Project 914 1.8T, Some pics of the conversion... Options

[914_1.8t]

I've enjoyed seeing pics of everyones cars and buildups. Few people wanted me to post some pics of the work in progress and I finally found my digital camera, so here are a few pics:

[lapuwali]

It's not uncommon to make up axles by just taking the four axles from the donor and target, cutting, and welding the ends together to make two complete axles and four extra pieces. Seen it done on several swaps. It's not difficult to alter length this way, either, to accomodate transaxles that put their output flanges in a different place.

Most fwd cars use transverse mounted engines, with the crank perpendicular to the centerline of the car. Thus, they also have to have transaxles where all of the shafts run parallel to each other. Audi and Subaru primarily use longitudinal layouts, with the crank and main gearbox shafts running parallel to the car's centerline, and thus have to turn the power 90d at the diff. There are also some VWs done this way, thanks to parts sharing w/ Audi. Many of the Brazilian-made VWs use the longitudinal layout, too, like the Fox.

I wonder:

- how hard would it be to adapt a T4 or a Six to an Audi gearbox?
- how much heavier is the Audi gearbox?
- how much are the replacement parts?

An Audi transaxle swap might be more cost-effective than rebuilding a 901, esp. if the internals are cheaper, to boot. Depends on how much the gearboxes cost used, and how much it would cost to fabricate axles. Since a full rebuild of a 901 is over $4K and even a quality refurbishment is going to run close to a grand, the Audi bits would have to be awfully expensive to not make this a more viable way to go.