since im having to swap motors after a major timing belt failure ... would it be a good idea to just swap a 1.8T in instead? what would be the advantages and disadvantages between the motors and what would be needed to swap?

 

if i was to have to swap motors, i would swap in a vr6 motor and turbo that....

either way you will need a motor/turbo.... wiring harness/ecu probably need an adapter for trans/axels.....

but maybe someone more knowledgeable can chime in

 

in terms of physical space in the engine bay, lots of stuff will fit. From a 1.8t, Vr6, 4.2, TDI, etc. Obviously, the easiest would be to swap in another identical 30v, but wheres the fun in that?

Like kraut said, if you want to do any kind of swap, including 1.8T, you're going to need to do a lot of fabrication and spend a lot of money on wiring harnesses, tuning and engine management, and lots of little pieces and parts to make it work. Nothing will be fast and nothing will be easy.

 

Has been done. You will need to swap the whole ecu/engine harness to do it. Options are to go 1.8t or 2.7t. Going VR6 is a whole different ball game because you will have to go stand alone tuning since there is no OEM VR6 ECU/harness that is going to work on a A4. Just the clutch/flywheel setup for a VR6 will run you around $2500+ and about that much for a 01E transmission to handle the power. So just a transmission and clutch for a VR6T setup is already $5k. Now we know why there aren't a huge amount of them out there.

 

will the motor and the trans bolt right up or will i need to custom fab a bunch of stuff just to get it going?

 

Yes it will. The 2.8 will bolt up to both the 2.7t and 1.8t. Actually it has a 01A transmission which is also what the 1.8t uses, just a difference in gearing.

There are A4 1.8t owners running 2.8 5 speed transmissions and S4 2.7t 6 speed transmissions. Even seen a S4 2.7t owner put in a FWD A4 transmission for giggles.

 

i'm looking to do the same thing

i hate my 2.8, it has enough power, but i love the sound of a turbo spooling, and feeling it kick in. 2.8 has nice torque, but i think the 1.8 would be awesome after some time of modding and perfecting it.

just need to find a car to get one out of with lower miles, maybe someone who got rear ended real bad.