Thread: rear wheel drive '02 gp, good idea?

Ive owned my 2002 grand prix se for a year and 8months, originally bought it as a DD (daily driver) but ex crashed it, so now its my project car. Recently I have gutted the interior, but left the seats and what not. Im thinking about doing a rear wheel drive conversion, plan on taking the sub frames off and dropping the body on a rear wheel drive full frame, but haven't really looked into what frame would work off what car to do the swap. Plan on dropping a Chevy small block 350 under the hood with a 4spd manual transmission, with a Ford 9" rear. Its alot of work I know, but willing to put in the hours of work. But what do you guys think? Good idea or a bad idea? And does anyone know what frame would fit under my car? Obiviously its a pontiac grand prix, its an '02 se...



Please don't bash my idea if you think its stupid, because its just for fun and for something that's off the wall wicked insane that ain't seen often or at all

Ok thanks, Haven't checked yet but will after I post this. Do you know what frame he used?

Not really, because if you think about it its the modification that'll keep on giving if you keep on working. I just enjoy building things, weather its a big hassel or not. Just love the challenge lmao

Oh ok

Oh I do plan on doing this, ill keep you guys updated don't worry lol. And yea I seen he used the existing sub frames, but im figuring it'd be alot easier to buy a full RWD frame and cut the front and rear off to turn it into a sub frame that wouldn't need much modification. Rather than build it from scratch like him... and haven't really put much thought into the engine and transmission, just know I wanna use a small block with a 4spd manual transmission. Any and all help will be highly appreciated and your effort in helping will be noted for future story's and what not lol

Yeah I was thinking more about it, and a 5spd might be a better idea. Im looking for more of a racecar setup rather than street car, because im always racing. And with the engine im on a tight budget right now, but I am changing it later. Wanna make sure I got enough money for the conversion before I get to the engine, lmao don't wanna over spend on the engine and tranny and end up with a half built rear end

See im only doin it as a **** off project, and if I do get hungry for more power ill just fix that problem. And im using my '02 gp, not changing the car im doing it to. Already got it on hand, no point in wasting money on a different car to rip apart.. and the guy who spent 10k on it could've done it cheaper, yeah he got about the same ride height for more money. There's not much point in why he built the RWD subframe around the original body, when he could've gotten the same results from building the rear end around the subframe. It would've been cheaper.. like as an example and not perfect on the right parts: like buy a good frame from pick-a-part and cut the rear of the frame off, size it up and cut the body a bit to fit the frame, patch the trunk with some sheet metal, and weld the new already built subframe on. And disassemble the front to nothing and once again cut the front of the pick-a-part frame to make a new sub frame, build the inner wheel wells using the original ones with some mods to'em to fit and hold the bumper and fenders and what not. And just run a custom fabricated "X" style frame under the car to complete the frame and run a tube through the center for the drive shaft. Its cheaper than the way he did it, you'll spend at the most $4,500 on it, if you run a quick cheap engine and tranny for a while and. Just either replace it or rebuild it later. My grandfather use to rebuild cars all the time, and he built a few cars basically the same way I just said how to do the conversion. But everyone has their own opinion on fabrication work... build it first and then worry about power later when you got the money, im gonna be building this off my paycheck, I don't have cash already saved out because I wasn't thinking bout doin this till the other day when I posted this.