I have been giving much thought to the Audi transmission deal again. We had a tread months ago regarding using an Audi 5 speed trans in the vanagon with diff flipped. I was supposed to investigate the possibility of such a mod. Well, time has past and I still haven't got to it yet. I am proficient at tearing down transaxles and the possibility stills exists, but I too was thinking of just making a rabbit motor run backwards. The only problem that has not been considered is making the oil pump feed the motor instead of blowing air down the pickup tube. Or am I wrong? Will the pump work turning either direction? If not, one solution may be using an oil pump from a diesel rabbit. I believe the timing belt on these motors turns the intermediate shaft the opposite direction of the gas motors. For a reverse running gas motor, this would be perfect. Can anybody else think of other problems? I think the oil seals on the crank, cam and intermediate shaft are directional, they kinda wick the oil back into the block. Maybe I'm thinking of the air cooled motors here. I'll check into that. The reason all this appeals to me is that Audi 5 speeds cost 50 bucks at my junkyard and Audi or rabbit motors cost a C note. With all due respect to Ken, this is much more practical than spending 1600-1700 dollars on a transmission that we know little about. Like parts prices and even parts availability. What happens if the thing breaks and you can't get parts for it? If my Audi setup breaks I simply go to the junkyard and buy another complete trans for 50 bucks. I know this isn't practical for everyone with time constraints or those lacking the tools or experience, but it is something to seriously consider. My interest is renewed in this subject, and hopefully I can find time to research it some. I'm still trying to find time to make my 2.3 turbo swap work, so don't hold your breath. Going to get hands dirty at the junkyard now, -PSD. |
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