Twin v4?


Great comment from the Jalopnik QOTD, “What Modern Car Will You Have to Explain to Your Kids?” I had no idea the Passat W8 engine existed. Could the same idea be applied to 2 red-blocks?

Assuming I find a woman desperate/masochistic/imbalanced/whatever enough to settle down and raise a family with (I think I have better chances of growing a third arm at this point.), the resultant offspring would probably be most puzzled by the Volkswagen Passat W8 Wagon.

The conversation would probably go something like this:

Kid: Daddy, what’s that car in the picture?

Me: Well sport/princess, that’s a Volkswagen Passat W8 Wagon.

Kid: What’s the W8 mean?

Me: It was basically two overlapping V4s driving a common crankshaft.

Kid: Why?

Me: So they could cram eight cylinders under the hood longitudinally and still have room for the all-wheel-drive system.

Kid: But if it was all-wheel-drive and the back was shaped like a box, why not just buy a crossover or something?

Me: Well, some people – including your old man – preferred proper station wagons because they usually handled better and got better fuel economy. Even better when they were available with manual transmissions like this.

Kid: You mean flappy paddles?

Me: No, you had to move the gear lever up or down and left and right while lifting off the gas and pressing down on the clutch pedal to change gear.

Kid: Wow, driving one of those must have been a lot of work. Good thing the government outlawed cars that can’t drive themselves.

Me: Go to your room.

Kid: But-

Me: DON’T “BUT” ME, YOUNG MAN/LADY, GO TO YOUR ROOM!

*Kid runs off crying*

Wife: How can you be that way to our son/daughter?

Me: I have no son/daughter…

*Chugs glass of wine*

So…wanna get freaky later?

Share

6 thoughts on “Twin v4?

  1. DoctorJay Post author

    I still have to fix my overdrive and get an alignment. The auto tranny runs smooth as glass so I’m in no rush to swap it. Haven’t done a cam.

  2. Alden

    Even swapping in a T cam (i’ll send you one for free but you’ll have to shim it which while not is much easier if you have the tool) is supposed to make a difference over the pathetic M cam. There is also a B cam on turbobricks right now for $30 or something silly cheap but i think maybe B cam and an auto isn’t supposed to be the best combo because of where the torque falls.

  3. DoctorJay Post author

    So the T Cam is from the turbo? Does it change the timing? allow higher compression? And I assume shimming it is adjusting the valves?

  4. Alden

    T cam is from a US spec turbo, basically they put them in there for low end torque to help make the turbo acceptable to americans. http://www.turbobricks.org/resources.php?content=camspec It ads more lift, if you want to raise compression run a thinner head gasket from rsi or shave the head some. Shimming is indeed for adjusting valves.

    I’d probably do an a or B cam but see what people think about those with an auto because i have no idea.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *