Oh crap. I just spent well over $1000 on a 'dropout' 1999 Audi V8 (complete harness, accessories, and ECU) and flywheel adapter from 034 motorsports.
Not this particular engine, but one like it. 4.2L 32 valve ABZ:
1) Don't tell my wife. I still have about a week to make up a story before it all arrives.
2) I still don't know exactly how I'm going to do the engine swap. No way I can do anything like
what kcpaz did. There's a few variations in different forums and most of them seem to fade out before completion. This is not going to be like the Lego Block simple swaps I did in Hondas.
3) At least I still have a spare back half of a Boxster to develop it in while my car remains driveable.
So, don't expect a lot of quick updates on this aspect of my build. I still have a lot of research and planning to do. Feel free to send me plans, schematics, and money.
:dance:
Just adding to this post rather than bumping the thread:
For months I have been watching salvage auctions and Craigslist for a donor car. In my area they have not been available and paying >$700 on top of the purchase price to ship a junk car from 500 miles away didn't make sense. I finally settled on just buying an engine. The ABZ version of the 4.2L seems best for the low cost and relative simplicity - less fabrication/adaptation and greater chance of actually completing the project. I inquired with several vendors and eBay sellers about getting a complete engine/harness/ECU. Youngstown Auto Wrecking in Ohio was very helpful and set me up with exactly what I wanted for a good price. ...if it arrives as described.
A note on the Flywheel Insert above: The US Audi D2 A8s did not come with a manual transmission version. The ABZ (32 valve) engines have a 10 bolt flex plate and there is no OEM version of a flywheel that I can find. 034 Motorsports created an insert for the flex plate that serves as a flywheel. The next generation of 40 valve engines have an 8 bolt attachment that can directly use the flywheel/clutch options from the 2.7T.
I found a set of schematics for the ABZ ECU/engine harness written in the same format as the Porsche workshop manual. 11th post in this thread:
Audi A8 D2 ABZ ECU Pinout :: motorgeek.com. Better yet, here's a link I just found directly to the .pdf:
http://12v.org/urs/ABZ%20Motronic%20Wiring.pdf
This is awesome. I have a Bentley that covers the engine, but I hate the VW/Audi 'Current Flow Diagram' format schmatics. Having this format will make it so much easier to figure out the loom.
For the Boxster, I have a complete set of shop manuals and the remains of my parts car with a COMPLETE chassis harness and engine harness to play with. That and some misc Audi and VW parts left over from scrapped cars.