mud racer to rock bouncer

[dteeter]

I bought a mud racer that is a decent platform for a rock crawler...I know its a bit rough around the edges...but...I wont be entering it into any show and shine contest! I am looking to not have an extremely flexible machine...just a low budget repectable one. Here are my plans. I plan to add a chair on each side of the drivers chair plus a row of three chairs in the back...making it a six seater. I will have to rework the roll cage to make this happen. I need to figure out sizing and length of the coilover shocks with a new link suspension system to give it more travel. Concerns i have with it is the short driveline to the rear maybe to short to get the travel i need...thus i am considering moving the engine forward to lengthen the rear drive line and shortening the front...not sure if that would be worth it? i also need some advise on gearing. It has 617 gears with a t400 auto tranny...39.5 mudders. Dana 60 in the front...70 rear. I am thinking that getting back to the 460 range would be more suitable for a family cruiser? The other issue that I didnt realise was so complicated was the 3500/4000 stall converter...obviously this isnt practical for my application...so...i need a nonstall converter. I am told I will have to have one built for the motor and that they will need the cam specs ect in order to do build one? I was thinking I could just buy one for a 454 chevy pickup and call it good? But...apparently not? Anyway...I am new here...looking forward to getting this thing built with your help...your advise and suggestions are welcome

 

[woody]

You'll be time and money ahead taking the good parts from that and installing into a different chassis.

And a 6 seater? I started building a 4-seater a few years back, and quickly realized that 95% of my trips were solo...and my step daughter had zero interest in any trips unless she was getting to drive. No reason for more than 4 seats in any case.

 

[dteeter]

I can handle pretty much everything except for understanding what torgue converter to get and what type of shocks I need. Right now it has a set of cheap looking once upon a time gas filled coilovers....now its sitting flat. I need a set for the front that will provide about 8 inches of travel. So...does that mean I need a shock about 12 inches of travel so it can squash down to leave me with 8 usable? The back only has about 5 inches to work with...so...not sure what I would need there...