I rearranged the garage to make room for it as I intend to pull the engine and transmission for use in the '88 Audi 90 I'm still trying to put back on the road. Although it won't be a straight bolt-in swap -- among other things, I need to figure out how to adapt the Type 013 gearbox to use a hydraulic clutch (or conversely, how to adapt the 90 so it uses a cable clutch) as well as how to add a boss to the tranny tunnel for the rear tranny mount -- the ratios are more favorable than those used in the 5-speed 90s and it should be cheap, as I have a complete donor car to pilfer parts from as well as a MIG welder and basic metalworking tools.

My original plan was to junk the rolling 4000 bodyshell after I strip everything useful off it -- for two years, I've tried without success to find a buyer for it -- but while I stood outside, looking at yet another spectacular Arizona sunset (needless to say, the photo above doesn't do it justice), my mind wandered and I started thinking about what a great drag racer this car would make with a hi-po V8 installed..

Yes, at the present, it's FWD but that hasn't stopped other cars from getting down into the 10s.  Besides, if the V8 will fit into an Ur-Q engine compartment, then it'll also fit into a 4000 since the engine compartments are basically the same.  With appox. 300 hp and less than 1800 lbs to haul down the strip, it should be pretty quick ... better yet, thanks to the engine cantilevered forward of the front wheels, it will be difficult to end up with less than 65% of the weight over the driven wheels. (As it stands right now, with the doors, hood and trunk lid off, the front end is carrying almost 70% of the weight!).  While this is a problem for any kind of event where the car also has to brake or go around corners, for drag-racing, where the only important thing is how well it accelerates in a straight line, it's a very BIG plus compared to the typical transverse-engine FWD drag car...

I don't know if drag-racing will hold my interest for long but it would be fun to spank a few boy-racer Hondas until I'm bored with it. Another possibility is to skip the V8 and hang a turbo off the existing four-cylinder engine -- as some readers know, the turbo manifold from the five-cylinder engine will bolt onto a four-cylinder engine except that the last exhaust runner isn't needed -- and this might be a pretty potent combination, too.  I've thought about taking up racing again -- for various reasons, I've been away from it for a few years now -- and drag-racing would be a change of pace for me.  Hmmm ... I'll have to give this idea some further thought.

By the way, the sunset photo shows a reunion of sorts as five of the seven Audis that I presently own are visible in it ... not shown is my '85 Ur-Q (it's stored in my sister's garage) and the '88 90 that's parked on my parent's driveway.  I'd like to get the total down to only four -- daily-drivers for both Paula (90) and me (200q), as well as a toy ('85 Ur-Q) and a project (V8 whatever) -- but I have always found it hard to part with a car.

As for the bathroom project, the stone tile for the floor and shower stall has arrived, the cabinets are still on order and it looks like the final tab will be knocking on $6,000, which is about $2,000 more than I'd hoped to spend.  I can't believe how costly this stuff is although I must admit that it's going to look very, very nice indeed ...when I've finished installing it all, that is.

JG