Keith
The Audi boxes in the US are very cheap...$ 100-300 used.
Unfortunately nearly all are the 5N or AAZ code which
have too high final gearing, which is a particular
pain for those of us who want to drive long distances.
The 3U code tranny still has a steep ring/pinion ratio,
but the 5th gear ratio is .64 which drops the highway speed
down to acceptable limits.
Several members on the Forum would be interested in 3U
boxes if the cost wasn't too high. I'd have to ask around
to see how many are still interested. 5 or 6 boxes to start
would not be unreasonable depending on the cost.
Speaking of the cost, if the cost to ship these to the US
is prohibitively high, again, depending on the cost,
there could be a market for just pulling the 5th gear assembly out and shipping those. They change
out rather easily in the Audi, and would essentially achieve
the same goal.
Of course now that Robert is planning to offer a reduced
ratio ring/pinion, that would be an even better solution
since it will affect the speed range of all the gears.
However price/availability has not been announced for that yet, so until it happens, I'd still love to get my hands
on some of these 3U boxes or 5th gear set.
Regards
MikeD