Floorpan Differences...

FtoSam · Post by **FtoSam** » Mon Jul 07, 2008 8:16 am

Alright... I was speaking to a guy last night that is setting up a race team...

he's looking at the possiblility of sponsoring me and converting my drive train...

I need to know, what needs to be done to the floorpan of the FTO? Its the same as a lancer floorpan right?

We're putting a fuel cell in the boot anyway, so thats r

scremn · Post by **scremn** » Thu Jul 24, 2008 8:22 am

Hey man, any news on this? Im assuming FTO's are the same as Lancers, mine is much the same as this but we are using a sheetmetal floor, This car was done with an Evo 1-3 boot floor...

FtoSam · Post by **FtoSam** » Thu Jul 24, 2008 12:34 pm

FTO has a similair floorpan to an EVO 4+, however the rear of it needs to be heavily modified (Read: angle Grinder, Plasma Cutter and some serious welding skills)

scremn · Post by **scremn** » Thu Jul 24, 2008 8:40 pm

Boot floor and the rear crossmember didnt change from Evo 1-6.5, only suspension arms (& mounts), diff hangars and subframes. When I bought my CE Lancer Coupe MR I thought it would be identical to an Evo 4 so I private imported a whole E4 from Japan for my parts. When it got here, everything up the front bolted up sweet but the rear was a mission - none of the upper suspension arms lined up as the chassis mounting points were all different. Found out in the end that the rear of my car (and most likely yours) is almost bolt-on identical to an Evo 1-3, just need to weld in one crossmember (same on Evos 1-6.5, pictured below) then get Evo 1-3 trailing arms (4WD), subframe, diff hangars, and diff - ratio will need to be matched to the front diff though. The camber arms should be identical to the ones on your FTO and you can also avoid buying the lower control arms if you fab up some swaybar links.

Under my E4, this is the crossmember you need to weld in:

These are way different to our cars and Evo 1-3's:

My car half way through the conversion. Note: welded in crossmember:

FtoSam · Post by **FtoSam** » Thu Jul 24, 2008 11:01 pm

hrmmm...

i know the gearbox on the 1-3 is on the wrong side...

and i know a guy that converted his FTO to AWD with an EVO 7 floorpan...

wil have to get some good pics of underneath mine and of an evo... compare them

Post by **Bennoz** » Thu Jul 24, 2008 11:03 pm

I would have thought the earlier evo's would share more parts in common... considering the FTO was released aat the same time the evo II & III were.

The FTO floor plan is apparently a bastardized evo II.

FtoSam · Post by **FtoSam** » Thu Jul 24, 2008 11:07 pm

hrmm... well maybe the floorpan of an evo 2-3 combined with a 4-6 gearbox and running gear?

scremn · Post by **scremn** » Fri Jul 25, 2008 7:57 am

Thats basically what Ive done except I used a 96 GSR rear diff as the ratio (3.312) matches my E4 gearbox and bolts up to the Evo 1-3 rear subframe as the diff housing is identical to Evo 1-3 diffs

You can do the same thing with an Evo 5 up engine/gearbox but have to use an auto GSR rear diff which has a ratio of 3.307. I decided against running the rear AYC diff - too heavy, complicated, and weak

FtoSam · Post by **FtoSam** » Fri Jul 25, 2008 8:06 am

YEah.... AYC is not something i want either for the same reasons...

I have a good friend who does race car fabrications... he said a few hundred bucks will cover him taking out the old floorpan, and welding it into the fto...

just need to sort out what i need...

I definately need EVO 4+ gearbox... But what driveshaft, suspension, brakes and diff will i need? which are the best ones to get? And what floorpan should i use...

from what you've been saying scremn, i should use:
Floorpan- Evo 2/3
Gearbox = Evo 4/5
Diff- Auto GSR
Driveshaft- ?

or are you saying that i dont need to do the floorpan and can just do the crossmember?

Post by **Bennoz** » Fri Jul 25, 2008 8:14 am

Driveshafts will need to be modified I'd say. Early EVO's are 4 stud, FTO has to be 5 stud.

FtoSam · Post by **FtoSam** » Fri Jul 25, 2008 9:12 am

hrmm...

Might start up a rough budget...

Evo 4/5 Box $1500
Evo 2-3 Rearcut $1800 (For Floorpan, Diff Hangers, Trailing arms, etc)
GSR Auto Diff $800
Welding new floorpan in $400
Modified Driveshafts $?
Custom TailShaft $1000
Small items (Bolts, welding, oils, links, fab work etc) $3000

So i'm looking at $8500 in parts not including a set of modified driveshafts....

And thats provided me and my mates can do ost of the bolt up work.. Which is obviously going to save about $6k...

Scremn and Ben, could you think of anything else that should be included, taken care of?? Obviously both of you have a little more experience with this then i do (I'm an interior/electrical work kinda guy)...

scremn · Post by **scremn** » Fri Jul 25, 2008 9:14 am

Now it kinda gets a bit confusing... I used everything up front from my E4; hubs, hub carriers, brakes, struts, arms, driveshafts, subframe - the lot basically. Because I used an Evo 3 setup in the rear and Evo 4 up the front, my stud patterns were different - 4*114.3 and 5*114.3. This was easily sorted though by pressing in some Evo 4 rear hubs into the trailing arms. I thought this would later cause problems with axle splines being different but whatdyaknow, 96 GSR axles that came with the diff slotted in perfect to the E4 hubs. Even if they didnt, it'd just be a case of changing the outer CV's to match. So my recommendations for you:

- Evo 4+ gearbox and Evo 4 axles (please check track width differences). I can get an axle spline count too if you'd like to compare? You could get all Evo 4 hubs/brakes/arms/subframe but I have a feeling you may get away with your FTO stuff as some who have done the conversion to Mirages in the US havent need an Evo subframe sometimes.
- Evo 1-3 or 92-95 GSR bootfloor and crossmember (welding required)
- Evo 1-3 rear subframe
- Evo 1-3 trailing arms and Evo 4 rear hubs for rear 5 stud conversion.
- Diff, AUTO GSR if using an Evo 5+ gearbox or 96 GSR (harder to come by) if using an Evo 4 gearbox. Also matching axles (again check track width)
- Custom shortened Evo 1-3 main driveshaft (2pc)

I just did the crossmember and not the bootfloor as it suited my situation. Im not sure what your certifiers are like to deal with but from what Ive heard in OZ its best to stay as close to the factory look as possible so use the.

Please Sam dont take what I say as gospel, check all measurements a few times. FTO is still unchartered territory as was my conversion when I started it, but this is what Ive come up with from my experiences and have a pretty good feeling it'll work for you.

scremn · Post by **scremn** » Fri Jul 25, 2008 9:34 am

FtoSam wrote:...Evo 2-3 Rearcut $1800 (For Floorpan, Diff Hangers, Trailing arms, etc)
GSR Auto Diff $800
Welding new floorpan in $400...

That rear cut should also include a diff. GSR Auto diffs are like NZ$100 on TradeMe, dont pay $800. Besides, it is really only the crown and pinion wheel you need from inside to make the diff you get from the rear cut the right ratio to use with your gearbox

Dont make a custom main driveshaft, use a shortened Evo 1-3 one. Should only cost a few hundred on top of the purchase cost. You'll find some factory driveshafts that will work.

There are other odd bits like the captive plates (nuts welded inside the chassis rail basically to bolt the subframe up) and the centre hangar bearing bracket (to hold up the driveshaft in the middle) that will need to be sourced. The captive plates should come with your rear cut though.

Its not as hard as you think man, you should be able to do a lot of the bolting up yourselves. I'll add more as I think of it but for now, check out a couple of the pics under my car before we chopped it:

In this pic, you can even see the boltholes to mount the subframe. They were already there but just didnt have nuts in so we couldnt bolt up the subframe:

Old bootfloor (and fuel tank, which reminds me, you need a 4WD fuel tank

) from underneath. Most of this part gets chopped out and the new crossmember welded in has new mounts for the fuel tank:

Remember 92-95 GSR's that were sold NZ and AU new have identical chassis's to Evo 1-3's, just with added braces in places so parts can be sourced off them too. Dont get ripped by asking for Evo 1-3 bits.

FtoSam · Post by **FtoSam** » Fri Jul 25, 2008 12:50 pm

thanks mate... awesome job on the detail and pics...

I think i just need to get the rearcut, front gearbox and diff.... then just work on it from there... Do one bit at a time...

Just sucks that all my mechanic mates are either rotor heads or drifters...

And the fact that drivetrains are my major weak spot with car knowledge... (hopefully this is about to change..)

SG · Post by SG » Fri Jul 25, 2008 1:02 pm

and you can also avoid buying the lower control arms if you fab up some swaybar links.

is the evo 2-3 rear subframe really the same length as the fto's??

scremn · Post by **scremn** » Fri Jul 25, 2008 2:47 pm

Im not 100% sure, but it was the same on my CE Lancer. Ive advised Sam to check and check again with these things but its surprised me how similar a lot of these parts are through the generations. You could easily compare FTO LCA's to Lancer LCA's for length differences

From what Ive read, track differences are normally part of the trailing arms, not the LCA's themselves, as Evo 2-3 apparently have slightly more track width then Evo 1s also.

FtoSam · Post by **FtoSam** » Tue Jul 29, 2008 11:32 pm

Been speaking to a few of the guys over at EvolutionOz and they are thinking the Evo box will not bolt up to the 6a12 engine...

However one from a 6a13tt Galant should do the trick....

And i just so happen to know where to find one...