Hi guys, i have condensed this thread with all of the updates from other forums this is posted on so forgive me if it doesn't make perfect sense,but you get the idea!
It's time to disclose my latest project, this car had a TRD supercharged 1MZ-FE in it until last week, but i saw mikeH's audi v8 mk2 and thought im having some of that! So here is my Mk1 with its freshly hung 340bhp AHC v8 with 6 speed trans...
Obviously it needs some major strengthening work, and i have a lot of small issues to sort, but its hung and i still have space for my seat.
A bit more progress, i spent my weekend on the car and i have managed to sort out a way to control the gears.I had a long hard look at the audi gearbox and its selector rod and decided an Mr2 style shifter assembly might work.The plan was to make everything from a Mk2 NA box work.... and after a few hours work i managed to attach the mr2 forks....
Mk3 cables were found to be the perfect length to stretch from the gearstick to the box linkage....
This works really well,i can get all 6 forward gears very easily and reverse.At the stick end it needed a little more work, i had to lengthen one of the cable holding brackets and extend both cables with tubing, finally attaching the mk1 cable ends onto the mk3 cables.It all works really well and a massive hurdle out of the way.
I have also rebuilt the front engine bay crossmember but forgot to take pics.
Another update, here is my drivers side driveshaft, remember here we are trying to mate an Audi gearbox to Toyota hubs.... so without going for full custom made driveshafts which is a VERY expensive thing to do i needed to find a solution.
This is an Audi driveshaft from the 2.0ltr TDI model and i have managed to find a Toyota CV joint that slotted straight onto the Audi shaft :shock: I mean stuff like that just doesn't happen normally!
This shaft is now completely Plug and play on the drivers side, no other mods needed, it just works.
On the passenger side i need to use the same Toyota CV joint but i do need to shorten the driveshaft, details on that will happen when we actually do it but it is pretty simple due to the design of these shafts.
Ok i think the swap gods have truly blessed this conversion! Things just seem to be getting easier and incredibly luckier as i go.
The plan for the left side driveshaft was to cut down the Audi shaft, have a machine shop lathe me up a perfect fitting bar to slot into each side of the cut shaft and then weld the whole thing up.A perfect fitting inner bar is the only real way i could see to guarantee a straight shaft.I know it will still need to be balanced afterwards anyway but getting it initially straight was the first plan of attack and i thought only having a specially lathed insert would be the only way.... until this happened....
I cut the Audi shaft and removed about 2" from it to make it the correct length for the car, then i took an internal bore measurement of the shaft using the micrometer and it was 26.15mm exactly.
Out of curiosity i started randomly measuring bits of steel rod/shaft or whatever i could find with approximately the same measurement, i thought well if i find something say 27 or 28mm i will get that turned down to the right diameter.Then i stuck the micrometer on the shaft of an old scrap Mk2NA right side axle and i could not believe it when the mic read 26.2mm!!! So i immediately cut a section of the Mk2 shaft out...
I cleaned it up and test fitted it into the audi axle....a nice tight fit! Absolutely perfect! I mean you just do not get luckier than this.
Here it is alongside the Audi shaft before being inserted....
And here it is inserted into the shaft, you can see i have cut slots in each side of the shaft to weld through to the bar as well as welding it around the join.
Will it be strong enough? I honestly don't know as nobody has ever done it this way before to the best of my knowledge, I am taking every measure to make sure it will be strong though, and this is the only alternative i have at the moment instead of a custom made shaft costing $$$$$...if it breaks then i will find a way to make it stronger but i think it will be ok.
So all that is left to do is make sure this shaft is balanced ok, but the Mk2 shaft insert has worked perfectly....i can't believe a mk2NA shaft is the perfect diameter to fit inside an Audi shaft.... thankyou swap gods!
Pics as promised, nothing very exciting but you get the idea.... here is my new front crossmember, it is tied into the old chassis and also the old crossmember.
Here is one of my chassis mounts with the engine cradle bolted to it....
This cradle runs under the sump as per my sketch above.
Here is my transmission cradle..... i had to make the carrier bracket that bolts to the case,then used two rubber mounting blocks onto the cradle...
So all of the structural engine/trans mounting work is done.
It was time to shorten my fuel tank, this was necessary because the engine sits further forward so i needed to make the tank smaller by about 3".
We were very wary of the dangers involved in cutting and welding a fuel tank but we took every precaution and in the end it worked out well.... what i mean is we didn't die!
The tank was thoroughly washed out with a detergent and soaked for hours, then we let it breathe for 2 weeks, then it was washed out again.Finally we dropped a lit cloth into it with a 10m pole!! Nothing happened!
It was then considered safe to cut the end off the fuel tank,which i did with a grinder.3" was then removed from the tank and then we left the whole lot to breathe again for some weeks.
The last step was welding it back up, this was done using oxy-acetylene as it was the best method i could guarantee a water tight weld.The tank was then water tested by blocking off the pipes and letting it stand on end with water above the weld line... no leaks.Finally the welded area was primed,coated with epoxy resin and painted with 2k black.
Although we got away with doing this and we were totally sure it was safe i cannot condone the welding of any fuel tank so please be careful guys.
3" was removed at the red line and the tank end welded back on.
I made the camry V6 torque mount fit on the v8, this should help a lot!
Also i have boxed in around the engine now, just some angle spot welded in for now to give me an idea how it's all going to look....
With that done i plonked my seat in and it fits nicely and i have enough room even at 6ft tall.
