[V8] This may be too far out even for me....

[Roger M. Woodbury]

I was driving home from weight training last night. It was very dark and 
I was more conscious than usual about how few street lights there were 
between Winterport and Brooks along Route 149. There are stretches of 
nearly a mile or more along the twisty, hilly section before and after 
the town of Monroe where the dark is very, very dark indeed and last 
night it seemed the more so.

I found myself thinking of how good the Euro lights in the old 100CS 
Avant really are in comparison to the V8 DOT lights.  I have made the 
decision to replace the horrid and semi-dangerous DOT lamps with Euros, 
but that left me to think more about the wagon.

The chief issues with the wagon are that with 213,000 miles accumulated, 
the engine is likely a bit tired as is probably the transmission.  When 
stone cold, the transmission does slip just a tad when first put into 
gear in the morning, but not again after that.  The engine has some oil 
leaks which are getting worse, especially the rear main seal which will 
require dropping the transmission to fix.  There are half a dozen other 
relatively minor issues, the worst of which is the hvac controller and 
the a/c compressor.  Finally, the body really, really needs to be 
restored, although the car is NOT rusty and is in no way even remotely 
close to failing any sort of inspection.  Meanwhile the wagon runs just 
fine, but for now it rests in the garage awaiting developments.

I have been shopping for Mercedes E-class wagons.  The ideal vehicle 
would be a one owner, 4-matic wagon with between 40 and 65,000 miles.  
Such cars exist in reasonable quantity, and the model year I like the 
best is 2005-2008, and of course, I am in LOVE with the idea of a V8 
wagon, although rational thought says that I should be ready to embrace 
the E320 or E350 V6.  Either way, the bill will be between $10 and 
$15,000 dollars.  For reference when I bought the 100CS (a 1994), it was 
2001 and I paid right around $15,000 for the car with 39,000 miles from 
new.  That in my opinion was a great value, as the car is still 
certainly road ready despite its issues.

But then I began to think deeper as I plunged ahead through the 
evening's darkness.  The ONLY think the Audi Avant has ever really 
lacked was about 70 horsepower.  And if the oil leaks were fixed, the 
body painted, and the other niggling little details fixed, there is no 
reason why the wagon won't go another fifty thousand miles or even more.

But wait a second, I thought.  Even if all those issues were fixed, I'd 
still be down those seventy horsepower....so why not fix that while I'm 
in there?

And of course its already been done and quite a lot.  Last night I began 
to read about the engine swaps that have been done on the C4 chassis 
wagons.  I even found a source for engine mounts that will enable the 
mounting of a 3.6 or 4.2 liter V8 in the engine bay.  And I know that 
engines are around, actually in some quantity and not particularly 
expensive.

What I have not found yet is a completed swap where the V8 was mated 
either to the original 100/A6 transmission, or the ZF transmission from 
the V8 donor was used in the C4 body.  The revitalized Avant will have 
to be an automatic transmission car for a couple of reasons. My wife is 
so "clutch-challenged" that a non-auto car in the house will invite 
civil war.  And besides, I don't give a rats ass about shifting gears 
again myself.  I do not believe there are any magic issues in mating the 
electrical system to the V8 harness either and I think there is PLENTY 
of room in the bay for surely the 3.6 litre V8.

So, I'm thinking.  I have the recipient car in hand, resting in the 
garage now. I have NO particular need for that car to be running today 
or tomorrow.  The next vehicle that I see us having any real need for is 
some sort of full sized pickup truck and that probably not until we 
start the new house that could be as long as two years away.

I'm going to start to make some lists, do a lot of research and ponder 
if it could make any sense to bring another V8 into the house, even if 
it isn't quite the V8 that is normally talked or lamented about on these 
pages.

Any thoughts are welcomed. (Including those that suggest I am getting 
REALLY senile and losing touch with reality!)

Roger