Jim M.

So true, Carl was/is one of the greatest con artist IMHO.

Kevin in Atlanta

My favorite story is after I bought a custom dip stick for my stroker with a oil pan spacer from carl I was in advance Auto parts and saw the exact item without the groove he added.

Speedtoys

Has a confy retirement photo stream on FB too. But I really feel bad for the guy that bought the business.

Koenig-Specials 928

And a lot deeper than you probably know. He operated his mechanic's shop and parts warehouse from his residential property. The work was done in his two garages. When he had the fire that he talked about here, 2 cars were affected. One was completely burned in front and mine was damaged all over from the heat, smoke and ashes (extremely acidic and corrosive). My car was getting the 6 sp conversion. Carl lied that he called the Fire Department because he could not give me a copy of the Report for my Ins Co. I never got it. Secondly, because of his crooked business practice ( home not zoned for business) , he had no insurance to repair our cars. I were left out in the cold.

So yeah, totally crocked

Petza914

He actually ran the shop out of an old school house next to his house, but separate. Considering the low ceilings and not a single lift in the business, it's amazing he actually accomplished the level of development and accomplishments he did on his world record speed car at Bonneville and the other kits he made for these cars.

G-Body

It's Christmas Eve and I can't sleep. So here's another "dank" idea -

I'm considering the 6-speed "01E" 6-speed transmission swap for our house 944 (that's also getting the "07K" engine swap with a Rotrex supercharger.) This is the longitudinally-mounted, 6-speed manual that's typical in many European model A6 Audi, VW and other cars. Apparently capable of handling monster torque!

Next thing you know, the other night, I'm in the shop at 4am in the morning measuring the 928 S4 automatic's torque tube, transmission position relative to the gas tank, battery box, exhaust and other chassis underside vitals (and yes this is the very 928 currently getting the Rotrex supercharger kit mocked up in the engine bay.)

Anyway, the 01E bolts right up to the 944 torque tube's bell-housing / flange plate back there. There's a custom coupler and a few other bits that goes into that swap, but "what if" - I thought - what if we could take that known, sorted, 6-speed swap that has been fully-developed for the 944 and install the entire rig (944 TT and all), into a 928 with a custom adapter / flange at the front to bolt the 944 TT up to a manual 928 bell-housing!?

Yes, this style of TA that overhangs the rear presents other challenges (such as the rear gear-stack that now hangs out behind the axles and runs in to the 928 gas tank, the battery box and the stock exhaust muffler, but those are all solvable problems.)

With the Corvette TT, you don't have those problems, but there are other issues to resolve! Pick your poison.

Now the 928 rear cross-member can remain intact (including the Weissach setup.)

Bigfoot928

you've got a better chance of making Caitlin Jenner back into Bruce, than to get that to fit in a 928. Sure it will fit. If you ditch the fuel tank and cut out the battery box. Wrong holiday. April Fools is a few months away... lol

icsamerica

Why? I'm asking because I have a 01E in my Audi S8. It shifts good but not all that great even when compared to a 20 year old T56 and nothing like a new T56. Also engines typically found in front of a 01E usually have 2 or 3 stage intake manifolds along with VVT and rev clean to 7500 RPM so the ratios and the 01e final drive work well. Not sure the 928 would see much benefit from the ratios in an 01E The 01e would move a considerable amount of weight behind the center line of the rear axle making the 928's weight distribution a bit more polar than it already is. All the worlds best handling cars are majority single mass now so I dont see any of this as a value add.

G-Body

Funny, I used to have a D2 S8 as well, but here in the US we only got the horribly short final drive ratio 5-speed TipTronic automatic option. Did you buy that BaT auction S8 with the aftermarket 6-speed swap from here in Seattle?

Anyway - Why?

I can think of at least two Samuel Johnson quotes that could potentially provide insight -

1) Curiosity is one of the permanent and certain characteristics of a vigorous intellect.

- AND -

2) Nothing will ever be attempted, if all possible objections must be first overcome...

Keep in mind that the 01E is a WIDELY utilized transmission - there were 01Es and then there were 01Es. Lots of sub-variants. The units from ROTW 6-speed manual AWD S8 (or any of the ones with a rear-output), would not be what I would use. We're talking about specific units sourced strictly from certain FWD 6-speed manual models.

The guys in England who have perfected the swaps for the 944, have all of the dirt. For now, I'm still exploring it for myself. Like our BigFoot friend already stated, it would be a long painful path (but then again, the T56 swap has its own issues to resolve.) Besides, I find it hard to believe that the 6-speed that originated in a large European sedan (and behind a low revving, high-torque, Turbo Diesel engine), would not have gear ratios long enough for the 928.

Practicality; I think that I am instinctively trying to head off things which are either already an issue now, or that may very well become an issue in the future, such as -
Supply; A dwindling supply of rebuild parts and donor boxes!
Cost; Stock rebuilds that become more and more expensive as time goes on. The 01E is literally being discarded as cars in Europe age out under MOT / TUV. They're 3-400 bucks each. 944 TTs are plentiful.
Personal Enjoyment; As with many other owners out there, I rather enjoy the expanded driving experience of rowing through six forward gears. 6-to-4 downshifts being my favorite.
Options & Alternatives; For those who want to swap from an automatic to a manual. To date, the C5 Z06 setup has been the only alternative to swapping in a standard 5-speed (and that initiative, has all but died on the vine.) For now anyway...
Performance; I have yet to drive a manual 928 that did not have crunchy gears due to worn synchros. Even years ago when these cars were newer, they never did shift as smoothly as some of the Getrag and ZF boxes that I have experience with.
Scalability; there are 1,000-1,100-horsepower LS-swapped turbo 944 cars running that 01E (said to be reliable.) The 01E can handle things as the Rasant Products Rotrex supercharger kits and other big-bore engine builds evolve.

Sure, perhaps add a morbid curiosity with uniqueness to the list of "WHY?" answers.