[V8] V8 Avant FS

[Roger Woodbury]

Ok, guys.  Cool off.  The Euro V8 is NOT going to come to the USofA.  Not
now, not later, not ever.  Unless someone is a total idiot and that total
idiot has more money than brains.

 

For openers, there is slim to NO WAY that the car could be legally used in
the US.  Even if it were possible to import the car for use on US roads with
US license, the cost would be prohibitive, and with no good reason to do it.

 

For the cost of importing and Federalizing a '94 5 speed Euro C4 Avant, you
could easily buy a 2002 S6 Avant, and have arguably twice the car...well,
maybe the SAME car but better.  So it would seem anyway.

 

For all of you long sufferers of my automotive moaning and groanings on this
list, I have actively pursued the concept of a V8 C4 Avant, using a "known
good" A6 Avant donor body, and dropping in a "known good" V8 engine and
drive train.  Of the latter, there are many and manifold examples, all for
cheap dollars, with the added benefit that the miscellaneous other parts
could be held as spares for my current '90 V8, which is a superb example of
Audi's best.

 

Anyway, my favorite wrench is really interested in doing the project, so I
can say that possibly, next winter during the "slow season" which arrives
with Santa's sleigh, we could roll in the Avant that is sitting there and
the donor car and go to town.  The A6S could then emerge along about March
31's, depending on how fast the guys spraying the paint are, and some other
stuff.

 

I know that it sounds like I have it all figured out.  But there are several
catches, and I will lay them out for you all to ponder.

 

First of all, there is the question:  WHY bother?  No good reason actually,
except that the A6 Avant would be SOOOO much nicer if it had only about
seventy more horsepower.  Now the 3.6 litre V8 has around 240, and the A6
Avant weighs some less than a V8 sedan..catch my drift?  The most prolific
V8 stash is the 3.6, which would provide plenty of push for the A6 Avant.
So the answer to the question is simply, that the A6 Avant NEEDS more push.
We can all agree about that.

 

Second.  There is the cost to make the whole thing happen.  It seems to work
out like this:

*         Cost of the donor car:  $300.  That is what my wrench has in it
now, and he can keep the old engine and probably the rear end, too.  The
transmission in the donor car is seriously in trouble, since the gear
selector lever will not select gears, meaning that something serious is
frozen up inside.

*         1990 donor car:  $500-3500 depending on the car, condition,
mileage, and "stuff" tacked on to it.

*         Assorted mechanical and miscellaneous engineering time and labor.
AHA!  This is the biggie because we are entering uncharted waters here.  The
engine compartment of the C4 has oodles of room for the V8, and the other
dimensions appear to be within millimeters of each other.the donor and the
A6 Avant.

But we don't' REALLY know how to do it, so this could be majorbigtime.  The
donor car in question is a well cared for example with 212,000 miles. You
KNOW that there will be A/C issues, or at least heater core and blower
issues, and who knows what else?  I know now that the recipient car has had
fairly recent tires and brakes and suspension stuff, so I am not worried
about that.  It does need a good interior cleaning, but that isn't a major
factor.  So by the time we get the engine/transmission/rear differential and
driveshaft stuff sorted, and installed, the body spruced up and repainted,
and the car really ready to go out on the road to show, I expect the tab
will blow through twelve grand..and that if we are lucky.  Now, ther e is a
lot of incidental stuff included in that, and the tab could run higher or
lower, but it still will run around the same level.

*         So the total for the project will be north of $15,000, you can
also buy a 2002S6 Avant, which is arguably a much better deal with half the
mileage.

 

So, yeah, your sales and exise taxes are lower, but I doubt that it all
evens out.  Since I won't do my own wrenching, it seems a nonstarter.

 

Besides, I have also been fantasizing about something else.  I really would
like to have another relatively low mileage Porsche 928.  I can easily
"sell" that one to my wife, AFTER I get the new house and most importantly,
HER new kitchen built.  

 

And about those snide comments about Maine's common border with Canada, I
can assure you that after those screwballs who hijacked planes in New York
came in to the US across the Canadian/Maine border, they are no longer
telling jokes up there.  I just came back to the US from Canada crossing
without incident, but there were more of them there than of us.

 

Roger