I'm thinking about which car to get for my EV conversion... (I'm looking for a suitable cheap performance car)

Question

Well I'm opting for a car that doesn't have a running engine, but still has a nice body/chassis that I could work with. Basically, my options are these:

Subaru WRX 2.5rs (older GC chassis ones)

Datsun 240Z

Acura Integra GS-R

Honda Prelude (4th or 5th gen)

So those are my options as cheap, but still high performance vehicles. I want to swap out the combustion engine with an electric motor, as well as add the necessary components with it (batteries, fuse, et cetera) Now here's the problem:

My main problem is that I feel sort of uneasy about putting a bunch of batteries in front, so I PREFER (but not require) to have them all resting in the back. Granted, this will create an unbalance more or less depending on which car I want to get.

I think the best cars are the Integra and Prelude, since they're already front heavy, but front wheel drive cars have an issue with understeer. 240z needs restore first and will be even more rear-heavy. Best is WRX, but not sure if I could...

Answer 1

Have you ever built an EV before?  there are a lot of things to consider here that the tone of your questions indicates you are not aware of.  For example you stated in the WRX that you wonder if you could get power to all four wheels with one motor?? you don't want to use the transmission at all, it serves no purpose in an EV, the same applies to the driving characteristics Under-steer??  this is not applicable to an EV build, the biggest performance benefit for an EV is weight, the top of your list should be to find the lightest possible chassis you can, the cars you listed above are all way too heavy, it will perform terribly, if you want any kind of useable car, you should be looking at cars like Ford fiesta, or aspire, chevy metro or aveo, or even the old fiberglass bradley.  i know these are kinda nerdy, and not as cool as rolling up in an EV WRX, but if you build the WRX, you will have to choose between 45 MPH top speed and 30 mile range, or 55 MPH top speed and 15 mile range, or spending over $45,000 not so cool anymore huh!! sorry  to be the bearer of bad news, but go light light light!!