S8 six speed manual

[awolfinsheepsclothes]

my gearbox is playing up a bit now so thought i,d look into my options,
I've had a few quotes from TPS, huddersfield Audi, both around 4k plus vat for a exchange gearbox like Niels. and quote from chester and a good local firm tameside transmissions, spoke to ZF the idiot who answered tried to send me to euro car parts when i was after a full gearbox rebuild kit or the price of a new box. I've yet to speak to mackies.
but what about the manual conversion that nobody ever seems to finish in RHD there are plenty of 01E gearbox's about now at reasonable money. I'm a bit stuck on the flywheel and clutch do i need a s8 manual one or will a s4 one work OEM or TTV Racing? gearbox mounts are they available? part numbers?
can i Gather the required parts easily. the clutch pedal arrangement that Goran worked so hard on looks like the best bet. propshaft would probably be custom as OEM over priced.
what are your thoughts fellow owners?
cheers Dave

[HPsauce]

My thoughts would be that there are very good reasons why no-one has ever managed to create a RHD manual D2.

Equally, having read so many tales of woe over the years I've come to the conclusion that most gearbox issues are not necessarily as bad as you may fear and that even if they are they are fixable.

When you say "playing up a bit", what are the symptoms? Apologies if there's already a thread discussing them that I've overlooked or forgotten about.

[tintin]

Originally Posted by awolfinsheepsclothes

my gearbox is playing up a bit now so thought i,d look into my options,
I've had a few quotes from TPS, huddersfield Audi, both around 4k plus vat for a exchange gearbox like Niels. and quote from chester and a good local firm tameside transmissions, spoke to ZF the idiot who answered tried to send me to euro car parts when i was after a full gearbox rebuild kit or the price of a new box. I've yet to speak to mackies.
cheers Dave

Mackies was less than £4k (about £3k, including VAT, from memory) when I had mine rebuilt - and uprated - by them a few years ago. They also gave a far better warranty (100k and 3 years) than Chester - or, indeed Audi.

For those reasons, I went with them, and the 'box has been fine since then - just needs a 2 year service from them for <£200.

I would touch converting it to a manual, personally, unless you've got deep pockets and lots of time.

[1781cc]

I think the B6 S4 box bolts straight in and the loom splices but it's a fiddly job with the pedal box etc, a guy on the S2 forum did one but don't know if it was a RHD or LHD

[moltuae]

Originally Posted by tintin

Mackies was less than £4k (about £3k, including VAT, from memory) when I had mine rebuilt - and uprated - by them a few years ago.

Yup. Superb job they do too. Mine has been smooth as silk and faultless since the rebuild last October.

Cost me about 3.5K, inc VAT, but I also had them replace the F125 and check/change the rear diff oil.

Here's the breakdown from my invoice:

[MikkiJayne]

Originally Posted by Goran

If you do decide to give it a go, for the gearbox mounts you could go over to Mike's and measure the factory castings, then just CNC aluminium mounts yourself, should be much cheaper than factory mounts.

Mike has factory 01E gearbox mounts??? He's not mentioned that before <gets out the digital calipers...>

Originally Posted by Goran

We tried it in a shell of a D2 at the A8 parts open day, the clutch pedal cleared all the footwell obstacles. Even the transmission bump does not need removing.

I didn't know you'd got that far with it. Maybe I'll stop trying to design my own then

Originally Posted by moltuae

Cost me about 3.5K, inc VAT, but I also had them replace the F125 and check/change the rear diff oil.

£2100 for the basic rebuild is pretty good actually. If you can remove the box yourself and drop it off with them its definitely going to be cheaper than a manual conversion.

[SilverS8]

Not to Hijack your thread in any way

With the DQT Diesel gearbox that already matches the rear diff, the S4 B5 flywheel and Clutch should make it "Bolt on" But what about the distance plate the B5 uses? Will this be needed?
And if i have understood it correct after hours of googeling, the URS4/6 Front drive shafts bolts right on, along with a Lenghtened URS4/S6 shifter/linkage?

[awolfinsheepsclothes]

thanks everyone its all food for thought, I'm lucky really as i don't need my car as transport its only 6 miles to work and i do like going on my bike the weather is getting better (ok it will soon won't it?)
I,d be interested in going to tps cos i get effectively a new box with little down time.
The recon route worries me as i can't see what I'm getting for my money and i have to take somebody else word (i have a friend who recons boxes and I've seen what he does, just fixes the problem with second hand parts and sprays them silver).
i could strip it down myself and this is a option I'm still looking into regarding a full rebuild kit.
i,m tempted by the manual conversion and i think it needs fresh sets of eyes looking into it. many forum members have worked very hard on the research for the conversion and spent a lot of money. maybe if i commit to the project I've got to finish it off or i,ll have a cold winter on the bike.
i need to get a shopping list together of all the parts and see what is still available, its no good me buying most of the essential items i,ll need them all.
At the moment (correct me if I'm wrong) I,d consider the following essential to get me started and any chance of completion.

a flywheel TTV or Fidanza aftermarket £366
clutch kit ,cover, plate, release bearing & arm, slave cylinder s4 £350 from eco less discount .
gearbox, with original mounts but these can be made £400-800
driveshafts and prop as suggested by MikkiJayne £?
aftermarket clutch master and modified pedal box £?
gear lever £?
Am i way of the mark? cheers Dave

[awolfinsheepsclothes]

a8parts sell the distance plate about £45
but the TTV racing flywheel means you don't need it.

[MikkiJayne]

Useful to know about the TTV. Saw some pics of their lightweight S4 version on FB today. Its a pretty nice piece of work, although a 6Kg flywheel might not suit the character of an S8!

Don't forget the ECU - £600.

If you are intent on doing this then sort your clutch pedal first. After that everything else is gravy Tricky to source, yes, but at least it all exists!

Oh, don't forget there is no shifter surround for RHD manual either. Not exactly a big deal to adapt a shifter boot to fit the tiptronic surround, but it still needs doing