Quattro, Lockers, et al (long)

[William Elliott]

I've read Scott's discourse on Steamboat (REALLY wanted to go, but had
to be in New Orleans instead... an acceptable alternative considering
the circumstances)and wanted to ask a few questions...

Anyway, I recently purchased the Dec 82 edition of Car and Driver where
they pit the then-new UrQ against a Surburban, Eagle, SAAB 900, etc.
(This is a pitiful piece of biased journalism... the goal beforehand
seemed to be to prove that the UrQ simply wasn't worth $35,000... so it
competed on high performance summer tires against all-season and
all-terrain tires on the snow and ice. No tarmac tests were run. The
judgement was it was a "good, but not great" snow car.)

But they did measure lateral G's on an ice-covered skidpad and (not
surprisingly considering the tires) the UrQ was the lowest of the bunch.
But it was even lower than the tires would account for... and
significantly lower still with the diffs locked.

 In my recent ice-racing education, I've come to accept that I simply
have less lateral grip than the 2wd cars and even less with the diffs
locked. (My wife refuses to drive a quattro when the going gets slick
because of this issue.. she says she's lots more stable in a FWD.)

Now this brings me to the next issue... on the ice track, running with
the center diff locked seems to be the fastest under most all
circumstances due to the ability to accelerate on the straights, but
significantly slows me down through tight esses.  The guys with the
torsen cars seem to have the best of both worlds... acceleration and
more lateral grip.  Am I missing something here or do I just not know
how to drive my locker correctly? (I'm not yet smooth enough to lock and
unlock at will on the course.)

And finally... assuming I'm going to need a clutch in the near future I
sure as heck am not going to pull the engine until I need one) how
difficult would it be to swap in a later gearbox with torsen? Is this a
bolt-in or a major fabrication job? And would the result be close to the
MB UrQ? (Everyone that has driven both seems to FAR prefer the dynamics
of the MB over the WR/WX... or am I wrong here as well?)

I don't really want to get the whole torsen thread started again (but I
do suscribe to that list for the interesting reading) but since Scott's
brought up the subject, I figured I'd ask my questions.

Unfortunately, my car currently sits awaiting clutch hydraulic parts.
Any hints on this job which I hope to do on Saturday? (Thank God it's
LHD!)

Bill Elliott
Lake Barrington, IL
83 UrQ, 85 UrQ, 86 4kQ