the AWD version was based on CK4A chassis.
If you are up for a lot of efforts and patience and ready to spend some serious money then go for it.
Remember, when I say you need the entire rear end, it indirectly means that you would need a donor car ideally.
In my opinion it doesnt make sense. If you are hell bent on doing it then there are Malaysian junkyards and scrap dealers where you can get Evo Half cuts starting at anything between 1.25-1.5L and this is just for the front half cut,not sure how much more it would be for the rear included or only the rear half cut.
Also to convert the Indian petrol lancer to RWD or AWD, you need to replace the existing gearbox and go for W5M41/W5M42 series gearbox which is found in the Evo.
This also means that these gearboxes might not work with the existing 4G15 engine which means you might have to go for an engine swap and I think you would obviously prefer going for the Evo 4G63T engine.
I hope now you get why I said, you need a donor car to do all this and yet need a lot of efforts to successfully implement it.

I might be wrong but based on whatever little I know, this is what I can tell you.

If you do decide to go ahead with the project, Best of Luck !

[pramodkumar]

Originally Posted by Amey

Its not as easy as it seems. It needs a lot of modifications. Your first hurdle, is to procure the Evo AWD kit which means the entire rear end of the car. The most crucial part being the Differential frame.Fitting it is not easy. There is a reason why the Lancer with FWD and AWD had entirely different chassis. For example, the Indian Lancer is based on CK2A Chassis (Petrol version) whereas the AWD version was based on CK4A chassis.
If you are up for a lot of efforts and patience and ready to spend some serious money then go for it.
Remember, when I say you need the entire rear end, it indirectly means that you would need a donor car ideally.
In my opinion it doesnt make sense. If you are hell bent on doing it then there are Malaysian junkyards and scrap dealers where you can get Evo Half cuts starting at anything between 1.25-1.5L and this is just for the front half cut,not sure how much more it would be for the rear included or only the rear half cut.
Also to convert the Indian petrol lancer to RWD or AWD, you need to replace the existing gearbox and go for W5M41/W5M42 series gearbox which is found in the Evo.
This also means that these gearboxes might not work with the existing 4G15 engine which means you might have to go for an engine swap and I think you would obviously prefer going for the Evo 4G63T engine.
I hope now you get why I said, you need a donor car to do all this and yet need a lot of efforts to successfully implement it.

I might be wrong but based on whatever little I know, this is what I can tell you.

If you do decide to go ahead with the project, Best of Luck !

Very informative post , since the indian lancer has a independent rear link suspension i thought the conversion would not be difficult, but your post is surly an eye opener.


@nim_peter, why do you want a rear wheel drive lancer? If you are looking to go sideways i suggest you get a LSD gear box, a member sideways has it on his mivec lancer. pm him for details, else contacting KS from KSmotersport would solve your problems.

Pramod

[GTO]

Originally Posted by pheonix20

Can anyone please tell me where these kits for lancer conversion from FWD to AWD be found in India.

I know KSMotorsports (Mumbai) has converted a couple of Lancers into EVOs. Look up his contact details here.

[regnex]

Originally Posted by nim_peter

Can I change a Lancer from a front wheel to a rear wheel drive? I find rear wheel drives more appealing. Anyone in India doing it? If so how much will it cost you?

You guys can put in your opions also, both advantages and disadvantages of rear wheel drive. Why Indian cars are front wheel drives?

The guys have a point, only if you have a lot of throw-away money to spend, go ahead.
IMHO there are alot of crazy things you can do with the FWD lancer if you action your skills right the potential it has are limitless.