12v to 20vT conversion:

[Josh-stateside]

Hello everyone.

I'm not going to bother making a thread but I figured I post some information up here about whats going on in my garage. Some of you might reconize me. I've got a coupe quattro with a 20vT ABY S2 engine here in the states. Well the coupe quattro is getting a hybrid 3b/aby motronic setup and I bought a sedan. Originally I was going to keep the sedan and sell the coupe but I decided to sell both cars. The sedan is a 12v 2.8L quattro. It's a great car. I loved it. Enough where I plan on purchasing another one at some point.. but that's another story.

So to convert a 2.8L sedan to a 20vT is kinda easy. In my mind it was alot easier but doing up front, there's been some hicups. First off, I had to learn how to weld. One of the things I've allways wanted to do. So I took classes last winter, and probably again this winter too. i can stick and tig weld now in my opinion pretty well.
I also purchased a $3000.00 miller tig/stick welder which makes a big difference too.


So problems and solutions:

engine mounts: welded up some of my own.
radiator mounts: welded them up too. (well in the process of finish it up)
Fuel lines: need to make new ones
Power steering line: need to make a new one
Battery: relocate to the trunk. (kinda easy, I reused the battery tray and drilled out the spot welds and por15 it)
Ditch the sedans factory exhaust: (or well, modify it).
Bumper for the intercooler: Rs4 style fiberglass unit.
Vacumn booster: need to plumb into the intake manifold.
Carbon canister lines: extend.
radiator fan setup: wire it up.
Oil cooler: make a mount for it.

All in all there isn't much to it..

Why?

Well to be honest I have the whole aby setup. Air box, intercooler, crossmember, oil cooler and all that jazz.. The Aby engine harness looks likes it's a direct plug in on the sedan too ( this is one of the reasons why I'm pulling the engine from the coupe).

So hopefully in a couple weeks, the coupe comes out of storage, the engine and harness gets pulled out and everything gets dumped into the sedan. The dash is out, the engine harness is pulled out and everything is allmost ready to go with the swap.

I've got a 3b S2 harness that's going in the coupe... if your wondering why I'd pull the aby unit from the coupe. I also have allmost a complete mechanic/ellectrical setup of a 3b/aby setup. Including the downpipe, intercooler, intake manifold, fuel rail and so on.... yadda yadda yadda.. I don't have a 3b ecu yet, I don't have a cross member, but In my fooling around in the garage I started playing around with the b4 v6 radiator support. Basically I'm going to flip it upside down.. (currently working on this setup) and weld a cross over pipe setup to it. Flippng it upside allows me to build a nice snub mount setup too. Not to mention it's got all those ellectrical plastic holding things on it to keep the headlight harness in place. And... It's strong.. I'd say it's alot stronger in my opinion than the factory crossmember.

WHat's nice about the sedan is that I don't really have to do any carnage work like ripping out the battery box. I regret ripping out the battery box on the coupe quattro. It's pearl white and i haven't painted that section yet. I will be doing that this winter. But it's a pita to match pearl white paint. The v6 battery tray screws in so there is no painting or drilling necessary. Not to mention it's got that nice shelf like the S2 cars to put the 02 sensor on and the bracket for those two larger bullet connectors.

I've got mixed emotions about using a vacumn canister brake setup but I'm going to use it. The reason why I need to make a new power steering line is because the canister is in the way off attaching the powersteering line to the rack. The rack is different than the coupe quattro or early/80/90 cars. However I know Rs2's have the same rack as the sedan. I could source probably a Rs2 power steering hose but it probably cost a fortune.

For anyone curious. The v6 2.8L power steering pump is a direct fit in the Aby/Adu/3b/7a powersteering bracket. I didn't have to modify anything except move the pulley over to the v6 pump.

I'm using volvo rubber mounts as engine mounts. I'm going to post up some pictures. They were a simple design and this being one of my first welding projects. The less complex the happier I am with the setup.

Seemingly I'm going to cut out one of the rear mufflers and add a straight pipe and call it a day on the exhaust. However if I can source a biturbo upgraded exhaust cheap.. I'll make that work.

I've swapped the rear on the car to 5/112 and added a biturbo rear sway bar too. Actually the 5/112 conversion was a from early A4 unit and swapped right in. However the track is about 7mm wider. I'm not complaining, since one can install S4 rotors and calipers without issues later down the road. I didn't now because the previous owner just had new rear calipers installed.

I'm swapping the front to 5/112 too and I might install biturbo brakes up front. Unfortunately Doing two 20vT conversion makes u consider your money options. I'm also swapping the v6 Master cylinder to a 200 20vT 3b unit which is larger and basically the same as the S2 aby/rs2 unit. I also have to consider my options here in the states. Stuff like S2 front rotors don't exist unless you get them from europe. I could have the rotors drilled but I'm not sure yet.

All in all there's alot going on in my garage. Truthfully to end this.. I'm a carpenter by trade. I'm a self taught mechanic/hobbiest I guess you can say these days. I love working on the cars but for me to make money I need to get my hands on a house and start the work of flipping it. I plan on buying and selling houses in the next year and I need the cash from both of these cars once they sell for a down payment on the house.

I plan on building more cars in the future but I need to start focusing on work more these days. mainly because I'm a greedy ******* when it comes to cars and ideas and I don't have the funds to really build what I want to build thats deep inside my head...

I'm having a issuse with the pictures.. I'll do a double post and add some pics:

[Josh-stateside]

Tomorrow I'm going to finish welding up the mounts. I'm also going to attach that square tube section to the base of the mount which will become the lower radiator mount. The mild steel is kinda heavy. I've been thinking about it tonight and will consider drilling some holes in the mount and radiator mount to lighten it up a bit. I went crazy with the welds, so I'm not too bothered with the idea of drilling holes in it. When it's all done and fabricated.. Por 15 is getting painted on it. All in all, I'm happy with it. I think I might cut off a bit of the left hand front corner of it too. it's diesel in my opinion. Lighting it up won't bother me so much.

[Josh-stateside]

We get the ugly US bumpers...

So I removed the inside of the bumper, and pulled the bumper shocks out.. Tomorrow I'm going to rethread the shocks so that they sit furthure into the body. This will make the bumper look more vissually pleasing to the eye in my opinion. Oh yah, The rear definately looks better in my opinion with the european tailights and license plate surround.

Seemingly I'm going to cut the rear muffer out and add an audi tt exhaust tip( I happen to have one). I'll still have one muffler, hopefully it won't be too noisy.

[Josh-stateside]

Here's a picture of the front of the car. I've got some Kamie mesh that's identical to the rs2 mesh. I plan on welding up some frames and filling it with the kamie mesh. When it's all done it should look sharp. I may consider making small mesh grills where the fog lights go too. It will also be framed so I think it could look very decent. I plan on bending steel brake lines into the frames. If your curious.

I also have a rs2 grill on the coupe quattro. I may start making fiberglass copies of it.

[Josh-stateside]

Also check out the pictures closely. Notice what's below the wheels. It's on dolleys and they're absolutely great!!!!!. I can turn the car in the garage a full 360 degrees without issue on my own. Welding next to my desks and then I'll turn it around and install the engine from the other side of the garage.

[Josh-stateside]

Here's a picture of the coupe quattro with the s2/rs2 conversion: I'm not happy with the front bumper on the car. It's hard to explain but the mounts are **** and it's a bit heavy because the person that filled the blinker and fog lights filled it with alot of fiberglass and filler. I was young at the time. I didn't realize the crappy ness of it. I think it looks great but I'm not happy with it. So I have another Rs4 style bumper sitting in the basement waiting to go on the coupe.

[Josh-stateside]

here's a picture of her booty:

[Josh-stateside]

The brock wheels look great on the coupe but they don't clear the front wilwood calipers. Seemingly since I'm going to be selling both cars I think I will be swapping the willwoods over to the sedan and the G60s over to the coupe quattro. Unless I can get Biturbo calipers to fit behind the brock wheels.

[Josh-stateside]

While I'm at it..

I guess I can make a nice vagparts.com advertisement post here.

I have to thank you martyn for shipping those parts from europe along time ago.

Vagparts.com rules.!!!!!!

[Josh-stateside]

Just to finally end this project thread.. I wanted to point out something. Working on the cars is the best thing in the world. I'm alive today and I have to thank working on cars as one of the reasons. I never went to college, I've been running a family business for the past 7 years. My mother died of cancer when I was 15 years old. I've had the pressure of society ripping at my throat for a long time. I've fell in love with a girl and I've watched it fall to pieces.. I've become a great golfer and I shoot in the 70s all the time now. I've watched winter weather ruin my passion for golf and I've found working on cars as one of those great substitutes. I'm not much of a drinker, and I don't do alot of the stupid things my friends do these days. I think, if you can teach yourself how to do thing in life and escape from the normal it can be a great thing. I live in a tourist town to some degree. Drinking alot is socially acceptable.. I allmost fell into it at one point in my life.. Stuff like building these two cars has been critical in keeping in the right direction in life.

I've screwed up, I've done some funky things with cars. I've learn my lessons and I'm still learning my lessons. One thing though, I'm not affraid to fail, I learn from it all the time. What these two projects are to me right now? Is an attempt to fix my failures and move on with life. It's also a greedy damn passion for working on cars. It's allmost like a great escape from the modern day crazy world...

I write this for people reading this who don't work on cars that much, who don't take on big projects.. It's fun, it takes time, there is failure involved but the truth is that you learn alot about oneself.

This all being said, It helps that I have a truck too.

If you can afford it, I barely can right now. figure it out.. and build a car. A year ago I couldn't weld, didn't know anything about it.. now I can stick weld and tig weld.. stuff like.. that.. it's awesome.

Cheers
Josh

[MidnightBlueS2]

Nice posts there Josh !

I hope you'll still stick around even after you've sold your Audi's...

( though I did spot an S4 in one of those pics )

All the best in your new business !!!

Take care,

David

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p.s. your IC was sent last friday as promised