I was wondering if my 1957 Ford panel truck could be converted to front wheel drive using my built 302 and a Lincoln AX4N transaxle. This would allow for a lower and flatter floor for wheelchair accessibility.
Bolted, no, adapted, maybe. These were a little unreliable until about 1995, or so. Later model ones are electronically shifted, which is another whole can of worms. One from an SHO would likely be strongest, can't remember if those were electronic shift, though. The 302 still might break it. Lots of careful measuring would be in order, including if this assembly, when together, will fit between the frame rails. And then there is the issue of suspension...
The bellhousing is wrong. You'd need some sort of adapter. Why not just the whole 4.6 V8 drivetrain from a FWD Continental? Not sure, but I think it may actually be mounted to a subframe that might be easier to swap.
I can't answer your question but I've seen airport shuttle buses that have low floors and I think are front wheel drive using a 4x4 transfer case or maybe a modified case and not connecting a rear shaft to it.
correct me if i'm wrong, but wasn't there an SHO ford taurus that came with a transverse mounted 5.0 for front wheel drive? i'm pretty sure i saw one a while back be might be confused. i know little to nothing about sbf's, but won't the 5.0 bolt to everything the 302 does?
The SHO transmissions were not the same pattern as the 302 bellhousing. The V8 SHO were a whole different engine. Ford never used the 302 in a FWD application that I am aware of.
From Wikipedia for what that's worth but my parenthesis; '96 up Taurus SHO used a dual overhead cam 4 valve per cylinder 3.4 60 degree V8, same as the Duratec 2.5 V6 (for the Mondeo and Contour among others) with two additional cylinders, and shares that bellhousing (and probably transaxles). Required welding the cams to the swaged on drive gear keep them from slipping and eating valves causing catastrophic failure.
I am also in a wheelchair myself, it just seems to me that there are other ways to do this, and possibly the use of lifts and such to avoid this most-likely extremely costly engineering nightmare! What is your injury? I am a T-3-T-4 Para....... Do you drive from your chair? James