violentblue wrote:
from what I've read, the audi 5000 gearbox is almost indestructible. its the earlier audi units that you need to be gentle with.
the porsche 924, 944, and 944t all use these gear boxes with great success. it has even been bolted up to BMW v12's for diablo kits cars,like the pic below from url=http://www.lambolounge.com/Chassis/Engine/BMW-V12/BMW.asp]lambo lounge[/url].
I had a 924 and a 944. The 924 had a distinctly different, delicate transaxle. A friend rebuilt two of them and I saw them; looked Beetlish. The 944 looks like the 944T outwardly, but the 944T has different details that make it stronger. Renegade says the 944 (with SBC) is "OK for a street-driven car, but the 944T is stronger." I'm not sure where the "related" Audi 5000 fits in there. Details matter. I guess that's the big problem with making generalizations about transmission families. I worked QC in transmission manufacturing for 13 years... we had 3,4, or 5 versions of most of our transmissions. Depending on their intended application, they not only had different ratios, but often had many minute detail differences to beef them up. Additionally, running changes (tolerances, radii, heat treatments, etc.) are often made in response to problem reports in the field, either immediately or at model year increment. To the junkyard shopper, the how, why, and when of those changes, often undocumented (publicly), is a mystery. It's probably best when adapting a trans, if possible, to try to get a trans you know was from the highest torque of the engines it was available with, and the latest model year. Or cross your fingers if that info isn't available.
There seems to be a wide range of opinions of the Audi 5000. True believers (and people that want to sell you a kit car) claim it can handle anything. The Lambo guy repairing his 5th broken transaxle (all broken in the cast iron part of the case ironically) thinks different and devised a steel reinforcemnet plate and hopes it'll help. I don't know who to believe, you can never know about internet info, but if it's bulletproof that must be one unlucky guy. Wish trans manufacturers' max torque specs were more readily available. Apparently you
can find bargains, might depend on your location. I'd still lean toward the hot V6/stock 5L V8 rather than modded 350/LS7... if you need that much power, your car's too damn heavy.
Update:
944 engine max torque 150 to 207 ft-lb (various models, years)...
944 Turbo engine max torque 240 to 258 ft-lb (various models, years)...
Modifications were made to strengthen the trans for the turbo... that should be some indication of the torque limits capabilities of this transaxle family.