I was just searching around on German ebay, and came accross this. Never seen the tensioner shoes made from black material before. I wonder if its better or worse than Audi original nylon material.
Not too expensive I'm tempted to buy just to try out those shoes.

http://www.ebay.de/itm/Kettenspanner...item3f12db1bd6

Just found this V8 5V engine PDF, very interesting. Shame its not in English, lots of nice pictures anyway.
I dont know if this has been posted before.

http://www.volkspage.net/technik/ssp/ssp/SSP_217_d1.PDF

I am curious if anyone has considered something even newer than nylon. What about carbon Graphite composites?

Ask and >>>>

http://www.kpematop.com/S6/V8-5VEngine.pdf

:)

Well, the $32 dollar nylon replacement shoes are good for about 100K miles, so...

Probably not...carbon/graphite materials are great for some lightweight applications, but since all versions are held together with epoxies, they don't stand up well under heat, friction or oil exposure.

Not sure about your car (my '01 is steel), but some early A8's had graphite central drive-shafts, which turned out not to be a good idea for some of the same reasons...plus graphite shafts twist easily (like lightweight golf club shafts) under torque (not good).
They switched to all steel later...in fact all OEM stocked shafts for earlier failed shafts are now steel...they quit even making the graphite versions for replacements.

Thanks!

I was dreading translating the German version.

:)

Another find. Porsche pads appear to be almost the same as our pads. Except ring on bottom one and no holes. I'm hoing to get a couple to see if they are are the same dimension wise, a hole is easy to drill if needed.

Maybe another option for replacement with a genuie OEM part since Audi wont sell us their pads individually.

http://www.koperformance.com/part-nu...ENUINE-PORSCHE

Porsche part no. is 99610525300

Does anyone know what the hole is for on our pads? is there a oil squirter or someting in the variator body that squirts oil through that hole or something?

Yep, chain lube and "breathing"....mainly top pad...bottom of chain loop is bathed in oil, before it drains from head >>>>

http://i1217.photobucket.com/albums/...g?t=1317926150

Thanks! thats excellent diagram. I already ordered the Porsche pads, looks like I'll have to drill a hole on the top one. The bottom Porsche pad may have a better desing than the Audi one, it seems to have a little oil collecting well and a gasket, and two drip holes rather than one big hole. I'll post pictures when they arrive.

Just had another crazy thought which probably wont work. If the 32valve engine chain is the right size, maybe I could get rid of the variator alltogether? Then find someone to program the ECU so it doesnt look for or try to adjust the variator. I guess I would lose some low-end torque?