what will the insurance be like on a modded V8?
who knows! But if the insurance companies being sensible they will either base it on the power, which is the same if its a 300hp 1.8T or a V8 or they'll base it on the car the engine came from, which is probably a similar insurance group to the A4 1.8T anyway.
So if they chose the latter option you might find it would be cheaper fitting a stock V8 than it would be telling them you have fitting a football sized turbo to your 1.8T along with stroking it to 2L etc etc...
i've not looked into it tbh, mainly because cant hold a driving licence until 2011, But i've had cars previously with engine transplants, and it was relatively easy to insure them, and there are plenty people around with cars with non original engines so i cant see it being impossible to insure.
The V8 i have just now will be going into my Defender once i manage to get somewhere to work on the thing, however i'm considering building a A4Q Track Car with my brother, and i suspect the V8 would be the engine of choice for that once we finally get the funds together for it!
unfortunately they tend to get nervous when the car it came from and the car it is going into don't match!
adrian flux do good quotes on swapped out cars.
the bloke doing my quote told me not to worry, "he had a 350bhp cosworth through them"
I know i've said this before, but I would give careful thaught to spending a lot of money tuning a 1.8T. You can pick up a 300hp V8 for 500quid and probably have it fitted and running for another 500
£1000 wont be getting you anywhere near 300hp from a 1.8T and the V8 will be nicer to drive imo than a little 1.8 tuned to moon.
Obviously if you want more than 300hp from the V8 its a little more tricky than just adding more boost. But i suspect you could build a pretty damn impressive V8 for the money required to get >300hp from an AEB....
keep you eye on the 'bay. I picked up an ABZ V8 on there for £500, with its wiring loom, ecu, key and immo transponder. Its missing an AFM and some other small parts, but thats an example of what you can get if you keep your eyes open!
Cost me £80ish to have it shipped by DHL's pallet service too.