[V8] using aluminum in a v8

[diemarthadie at aol.com]

I was pulling apart the doors from a wreck this weekend and found it very interesting to see, once again, how Audi used aluminum in so many places...
 
The door skins are steel and have a steel impact beam in them (clearly visible through the side impact on the door I was stripping...) but the interior of the door and the window frame slide out of the skin and are all aluminum (at least magnets don't stick...).  There is a steel crossbar on the interior side of the aluminum, I assume for further flex resistence.  The skin weighs a lot more than the windowframe and interior frame.
 
Also found, once upon a stripping, that the whole pedal mounting assembly is aluminum.  very deceptive when you see the bulk and then lift it to find it weighs ounces.  Lots of interesting places like that in the V8.  I don't know what they fully saved with the aluminum components, but I'd bet it was 500 lbs. plus.
 
John
 
PS - Anyone needing internal door parts... or black exterior door handles... or grey interior skins... lemme know.  My V8's silver with black interior so this stuff is up for grabs.