Unfortunately, I still haven't gotten around to putting up the
"official" Audi-Dudi site yet -- the domain name is www.audidudi.com, in case you're curious -- but
since I've had several requests for photos of my latest Ur-Q project, I've decided to post
a few of them here in the meantime ... it sure fits in there pretty nicely, doesn't it?
The engine is an all-aluminum 3.6L V8 with 32 valves and
was salvaged from one of the approx. 76 5-speed V8 sedans that Audi imported to the U.S.
during 1991. This is important because, incredibly, there are TWO versions of
the block, one for cars with 5-speed transmissions and one for cars with automatics.
Alas, only the 5-speed version will bolt up to the Ur-Q's Type 016 tranny without using an
adapter. According to the S.A.E. white-paper Audi prepared (900650) the engine
has a dry weight of only 440lbs complete with all accessories, wiring harness, air filter
element, etc. They also explain that it's not just two 1.8L 16-valve
4-cylinder VW engines joined at the crank, as many people have suggested, due to the
dimensional similarity of the two engines. That said, there are quite a few
similarities to other VW and Audi engines -- bore & stroke, for instance, as well as
the bore spacing, valve size, etc. -- but I presume this is only because they wanted to
build it using as many of the same production tools as possible and not because they were
taking a few engineering shortcuts.
Until I saw the V8 engine in the car, I hadn't realized the
Ur-Q's engine is offset to the passenger side by a few inches. This wasn't immediately
apparent with the original 5-cylinder engine because it's canted to the side but it's
quite obvious with the V8. At first, I figured I'd have to correct this but now I plan to
leave it alone since it will partially offset the left-side weight bias caused by the
driver. The bigger concern is whether I can find/squeeze out enough room in front of
the engine to install a radiator, a/c condenser and a pair of electric fans as I'm loathe
to do without a/c -- I live in Arizona, remember -- even if it will drop roughly 75 pounds
off the front end of the car.
At this point, quite a bit work remains to be done before the car is running let alone finished and although I'd hoped to be working on it full time by now (February 26, 2000), I've actually stopped work for now, for reasons I explain in the most recent update below. With a bit of luck, I expect to resume work on the project by the middle of April ... first, I have a car to part out, some part-time work doing tax returns to finish up and some landscaping work to get done around the house before the end of spring.
Although it's still too early to
determine whether I'll actually follow through with it or not, it's
my intention, at least initially, to chronicle all the details of the
engine swap by taking lots of photos and regularly posting updates
about my progress. Not surprisingly, I would recommend that you
start at the beginning...
If you have any questions or additional V8- or Ur-Q-related information to offer, please feel free to contact me. I can be reached at oorque@aol.com and will usually respond within a few hours.
Jeffrey Goggin (aka "Audi-Dudi")
Scottsdale, Arizona USA