[V8] hair-brained scheme

[Jeremy Ward]

So it's fair to say that there are no shortage of 3.6l PT engines in the
world, as they usually outlast their transmissions, sheet metal bodies,
and owner's wallets.  What could be done with them?  No I am not
thinking about what Martha might do with them (mmm, turkey carcass), but
rather some Audi nut with unlimited funds...  :-)

I have seen them stuffed in 4000s, URQs, 80s, and even a WV Micro Bus!
Did I hear on this list that someone stuffed one into a droF a while
back?  Fix or repair daily takes on a whole new (expensive) meaning.  Al
was talking about stuffing one into an A6, and Keith into a 200 Avant...
Anyone heard of other applications?

I have a couple of questions about transmissions:
1) Does ZF make the 5 (and 6) speed Audi transmissions?
2) Do other ZF transmissions (like the rear-wheel-drive-only version of
ours found in the BMW 7 series) bolt up to our blocks?  How about any
manual RWD-only transmissions?
3) In the case of #2 above, would the rear transaxle from our car still
work in a RWD-only application?

Our cars are fun to drive, but they are heavy and have a less than
desirable weight distribution, due to the engine hanging out WAY past
the front axle...  What if you stuffed our power plant under the hood of
some other lightweight (VW?) vehicle and were able to move it back a bit
to be located over the front axle?  Or perhaps created a mid engine
vehicle by using the front-wheel output from the quattro transmission to
power the rear wheels of said lightweight vehicle?  You wouldn't use the
rear output from the transmission (would this cause any problems with
the 'quattro' system?), but would have a lightweight vehicle with a near
50/50 weight distribution...  Would a FWD Audi transmission work better
for this?  Which one? 

The PT engine is lightweight, plentiful, robust, and powerful...  What
diabolical purposes could it be used for?

I doubt anyone will ever do anything like this, but I hope some find
this thread interesting if nothing else.  If there are no responses, I
guess that answers that question ;-)

Regards,

- Jeremy