skadi the syncro

[syncrodoka]

The pressure on the motive bleeder should come up in a dozen or so pumps.
The build is coming along nicely.

[phlogiston]

for the last few nights my sleep has been interrupted by thoughts of waking to find my syncro gone. i'd taken to laborious manual methods of disabling the vehicle at night, with the unfortunate side effect of having to get dirty and waste time in the morning when i'm hurrying to work.

but i've got the day off today so i put my other projects on hold and set up my immobilization scheme. of course a dedicated thief will be able to circumvent anything that i can reasonably construct so it is a trade off of how much time and effort i'm willing to expend vs what i imagine a meth addled car thief will be willing to reverse engineer in the dark in my driveway.

i'm happy with my solution. it's not obvious, but it won't add undue complexity to starting the van. it should not introduce too much unreliability and is easily accessed for troubleshooting.

this will be my one exception to the "pictures or it didn't happen" rule. i'm happy to share my solution with other vanagon owners, but not on a public forum.

[phlogiston]

what's next....

a break for a bit of stickering.

and then i've got to figure out what to do with these things!

[phlogiston]

it takes a lot of time and money to fix up a syncro. but lately i'd been spending a little more of the former than the latter. i had accumulated a bit of savings in the syncro fund and was looking forward to buying skadi a present... something i could pay for, bolt on, and enjoy. something with the engineering already done.

CLK rims were my first choice--an aesthetically appealing performance upgrade that bolts right on. but i'd been diligently punching that search into craigslist two or three times a day for every major city on the west coast, and all that had come up were a chromed set of 4 way down in the east bay. i thought about new bumpers, but couldn't make up my mind which one to get. plus i keep dreaming that someday i'll get a welder and a tube bender and make my own. i'd also been checking out replacement seats for awhile. the ones in my van were kinda beat. the PO had spilled some hippie stinking patchouli crap in there, and that had set me on a mission to eliminate as much original fabric as possible. i'd been watching porsche seats on ebay... always loved the seats in my old 951... but none ever showed up with seat heaters, which i wanted badly. finally a call to parts heaven confirmed how unlikely i was to find them. i'd seen some used jetta recaros for sale, and though they were a bit too ratty for my taste, in the course of my research i couldn't help but notice the really slick recaro mounting brackets that chris (T3) posted in this thread. so when one of my many craigslist sessions turned up a pair of barely used recaro "style topline" seats with heaters and cooling fans, i was pretty excited. here was my chance!

but i wanted to be certain first. i was not in the mood to mess around designing seat mounting adapters with no front seats in my daily driver. so i called go westy. "yep, we still sell the adapters, $100 each!". that should have been my first red flag. it had been stated in the thread i referenced earlier that the brackets were $150 each, and when was the last time a low-volume van accessory decreased in price by 33%?

i didn't think of that then. snapped up the seats, ordered the brackets, and began dreaming about my new seats. got the package in the mail, lugged the passenger seat down the stairs and out to the van, wrench in one hand, beer in the other, happy in the certainty that i'd be finishing the beer in my new throne. then wait, what's this?!!

apparently sometime between 2007, when chris posted those pictures, and now, go westy changed their definition of an "adapter bracket". no longer are they selling a clever contraption that bolts to the vanagon seat tracks and provides new mounting points at the correct width for the recaro sliders. the new "solution" is just a regular set of recaro sliders (just like the ones already on my seats!) with offset holes drilled in them!

now, even if i wasn't worried about the structural implications of drilling a hole that connects two existing holes (i am!), and even if i felt like paying $200 + shipping to avoid drilling 4 holes (i am not!), these still would not work with my seats!

the vanagon tracks are on 395mm centers, while the recaros are 16" (406mm). so the sliders would have to be mounted inward of their intended position in order to connect directly to the VW tracks. however, the seats i bought have the sliders recessed into the seat frame, so they cannot move inwards at all!

well, there went my "easy" upgrade. i must admit i thought about putting the seats back up on craigslist, but only for about 20 seconds.

so back into the box went the go westy "adapters". time to get to work on the sliders i already had...

[kirsplat]

I have some substantial seat envy over here.....

very nice!
_________________
86 Syncro|EJ253|Carat

[Christopher Schimke]

If you need a set of the adapter brackets to copy, I have the set of Recaros out of the van and you are welcome to take one of the adapters home to take measurements off of or whatever.
_________________
"Sometimes you have to build a box to think outside of." - Bruce (not Springsteen)

*Custom wheel hardware for Audi/VW, Porsche and Mercedes wheels - Urethane Suspension Bushings*
T3Technique.com or contact me at [email protected]

[phlogiston]

thanks for the generous offer, chris! as much as i'm excited to meet one of these days and check out your van(s), i'm all set for now on mounting the seats. my motivation for working on the van seems to slightly exceed my motivation to write about it, so this thread is still about a project and a half behind my actual progress. so in fact (spoiler alert!) the seats are already mounted!

but back to the past...

the first step was to procure a swivel. thanks to ebay that didn't take long, saving me plenty of time for cleaning...

step two... off to the drawing board... no, wait, i had to abort the first attempt to measure everything because i was going crazy trying to add, subract, and divide fractions of an inch. what a moronic, archaic system. i seriously put the entire project on hold until my new metric tape measure arrived! ahh... so much more civilized.

[Yukon Syncro]

[phlogiston]

[phlogiston]

i'd become pretty enamored with the new car seats adorning my living room, so despite my limited metal fabrication skills, i decided i had to find a way to stick them in my van. for obvious reasons, i wanted to start with the driver's seat, but the passenger seat seemed like a more strategic place to start, as i could take my time getting all the measurements figured out and dusting off my machining skills, all while still having a seat to sit in on my drive to work.

step one was removing the busted old seat and cleaning up the dented tracks.

i figured that transplanting some new slider tracks onto a swivel would be the easier project. first i need to get rid of the old ones.

i couldn't fit the swivel onto the mill, so i chucked an end mill in the drill press and got creative with some clamps. this was my first spot weld drilling experience, and it didn't take long to learn why this is a time consuming task!

now that i was getting practiced up at spot weld removal, it was time to tackle a more challenging task--removing the long mounting tabs from the seat rails that came on my seats.

i foolishly thought it would be easy...
but solidly clamping a mechanical device without crushing it proved to be pretty challenging, and with six spot welds on each slider, having to reposition and re clamp for each one proved to be quite time consuming.

one down... time to come up with a better technique.

it seemed like overkill, using a mill to drill out spot welds, but it sure was easy to reposition.

still took a bit of hammering to finish the job.

but with the calibrated z axis of the mill, it was pretty easy to drill to just the right depth. i won't say it was "quick work" but i did finish the last 3 sliders in about the time i spent on the first one...

meanwhile a bit of grinding, cleaning, marking, and drilling had taken place on the swivel, materials had been procured for the driver's side scheme, and plans were formulating for the back seat. while i was busy with all this, some slight repairs were done on the camping gear of our other van. now it was time for a break!

skadi got to rest at home while her sister wendy the weekender took my family and me to the summer meltdown music festival. it was a nice change to be in a van with more than one seat for a few days!

after 4 days of music, dancing, and partying by the river, we made it home monday afternoon in time to drop off wendy's bench seat at the upholstery shop. it was a truly great last hurrah for the weekender.

next stop was the tec shop for a bit of welding.

after that, it was pretty quick to drill new mounting holes in the recaro sliders and bolt them down to the swivel. i was so nervous about everything actually fitting that i didn't take any photos. plus it's all going to have to come apart for painting and grease. i just wanted to make sure that all the carefully measured holes would line up in the right places first...

i won't say that NO dremel grinding occurred, but i was pretty pleased when everything more or less lined up and the swivel even kind of spun, despite the complete lack of grease on the bushings. i added fender washers under the slider tracks because they were rubbing slightly on the raised lip at the edge of the swivel.

i used M8 button head cap bolts to fasten the sliders to the swivel, but i think there would have been clearance inside the sliders to use regular "cheese head" bolts.

yeah!! my first metal working project in ages was a success.

...but that was just the warm up...

[phlogiston]

the plan for the driver's seat was a little less simple. the base of my new recaros seemed similar in thickness to the factory seats, so i was dubious about steering wheel clearance if i put in a swivel. considering that i have plans for the space behind the driver anyway, it made sense to look for another solution. there wasn't enough overlap to bolt the recaro sliders directly to the factory tracks, so i figured i'd build something to go between.

i planned to use M8 fasteners to mount the sliders to my new bracket, so i chose 3/8" thick bar stock so that i'd have just over one diameter worth of threads. the brackets would then bolt down to the factory tracks using M6 fasteners, which would be recessed into the bracket to maintain a uniform top surface. i added up some relative measurements to center the adjustment range of the new seat around the center point of the old seat's range.

fun with dimensions...

feeling pleased with the my first metal fabrication project in at least a decade.

go westy's recaro "adapter" included cool nuts that slide inside the factory seat tracks. they were kind enough to let me keep a set after i spent $50 in shipping ordering and subsequently returning the rest of their solution.

i used M6 button head cap screws to fasten my brackets to the go westy nuts inside the stock tracks through existing holes.

my solution in place. at this point i was pretty nervous to see if all my measurements added up properly.

damn it! an amateur mistake by an amateur. i forgot to account for the fact that the back of the seat base extends far below its mounting plane. of course this hangs up on my rear bracket when i try to slide the seat backwards. well it's friday night and i want these seats mounted so i can spend the rest of the weekend climbing & fishing... and i'm sure as hell not driving back to work to use the machine shop.

well as luck would have it, i just bought some new hacksaw blades on a whim. put 'em to good use and trimmed the center out of the rear bracket. it's not quite as strong now, but at least the seat can slide through its full range.

done!!!!!

ok, not really. it's all still got to come back out for painting, and i still need to hook up power for the heaters, motors, and fans. but that's good enough to take some time off and get outdoors!

[mariusstrom]

Nice work on the seats. In my opinion, even with stock seats, the swivel on the driver's seat is totally useless. Steering wheel, e-brake, and the window on the door all interfere with its functionality.
_________________
Marius Strom Otto: 1988 Vanagon Syncro Westy Camper
[SOLD] Felix: 1967 Deluxe Beetle

[Gunldesnapper]

Those seats look great!
_________________
1990 Vanagon Carat "Pig"
USN RET

[phlogiston]

i was pretty stoked on my new seats, and decided to take the rest of the weekend off to celebrate.

first stop was garfield mountain... nope, i wasn't here to solo "infinite bliss", the only 2000+ foot "sport climb" in the country. but it was fun to fish the middle fork while looking up at it...

i hung out with some small wild rainbows...

had a nice camp by the stream.

and did a bit of cragging on my way home.

every project milestone is commemorated with another sticker from my collection. this is a new one from my brother's catering company.

still feeling lazy, i decided to take another weekend "off" to go camping with my family.

out to the east side to check out hart's pass and give skadi a chance to socialize with some vanagon friends. this sweet van has a bostig and just had the pop top installed. we are camped near the highest elevation road in the state at just under 7,000 feet. driving into the alpine is cool sometimes.

"dead horse point"

a bit of cragging at the aptly named "fun rock".

my family has been very patient with the slow progress of the restoration, and has been willing to work with the limited interior amenities. to her credit, stef had to work a full shift the night we got back, but still woke up to give me a belay in newhalem.

not to be covered in detail here--many hours of quality time throughout the last few weeks with a toothbrush, a pile of shop rags, and half a dozen cleaning chemicals... but you get an idea what's coming next.

[randywebb]

skadi - I spent 5 years at Harts Pass studying birds there - nice to see your pics

you need a pop top...
_________________
1986 2.1L Westy 2wd Auto Trans.

[phlogiston]

[phlogiston]

i'd spent months wondering what to do for a back seat in my syncro. the one that came with the van was pretty dirty and a little tattered. plus, the sheet metal frame seemed uncomfortable to manipulate, and the hinge mechanism seemed clumsy relative to the one i was used to in my weekender. and considering my sentimental attachment to my old van, i was enthusiastic to reuse any parts that i could.

so off to the upholstery shop the weekender bed went. as i put down a huge deposit for materials and labor, i realized i had just committed myself to figuring out a good way to attach it to a van that was designed for a completely different seat.

but before i could build the mounts, i had to figure out the floor. and before i could figure out the floor, i had some serious cleaning to do.

the previous owner had apparently used the back of the van to store and transport some leaky powertrain components, as every surface was coated with a mixture of congealed auto fluids and filth. most of the pressboard trim panels had absorbed a quantity of oil and started to deform, so they were all removed. then i went shopping for cleaning chemicals. after trying several, i finally settled on simple green clear as my favorite--all the power of regular simple green without the horrible perfume or tendency to dye light colored surfaces green!

finding a substrate for the floor was quite a challenge. the space i wanted to fill measured about 5'1" by 4'5", and the only suitable sheet goods i could find came in sizes 4x8, 4x10, or 5x5. so i was left deciding between a 1" gap on the sliding door side or a seam somewhere in the floor. i figured the latter option was the lesser of the two aesthetic sins, so i purchased 2 sheets of 4x8 3/8" thick ACX plywood and cut out 5'1" pieces.

next i picked up a big roll of decoupled noise barrier material--closed cell foam laminated to mass loaded vinyl.

that, too, required a few pieces to cover the floor, but i made sure the seams weren't going to line up with the the ones above.

with the barrier in place, i could trim the floor to fit. it took a few iterations to get it just right, but fortunately i have a remote temperature monitor for my wood-fired smoker so that i can smoke-cure meats at just the right temperature while i'm out working on the van.

it was a fun afternoon of installing, marking, removing, and trimming the floor, all interspersed with trips out back to adjust the dampers and coals to keep my freshly made sausages at just the right temperature.

that's spicy garlic italian on the top and maple breakfast sausage on the bottom (along with a bonus shoulder for some chili--it was a good weekend to be at my house for sunday dinner!).

[Mountain1.8t]

Great pics in the backcountry...keep up the good work!

[jimeg]

Did you install any furring strips in the floor valleys before laying your sound barrier in?
_________________
1986 Root Beer Syncro Tin Top....so many plans.

Here: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=578490

[phlogiston]

no, i didn't add any material in the stamped grooves of the floor. i figured that the stiffness imparted by the edges would eliminate the need for any damping material (from an acoustic perspective), and the spacing between the high points was close enough that i didn't need to worry about supporting the substrate material where it spanned the low sections... with one exception, which i will cover soon.

i was still feeling pretty far from ready to actually mount any of the flooring materials, but now that i had them cut to shape, i could tackle the next task--i needed to create something that mimicked the seat mounting provisions that were built into my old weekender:

i was planning to use blocks in place of the formed brackets, but i had no idea how tall to cut them! the only way to determine the overall height of the foam, vinyl, and plywood stack was empirical--put the materials in place and get my gf to stand on them while measuring the distance to the floor where i planned to mount the brackets. with that done, all the flooring materials came back out for the zillionth time.

the next stop was the scrap bin at a great local resource--online metals. they gave me a piece of 1.25" square bar stock for free, and i headed to the band saw to cut out my seat mounts.

hmmm.... the poor old vertical band saw just couldn't make a straight cut! so back to online metals i went, this time placing an order for 4 pre-cut pieces. their band saw did a much better job, and i squared up the cuts to my satisfaction with a big water cooled belt sander and drilled out the mounting holes.

tapping for an M8 bolt.

4 bench seat mounts, almost ready. the off center holes allowed me to position the blocks where i wanted relative to the firewall and floor pan seams.

the original VW mounts were very close to the firewall--closer than the minimum thickness of metal that i wanted between the threaded hole and the edge of my blocks. so i went back to the sander and put a bevel on the rear mounts so that i could get them a few mm closer to the firewall.

ok, that was the easy part. now how do i figure out where to put these things?