Transaxles?

mad_machine said:

I think we missed one. What of the trans in the Vanagon? I think that was the last of the rear engined VWs sold in the US?

The 091 Vanagon trans is pretty strong. It's the beefiest of the rear engine VW transmissions.

Alfa Milano (gold) had a driveshaft input to its transaxle and LSD.  (clutch mounted at transaxle)

Gear ratios for that one are:

1) 2.87
2) 1.72
3) 1.23
4) .95
5) .78

I think the final drive is 3.55 but it's going to be a tough one to find as it's a pretty desireable unit amongst the alfaholics.  I may know a guy who would know where one is.

Alfa GTV and GTV6 had non-lsd transaxles with driveshaft input.  Apparently the V6 boxes (GTV6 and Milano) are good for 300-ish hp, not sure about torque. 

If you are considering the Audi boxes (016/01e) let me know, I think I have a couple excel spreadsheets with the trans codes vs gear ratios that I could send you.    The GT40 guys tend to favor the Porsche G50, but it's not uncommon to see an 01E or an 016 mated to a v8.  IIRC there's a reinforcement plate available for the 016, ( http://www.gt40s.com/forum/gt40-tech-powertrain-transaxles/23387-audi-016-reinforcement-plate-2.html )

How much do Mendeola transaxle usually go for? Seems cheap but still too rich for my-cheapskate-self.

https://nmi.craigslist.org/pts/d/mendeola-vw-transmissions/6510350599.html

After all this transaxle talk, the thought of putting a LSx engine in a dilapidated A4/A6 via a Kennedy Adapter sounds like the kind of masochism I might entertain. That would be a fun challenge car.

In reply to RossD :

One of the Motorgeekers put an LS2 in an Audi RS6.  The Kennedy adaptor was so bogus that he made his own.  The adaptor plate was inches thick and the flywheel was apparently two flywheels welded together or something.

Guerillamotive has free drawings to adapt a Lexus V8 (1UZ) to an Audi box (012)

http://guerillamotive.com/?page_id=183

carguy123 said:

The Corvette trans axle would definitely work, but the trans sits in front of the diff instead of behind so that would make one hell of a transmission tunnel (or a really long wheel base) plus it's heavy.

So this project will still be front engine, you just want to move the transmission to the rear? Most of these suggestions are designed to work with an engine mounted directly to them, and are commonly used in mid-engine setups.

This is an old thread but I know alot more now about the different transaxles.  I didn't see anything about flipping a covair transaxle or what kind of power it can take.

The only 2 options for a front engine and rear transaxle is the 924/944 that has a torque tube.  The other is the Alfa's.  Can a rear longitude transaxle be connected to the front engine with a normal driveshaft leaving out the torque tube?

Can any transmission be bolted directly to a differential like th corvette?  I would prefer if the transaxle or transmission with diff could be thin to fit in the available tunnel without needing to fabricate and a diff behind it would line up with the current solid axle.  I wouldn't need to change the fuel tank behind it.

I really love the Alfa rear clutch on the transaxle idea instead of behind the engine.  Is there a reason why no one has done this in other cars?

Corvette and Corvair (flipped for engine in front of axle) both are long, with basically a transmission bolted in front of the rear diff.  If you are building a front engine car maybe this is good for mass centralization. The usual Porsche/Audi/VW transaxles are optimized differently, to get the engine as close to the axle as possible.  So the transmission ends up hanging out behind the axle. 

Relevant to this thread.  Ford 302 in front of the Audi transaxle. I remember looking into those transaxles about a decade ago. Verdict was limited power capacity and first gear is pretty much useless for V8 power. 

At this point, they are difficult to find and you get so much more from a Boxster trans.

Pretty easy to convert an engine bell housing into a drive shaft support housing. Big flat plate of aluminium and a milling machine. Couple the input shaft to a drive shaft flange made from another input shaft. Alfa transaxle is torque limited but wonderfully easy to work on. Multiple ratio sets are available in Italy with communication difficulties. Clutch on the Alfa is smallish too.

MonZora has an Audi 01X 6-speed, which was the replacement for the 01E in later years. Mine came from a 2008 A4 FWD. Cheap and plentiful, 3.75:1 ring and pinion. 1st gear is pretty useless behind a V8. IIRC 1st is 3.66:1. Different gear ratios were used in Europe behind diesels.