After reading this I thought of something kinda wild that might work for ya. How about putting the body on backwards, and building an engine cover area in the back? The biggest thing that would need to be done is to get reverse cut gears for the axles. Shouldn't be too hard to locate, especially if you used a J**p chassis, as there's tons of stuff like that out there. I kinda think of the engine cover area like the old VW Bus' were, that covered the whole area and allowed you to put a bed or whatever back there.eralov wrote:oh, and as to the jeep wheelbase, those rigs are not mid engined, their engine is 12-18 inches farther forward, that is the space that the rear driveline needs for any articulation...
As far as the wheel opening in the front, if you used a rear shackle set-up on the front axle, the movement would be upward and rearward. So you could much more easily enlarge the opening in that direction than the other way. But if you kept your tires a reasonable size, the body lift required to mount it on the chassis should allow enough room for tire tuck during greater articulation situations.