I am so sick of driving junk. Now before anybody gets excited thinking I'm bashing the original TM's, let me clarify. All of the original TM's I've seen around here over the past few years (including the two I own) have been beat to death with no maintenence, winter driven and rusty from the road salt, or just plain worn out from excessive milage. I absolutely love these cars, and can't think of anything I'd rather have as a daily driver but just can't find one that's not some sort of rolling restoration project. Even if I could find some prestine low milage example, I'd feel really guilty about racking the miles up on it.
With that in mind, would it be reasonable to try to swap an original TM driveline (2.5 TI/520 running SMEC electronics for the sake of discussion) into a newer body? I was thinking of something in the way of a Neon made in this decade, or an Avenger, or possibly a cloud car. I know it's possible to swap the 2.4 into the original TM's, so it stands to reason the opposite would be true.
What I'd like to do is find the absolute lowest milage car I can with a bad engine, trans, or both but perfect body and interior, and swap the driveline out of the Sundance into it.
I know I'd have to fabricate mounts, exhaust, swap in the older shifter/cables, turbo fuel pump, and spend quite a bit of time getting the wiring to play nice, but I feel like I can handle all of that. I'm just curious to hear any thoughts or suggestions on anything I may be overlooking.
Thanks,
Tony