w8 passat wagon - manual trans

http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/ram/cto/5503414599.html

NMNA

Oh wow... talk about a unicorn.

I'm now going to think about this for days... thanks...

That's like a VW Allroad. No matter how much I try I can't get over wanting an Allroad.

Got to drive one of those many years ago. Lots O'Fun. Those W8 motors don't have a good track record.

Steadfastly ignoring this. With all my willpower.

MrJoshua wrote: That's like a VW Allroad. No matter how much I try I can't get over wanting an Allroad.

Except the Allroad was never available with a manual transmission.

Ian F wrote:

MrJoshua wrote: That's like a VW Allroad. No matter how much I try I can't get over wanting an Allroad.

Except the Allroad was never available with a manual transmission.

Yes it was. I found a couple in NY in the $6000 range a few years back.

I do forget if they were the 2.7t or 4.2 models. Knowing Past Me, they were 2.7t.

Found four within 500mi of me on Autotrader. Here's one: 6sp Allroad

In reply to Knurled:

I stand corrected - I've never seen or even heard of one. I'd probably take a 2.7T over the 4.2. While they all have their issues, it seems the V6 is a little easier to live with, having a timing belt instead of a chain. The more I deal with cars that have timing chains, I want no part of that hell.

It's funny, though... I googled a TB R&R for the 2.7T and what popped up was a DIY method I'm fairly certain is the wrong way to do it, although I'm sure it works most of the time.

I'm pretty sure, but not 100% certain, that the early allroad 4.2s still had the belt V8. The 2.7t is still a nightmare to work on, practically everything revolves around dropping the drivetrain out the bottom because of the turbo placement.

Random sampling of customer cars with 2.8s (same front arrangement as 2.7t, but far more common so larger sample size) suggests that water pump failure is more likely than timing belt failure, so it's a fool's errand to cheap out and only replace the timing belt. I'm curious now to see what the possibly wrong DIY method is. I bet they take the whole front end off to get to the engine, DIYs seem to love to make more work for themselves

Why a W8? For when a regular VW breakdown isn't expensive enough.

In reply to Knurled:

A bit of google-fu confirms you're right. Looks like the R&R procedure is about the same as the 2.7T: a whole crap-load of stuff has to come apart.

In reply to Ian F:

For the timing belt? I've had the heads off of a 3-liter in 90 minutes before... Granted I had just put it together and THEN found that the machine shop did a horrendous job of cutting (more like mauling) the seats, causing much misfires and poor running, so all the tools were still out and every fastener and trick-to-access was fresh in memory. All the same I adore working on Audis because it is so easy to gain accesss to the front of the engine, a small handful of bolts to disconnect the "lock carrier" from the rest of the car, a set of Miata/RX-7 transmission super-long M8 bolts to thread in to the bumper mounting bolt holes, and everything slides forward out of your way. VWAG put huge S-bends in all of the major fluid hoses to facilitate this.

In reply to Knurled:

Putting the radiator support into "service mode" is something I'm familiar with from working on MINI's. It's the same in those. I'm often amused at how a lot of DIY guys will tear so much apart that isn't really necessary. I'm also used to doing TB changes on a TDI with special tools to lock the various bits at TDC. I'm often leery when I see the "mark and pray" method used, but I'm not familiar with other engines as much.