V8 Cabrio?

[Alan Pritchard]

Should be doable.
But who wants 240hp fwd with enough torque to pull mount Vesuvius up by its
roots?? Well, I would actually :)
Anyway.... It should be similar to the typ89 conversion.
Easier if you start with a manual v8, if not it gets very expensive, I
believe denis is working on something similar.
Heres a conversation I had with a guy who started to do a v8/urq, should be
similar.

I have a few major questions at this moment in time...
You mated the engine to your standard urq gearbox, did that require the use
of a different clutch assembly?
You have to mix-and-match clutch parts. The Pressure plate needs to match
the flywheel and the disc needs to match the gearbox and then the need to be
the same size of course. So, I used the Pressure plate and flywheel from a
Manual V8 and a clutch disc from a UrQ/5ktq and they are all 240mm. 
 Or did you use the v8/urq clutch?  Was the v8 a manual or an auto? And does
it make any difference that you know off?
The V8 was from a manual. They are VERY rare, but it doesn;t have to be from
a manual car. You can get a motor from an Auto car, but you will need to buy
the upper sump plate from Audi. This is the cast alu. upper half of the oil
pan that goes between the block and the lower steel oil pan. It must be from
a Manual trans car and is about $400 from Audi.
Engine mounts, you say they needed cutting off the subframe and rewelding?
Was this just a case of mounting the engine to the gearbox with the mounts
bolted to the engine, and were they sit on the subframe is where you would
weld them?
Well, the motor mount brackets are actually welded to the frame rails (only
the 4cyl. cars mounted the engine to the sub-frame). So, you have to cut the
brackets off the frame rails, put the V8 in the engine bay (bolted to the
tranny) and then that will give you an idea as to where the new motor mount
brackets will need to be located and welded to the frame rails. 
Thanks, any info will be very usefully received,
I think the biggest task and the one that I never finished is cooling. There
is so little room up front with the engine in the car that I never did solve
the radiator question. I had some of the thinnest radiators I could find
from various cars (japanese and european) and while they would fit with
ease, I couldn;t find a fan thin enough to get in there as well. 

Best Regards,
Alan Pritchard

Network Administrator
Mechanical Design Engineer
Seaeye Marine Ltd.
+44 (0)1329 289000

 -----Original Message-----
From: 	Mike Arman [mailto:armanmik at earthlink.net] 
Sent:	08 July 2004 14:07
To:	quattro at audifans.com
Subject:	V8 Cabrio?

 << File: ATT28397.txt >> 

Just some AM musings . . .

Does a 3.6 V8 sound like a practical transplant into a Cabrio?

These engines are available for under a grand, they live forever and make 
LOTS of hp. The Cabrio is a lovely little car, but the impression I get is 
that it is rather down on power. There's someone in Germany who stuffed a 
hopped up V8 into an 80 (something like 500+ hp), so it appears the 
conversion is possible - not necessarily easy, but possible.

I'm wondering if a stock 3.6 (240hp) with the matching tranny (and 
harnesses, etc.) would possibly go into a Cabrio without major changes - 
given the strong family resemblance in Audi over the years. To use the V8 
tranny, we'd have to lock the center diff because the Cabrio is 2wd, and it 
is doubtful that the Cabrio tranny will bolt to the V8 or live very long if 
it did.

I think this would make a lovely little fire-breathing sleeper of a 
convertible, and oh, man, would there ever be some surprised WMB drivers 
out there!


Best Regards,
Mike Arman