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Fri Apr 10, 2015 12:13 pm

Bought a doka last summer and thought about just fix it up and drive the hell out of it, untill I got my hands on a full RJES conversion kit with an ej22 engine and all from a guy here in the south that had given up his build.

So I bought it all and started stripping the rusty doka.

It started with this
A doka with 2 sparks plugs broken in the heads of the old 95hp engine. It was sitting there for 2years waiting for it savior :)

and out.

While the gearbox was out of the way, this was my only chance get the fuel tank area cleaned, it was more dirt hiding over the tank than I ever have seen on a car. It was a hell getting the tank out, and the german engineers could not have chosen a worse place hiding the tank....

I got the area sandblasted to bare metal and gave it some layers of POR15..not the best pics but it was -15 to -20C in the winter and I just wanted it to get it done :P

Rjes bellhousing on.

cleaned the subaru engine, bolted everything together and mounted it back.

Fri Apr 10, 2015 3:33 pm

Looking great and a good project.

While I already have enough syncro trucks, wish I could just wander here and find an old doka syncro sitting around. 8)

Good find and keep us posted with more pics during progress. Over here it would definitely be worth repairing any rust and eventually repainting. But once you get the tranny and engine in, it should be fun to go exploring and back/off roading.

Sat Apr 11, 2015 1:32 am

WestyBob wrote: Looking great and a good project.

While I already have enough syncro trucks, wish I could just wander here and find an old doka syncro sitting around. 8)

Good find and keep us posted with more pics during progress. Over here it would definitely be worth repairing any rust and eventually repainting. But once you get the tranny and engine in, it should be fun to go exploring and back/off roading.

Thanks bro, actually the conversion is now done, so this build thread will sum it all :D
I´ll post everthing I have so far!

Sat Apr 11, 2015 1:40 am

New tyres day on, went for the cooper discoverer maxx 225/75 16 on Mb wheels

Well som difference :P

As the wheels had such a high offset and needed longer studs, MG here on the forums tipped me to just use spacers, to get the wheels out and go on with longer studs on the spacers instead. 20mm spacers all 4

No lifting done yet, and the old engine is sitting at the back...

Not much clearance with them tyres against the trailing arm.

Sat Apr 11, 2015 1:52 am

So I bought me some MAD springs and 2wd front springs and got them on.

It was nice seeing these were healthy and not rusted like the ones I´ve seen on other cars.

If the front ones were as easy to replace as the rear ones :(

Also got the rear bearing replaced both inner and outer ones.

New brake lines and brakes.

The CV boots were pretty worn out, so I replace them, will do it soon again due to the quality on them new ones :O :P
Lite bilder. Det var frustrerande att få av och på knutarna.... De satt ganska bra.

Cleaned the cv:s in and out and greased them.

This was a total nightmare to do... First side took me a whole day to replace them springs, the other side took some hours, next time will be even better hahah...

Color everything that got in my way :O

RJES engine mount.

And this was the result.

Sat Apr 11, 2015 2:00 am

After driving it I noticed some serious vibrations from the propshaft...
Found out that it has to be mounted this way,
1 Engine and gearbox
2 Propshaft
3 Front diff

That way the propshaft will not bee squeezed in between them like in the first way I did mount it while the front diff was solid in place...

So I loosened up everything and mounted them back, the propshaft and front diff took it place in natural...And them I used a jug to centre the front diff sideways.. and dooone, no vibrations after that.

Time for MOT

Passed with no faults :D
Got home and took it for a well earned drive around the home town.

The dogs were happy to finally hit the roads, last time they did it was in my 1302, now they hade plenty of room in the cabine :D

Sat Apr 11, 2015 8:06 am

Very very good. I love it when someone saves a doka and makes it run and look nice again. And the dogs look nice too :lol: 8)

Thanks for the pics.

Sat Apr 11, 2015 9:04 am

Looks great :D

MG

Tue Apr 14, 2015 8:45 pm

Thanks for the kind words guys :)
the doka is so useful. I've been driving parts, furniture and tons of stuff to the scrap yard with it already!!

Looking for ideas to get a mor comfort drivin. By reducing the noise in the cab, so loud in the higher speeds that I barely can here my own thoughts :p

Tue Apr 14, 2015 9:04 pm

Nice save, and a damm fine Doka. Now keep chasing the rust!

As for the noise, yep the regular Dokas don't have any sound damping materials. Have you ever seen a Tristar? They have sound proofing all around the rear seat, rear seat pedestal, in the head liner, and on the floor. The diesel Tristars also have sound proofing in the engine compartment. I also added some to the doors on mine.
Maybe find some carpet and floor sound damping from a GL or something.
Good luck!

Tue Apr 14, 2015 9:59 pm

Very fine, Skål!

Tue Apr 14, 2015 11:42 pm

Not too bad I talked you into it, right? :)

Longer intake, like really long, will kill intake noise. The gray sewer pipes are awesome for making intake. Have done a few...

Longer Exhaust will do its thing too. I made a B23 conversion that was noisy as hell and I extended the exhaust and added an extra dampener. Made uge difference.

Thu Apr 16, 2015 4:16 am

luVWagn wrote: Very fine, Skål!

Tack, skål :D

Thu Apr 16, 2015 4:18 am

svenakela wrote: Not too bad I talked you into it, right? :)

Longer intake, like really long, will kill intake noise. The gray sewer pipes are awesome for making intake. Have done a few...

Longer Exhaust will do its thing too. I made a B23 conversion that was noisy as hell and I extended the exhaust and added an extra dampener. Made uge difference.

Well, you made me broke by talking me into it ;) No I´m happy you did, learned a lot from it all! and happy with it.

Actually its not the noise of the engine, engine runs smooth and exhaust is pretty silent, I used the original t3 silencer, it the noise from the road, tyres and wind :P

Thu Apr 16, 2015 4:21 am

MsTaboo wrote: Nice save, and a damm fine Doka. Now keep chasing the rust!

As for the noise, yep the regular Dokas don't have any sound damping materials. Have you ever seen a Tristar? They have sound proofing all around the rear seat, rear seat pedestal, in the head liner, and on the floor. The diesel Tristars also have sound proofing in the engine compartment. I also added some to the doors on mine.
Maybe find some carpet and floor sound damping from a GL or something.
Good luck!

Thanks, ahh that rust :(

A friend of mine tool the sound proofing from a Coach, and it made a huge difference.

Looking for them but not easy to find, so as soon I have money I will put some damping in it..

All the sides are, bare metal, no wonder why it sounds so much :P

Thu Apr 16, 2015 1:43 pm

Go and get the cheap bitumen plates at Biltema, they do make a lot of difference!

Spray foam also helps. :)

Thu Apr 16, 2015 2:31 pm

Yep thats I've planned to do bitummen at the easy to form places and foam in the hard areas...

So after my disappointment of the response in the 4th gear with them huge tires I did as MG recommended and tested the old 14" ones back on. Well it was much easier to accelerate with 4th in and no problem passing by at 150-155km/h compared to almost no acceleration with the Coopers.. But I didn't find it fun at that speed or comfy either with such a car... So I mounted the big set up back on and will live with the fact that the highways will be boring in it :p
I'll have my wrx beetle for driving fast...

As for the noise. I don't think there was a huge difference between the standard wheels and the coopers 16"..
I measured 80.8 db at 100-110km/h. Don't know if the app is to trust but will measure again tomorrow with coopers back on.

Thu Apr 16, 2015 6:50 pm

You may be slower with those tall tires, but Damn, they look GOOD!

Sat Apr 25, 2015 12:24 pm

Thanks bro :P
Well while it will not get faster, I might get me even bigger tyres and stick with the criusing in 90km/h and live with that is at least looks good :P

Sat Apr 25, 2015 12:44 pm

So when I was in the progress of saving this syncro a few months ago, my friend introduced me to a syncro guy, i was chocked it was the owner of this Doka, that I have seen pictures of but no info what so ever, so I was really happy meeting him. You`ll recognise the doka once you see it ;)
So today I went on another roadtrip to visit him again and take a look at his syncro(last time we were at his shop only)
Here is the master :)

Syncro doka with coach seats in the front and back. DVD screens, a winch and a crane of course :P

The tyres is the cooper discoverer STT I think, with dimensions 255-70 16 The with custom fender flares, hopyfully he will make some sets of them :P

Home made roof rack and bumpers, looks awesome and stabil as f*ck!

And the crane :P hydraulic, first it had a electric driven hydraulic pump, but it will be driven by the engine now instead.

The beauty and the beast...Mine is not near being that brutal as his but, maybe some day :P

This awaits for the future! ;)

You can tell he´s an offroad addict
here is his Baja bug, been sitting for some year now.
Built on a 1302 super beetle, with custum racks and a type4 engine.

He has some sick, sick plans :P another project in progress.

Took mine for a spin, and I thought I´m driving it hard, well today he showed me that I drive like a granny :P