is the a way of "locking" one of the drive shafts from a FWD car so all the power goes to the other, and mount the engine and gearbox along the length of the car so it can be used in a locost?

Not really , no. All sorts of problems. The diff would burn out, the propshaft would run down one side of the car, the whole engine would be too high, etc etc

John

i dont think so ....the drive shaft would be ofset to much to side ,,..,why do yer wanna do it...

And then you would have to run it through another diff at the back, and the drive has already been geared down to drive the front wheels.

This arrangement does get done here (Florida) quite a bit. They take one drive forward and one back to create a very low geared 4WD machine.
We have lots of FWD V6 donors for little money.

Usually for hunting in the swamps for gators

not many gators in uttoxetor.....the elephants took care of that

Honda civic engine/gearboxes are used in that arrangement for trials cars in New Zealand, light and low gearing when connected to a live axle is ideal.
Old Git