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

[Roger M. Woodbury]

Well, as I have already said, it may turn out to be an exercise in 
frustration.  I suspect you are correct in that the ZF transmission 
might well be too wide at the bell housing to fit, or perhaps too long. 
It also would make the electric control for the rear axle unnecessary 
making replacement of the rear axle an unnecessary step.  In the end the 
ideal situation would be to mate a 3.6 with the existing 100 transmission.

I might point out here that the only goals in this entire thread is to 
1) extend the useful life of the 100 and 2) add those seventy horsepower 
that I have thought the car really, really needed.  I know there is no 
way to get the added power from the 2.8 V6, at least none that I have 
found out about and I have been looking for a long time.  I may have 
missed a thread someplace, and if there was a way to gain some extra 
power from the 2.8, it would be of interest because IF the car gets 
reconditioned and kept for another bunch of years, then the engine will 
need to come out and be resealed and likely rebuilt.  Know any 
modifications to the 2.8 that do NOT degrade overall reliability?  I'm 
not sure I'd object to finding a "known good" 2.8 V6 with KNOWN low 
miles....say 60k.  It might not need total rebuild.

At the end of the day the V8 swap is probably a dead starter because the 
total anticipated cost of the swap will be simply too much money.  I 
well remember when my 4.2 V8 started to smoke at idle, at traffic 
lights, etc, once warmed up.  We could NOT find the oil leak.  It was at 
the front of the engine so we knew it was somewhere near the cams.  The 
timing belt has just been done with all the assorted stuff that goes 
along with that, and when the timing belt covers were disassembled, 
there was NO trace of oil leaking.  We began to suspect there might be a 
warp in the head on the right side so the heads were pulled and sent out 
for inspection and decking if needed. The heads came back tested and 
found to be AT specs, so they went back on and the leak continued.  At 
that point there were HOURS into the engine on that car searching for an 
oil leak which insisted it not be found. THEN we redid the timing belt 
installation completely.

As it happened, there was ONE seal in back of the right side cam belt 
cover....the cover that MUST be in place to run the engine...that was 
faulty TWICE.  Who knew?  A new, out of the box seal that was simply bad 
when put into place?  My mechanic was so angry once the heads were back, 
he told me he wanted to keep the car there in the shop and was at that 
point, working on his own time...at no cost to me....because as he put 
it, there was NO way there was an oil leak in the front of that motor at 
that point. The car was very nice, a one owner 4.2 with around 70K on it 
at that point so the money was not inappropriate to spend for the work. 
I got the car for a (then) reasonable wholesale plus ten price or so in 
Pennsylvania. That was the car that became the famous (INfamous) 
Gentelman's Express after a five speed conversion.

I LOVE the V8 in these cars. I'd LOVE to think it possible to have the 
best of all worlds, and keep the Avant we have with just a V8 
conversion.  But I have NO need nor desire to commit any sort of 
financial suicide over a mere CAR.  IF it proves to be possible, and 
with at least a certain degree of certainty as to the outcome, by the 
time the trigger gets pulled all the pieces will be in place and the 
allowed margin for error will be established.  From what I have learned 
to date, the killer point will likely be electronics and the mating of 
electrons pathways in the project as it is entirely likely that there 
will be simply NO way to estimate that cost.  I know my mechanic has the 
shop and knowledge of the cars to DO the job.  I know also that he is 
nearing a point in time when such a job might just be attractive enough 
to make it financially reasonable for him to do the job at a price we 
both could live with, especially as his son takes more responsibility 
for the business and John gets to sail more in the summer.  The obvious 
killers are known, the unknown killers are how to mate the engine to a 
transmission that will fit, without the nicety of a clutch.  (Don't even 
GO there to talk about my wife and a clutch.).

So there it is in a nutshell....and now that you have berated even the 
fantasy, I'm wondering about the S6 Avant and that V8....I do not know 
or not know if that has the same kinds of poison pills inside it, and in 
the way it is mounted as does the 4.2 allroad....An S6 V8 might well be 
a suitable replacement and get me into this century....I'll do some more 
reading now.....

Roger


On 1/17/2017 11:03 PM, toml99 at todomundo.com wrote:
> I recently sent some parts to a guy that bought a '94(?)100 avant w/3.6 conversion/5-speed(nobody has done an auto swap afaik as thats just plain wrong). He emailed some pics and it's missing the viscous fan(assume it was in the way and fab guy just removed it).  He got it on Motorgeek and I could find the build thread if you really want, but as my friend Jeff would say "now you are just talking crazytalk".  If you intended on putting your car in the barn and spent a year or 2 doing it yourself.....go for it.  To ask your "wrench" to tackle this is simply "financial suicide".  To quote a guy that stuffed a newer 4.2 into an A6 wagon and decided to sell it as the wife wanted an auto and they got an Allroad  "Over 20K invested plus 100's(100's!) of hrs making this a 1of a kind A6....taking offers over 10K".  I've seen sooooo many projects on MG get started and end up as a fire sale when burnout happens. A local guy had a pearl coupe quattro/3.6(another MG'er) that he bought as is and came by as he lived in the neighborhood.  Steering pump was from coupe, but got fabbed to run on 3.6 belt.  Fab guy failed as mount was weak and cracked, but there was little room for improvement on his plan......As I recall it sold for less than he bought it, and while I had a fleeting urge to buy it as it was stunning from the street/knew better.
> I'll crate up a 3.6 for you cheap if you really want to do something stupid.....Finding a good ZF auto is a lesson in frustration, and just plain wrong....if it would even fit(doubtful)......5-speed's are bomber/available.  Your wife needs exercise in her left foot....Tom
> On Jan 17, 2017, at 9:29 AM, Roger M. Woodbury wrote:
>