Dan's S8K...Strut towers gone :)

[40v4kq]

I think it's finally time to start my project thread. This has been in the making for the better part of two years now and is nearing completion. Originally I was going to wait until it was was running to start the thread but that has taken longer than expected so here goes nothin...or something.


As some of you know Derek (Derracuda) and I are great frinds and have been friends for like 18 years or so. After years of exposing me to audis my immune system gave up and I turned into an audi zombie. So we hatched a plan to try and cure me...no such luck thus far. The plan was to do something that at the time had not been done yet(S4K beat us to it)...Squeeze a 40v 4.2 V8 into something that never came from the factory with it. First choice was a late 90's to early 2000's A4Q. When the pelican blue one that i tried to secure slipped away we started searching for a clean 4000 and came up with this....

A fairly straight and clean Tornado Red 1985 4000 S Quattro with a clean brown leather interior thats in good shape(after reassembling it).






EDIT: I forgot to lay out the most of the plan so here it is...

Engine: 40V 4.2L V8

Engine management: VEMS built by Marc at EFI express.

Trans: URS4 O1E five speed. A 6 speed may eventually make its way in, but I found a deal on the 5 speed that I would have had to have been retarded to pass up.

Brakes: Posche Boxster calipers with redrilled D2 A8 rotors on the front, B5 S4 eventually on the rear. Braided lines all around. 200 20V MC, Willwood proportioning valve.

Suspension: Ground Control coilovers with 400lb springs front and rear, two piece struts in the front, Koni externally adjustable shocks, 034 track density mounts, welded control arms with delrin bushing, front sway bar on rear with poly bushings, solid subframe bushings. No front sway bar for now.

Interior: I have a set of corbeau LG1 seats that will get mounted to factory sliders. At least a cross bar for mounting harnesses to. A cage would be nice. Digi-dash conversion. Center console gauges from a 80/90 where the quattro selector used to be since I will be installing the rear diff only style switch. I'd like to retain as much of the original brown leather since it's in good condition with the exception of the driver seat which is worn through on one of the back bolsters and a split seam on the seat botton.

Exterior: Just a good paint restoration for now. Swap the driver side doors and the rear spoiler for the nice ones I picked up. Maybe some vinyl to make it rally style in the future. Derrecudas blacked out euro 90 headlights that are currently on his 20v car. V8Q tail lights. And a brace of hella's on the front (theres a $#it load of deer where i do my country driving) because its nice to see the wild life before you run them over.

[WOMBAT]

Yes.

[40v4kq]

The first order of business was to try and clean it up a bit and see how good the paint would come out. The car came from washington and doesn't have any rust, but the paint is a little faded and the spoiler has no paint on it( I have a replacement spoiler that is matching and looks brand new).
Faded paint....


After washing, clay bar, light hand buff, and two stage wax/sealer...



Down the road things like the chips on the hood and the small damaged area on the drivers fender will get repaired. the spoiler will get swapped for the nice one, and the door handles will be replaced along with the handle grommets. In case you noticed...the windshield wipers are in teh trunk and the missing front end peices are inside the car.

I also aquired matching replacement driver side doors because at some point it it's life some jerk decided to break into this car and damaged the driver door around the handle. The damage was unprofessionally repaired and the top portion of the door was painted with inferior paint and now it looks like crap. The driver side rear door has some deep scratches that wont buff out so it will be replaced at the same time.

A little tease since I just cant help myself...

[audifreakjim]

Looks good, is it done yet?

[40v4kq]

Looks good, is it done yet?

Very funny Jim. It's getting close to running. I'll be updating my thread and going through the build process and hopefull by the time I run out of updates it will run and drive.

[loxxrider]

finally!

[ChrisAudi80]

This thread ought to be good...

What turbos are you mounting

Subscribin'

[40v4kq]

After trailering the car from oregon down to sacramento we started tearing into it. First step was to get the old non-running JT out so we could start fitting the new motor.


Nasty and falling apart


Once the motor was out the spot welds that hold the front core support on got drilled out and the support removed so we could have as much room as possible and it made going in and out with the motor a lot easier.


Next up was the steam cleaner. I missed a few spots but eventually went back in and got it all.


Heres the new motor. 4.2 from a 2001 A8. Rated at 310HP. With all accesories and the harness.


The first time trying to make it fit.


Couldnt even get the motor close to the trans before it would hit the frame horns so we started making some room.


Added some steel plate back in.



Primed for paint.


Painted with some hardware store paint that matched the tornado red really well.


Then with the motor able to be set back against the front of the trans we found that the oil pan was hitting on the front sub frame and wasnt being allowed to sit down properly so we snagged the modded sub frame from Derek's alpine white car. This ended up giving about .5 inches between the back of the pan and sub frame.


More to come soon...uploading more pics to photobucket.

[40v4kq]

@ Loxxrider - Thats what I was thinking.
@ ChrisAudi80 - Thanks, and no turbo...yet. Derek does have his dream of feeding this thing some boost.

[ChrisAudi80]

@ ChrisAudi80 - Thanks, and no turbo...yet. Derek does have his dream of feeding this thing some boost.

So, there is hope... :-)

[40v4kq]

OK, got some pics uploaded for the final update of the night.

Here it is...it fits. bolted it to the trans with no more than two bolts and set in down on a block of wood to give the fork lift a rest after holding up where we wanted and making mockup mounts out of cardboard to use as templates.

[40v4kq]

@ ChrisAudi80 - Thanks, and no turbo...yet. Derek does have his dream of feeding this thing some boost.

So, there is hope... :-)

There is always hope :wink: I just want to enjoy it NA for a while before it goes down under the knife again.

[pilihp2]

Hooray! Finally!
I've been wondering about this since we met way back in early 2010 when you and Derek were pulling that diesel motor from that Jetta over here. Hopefully you remember me...? Really foggy day.

[GTJeff]

Holy crap that's awesome! Sort of reminds me of a 440 Dodge Dart.......

[40v4kq]

Hooray! Finally!
I've been wondering about this since we met way back in early 2010 when you and Derek were pulling that diesel motor from that Jetta over here. Hopefully you remember me...? Really foggy day.

Took me a bit, but now i remember you stopping by while we were pulling the motor. Maybe someday we can meet again.

[40v4kq]

Holy crap that's awesome! Sort of reminds me of a 440 Dodge Dart.......

. I think that any A-body mopar would have more room with an RB motor in it than this thing has with the 40v. Funny you should mention it. My brother has a 69 dart GT and a 383 that he plans to put together some day... he's only had them for about 6 years.

[loxxrider]

ha, it looks so ridiculous in the engine bay. I love it.

[Justin517]

awesome. I want a small chassis with a V8 in it.

[85oceanic]

Dude, it's about time you posted this sucker up!!!! I freakin love your 4kq! It's going to be such a beast with that engine!

[40v4kq]

Chris - It does take up a lot of room, but i noticed that in the pictures with the front support off the car the motor really looks bigger than it is. It still takes up a lot of space but its not horrible, especially with all the factory emissions/evap crap gone and all the wiring I dont need it really freed up some working space.
Justin - Here is the car that set my mind on having a small chassis with a V8 in it. It belongs to a friend and was built by 2bennett...full cage,BBK,suspension,seats,harnesses,gutted, and an ABZ for motorvation, This thing goes like stink and once i got my first ride out at thunderhill I was determined to go V8.


Ben - Thanks. It may be a beast, but I think it will be plenty daily driveable.

[Val]

How much that V8 add weight in front? Won't be too nose heavy?

[Colin2750]

The V8 is actually about the same or better than a turbo'd 5 cyl weight wise.

[40v4kq]

I dont know how much the V8 or a 5cyl turbo weighs, but I would guess they are pretty close. The nice thing about the V8 is that its about five inches shorter than the 5cyl which means the meight is moved back a little which may help handling slightly. But then again now the car has a front mount radiator which may negate the gain from having a motor that sits further back. Either way, I'm not too worried about wight. I just want that V8 snarl.

I did learn that the intake manifold and the valve covers are magnesium which is pretty cool.
I'll post up another update tonight when I get home from thursday night football at the parent's house....yay, free dinner.

[40v4kq]

OK, update time. I left off with the motor actually in so I guess its fitting to show what holds it in now.

For mounts we wanted something that could be removed easily and leave nothing like brackets sticking out to get in the way. What we did was use the same system that Derek was already using on another car which is a steel plate that you drill as many holes in as you want for bolts to go through, then weld nuts to the back side for the bolts to thread into, then drill holes in the frame for the nuts to sit into and then weld to plate to the frame. The makes the mount easy to remove and then there is nothing sticking out.

Heres the plates in place. All the factory mounts were cut off, ground down, and painted.



This is the start of the mounts themselves.


This is what the sheet metal turned into.


Here they are in place...needing paint.





We used some polyeurethane pucks in the mounts instead of going full solid. I think they are from energy suspension and are actually body mount bushings.

Since we didnt have use of the car lift teh next time we worked on this car we decided to pull the motor and bolt up the trans (O1E from a URS4) then try slipping it in to check clearance instead of trying to bench press it up into place.


We found that there was a little clearancing need in the bell housing area so out came the hammer and I made a little more room in there so the shift linkage would clear the trans tunnel.


With the trans fitting ok it was time to make the mounts. Again back on the car lift. Note - we installed a B5 S4 spacer that gets sandwiched between the engine and trans to give us the proper input shaft depth.


Then we fabbed up some simple mounts and again used the poly pucks.



Then out came the trans again and in went the clutch. First the spacer thats on the end on the crank had to get pulled off so the flywheel could be mounted. FW is a lighened steel B5S4 unit, and the disc is a slightly used sprung hub five puck from dereks A6 and the PP is a southbend something or other for an S4(I think). It got a new TOB and PB.


Then we stabbed the trans for the final time.

[Twintowers]

I like this thread....