The 16" money pit

[lloydy]

Hi all, planning to document on here some of what is going on with my van..
Primarily because its now left my hands to have some pretty extensive bodywork done, and at the same time its having a TDI engine built up for me. I've tried a few times to start a thread going, but it's always derailed due to things going wrong.. This time it will be better..promise..
Firstly a bit of history upto this point.
It's a factory 16" multivan with M code options of poptop and wardrobe and overhead locker, basically the package you call a weekender. I bought the van in Dec '09 as a unfinished project, looking like this

and coming off the low loader outside my house

First thing to do was fit a new turbo to the 1.6td engine, as it left a pretty good smoke screen..

with this done it passed the MOT!
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16" syncro multivan pop top AHU TDI
“Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set fire to him and he's warm for the rest of his life.”

[rubbachicken]

very nice

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lucy our westy

lucy's BIG adventure

meet 'burni'


markswagen {mobile mechanic} san diego area all early VW's cared for.

619 201 0310 or 617 935 4182

[lloydy]

The MOT flagged up a split CV boot, so this was stripped cleaned and refitted. Me and jed the spread did this and also took up the opportunity to free of the rear diff lock

It was also picked up at this time that the vc had failed, so a new one was purchased and fitted

First trip out in the van!

This led up to new years eve, which me and the wife spent at our friends stables.

The next morning i added a eberspacher to the shopping list!
Fitted nicely under the seat

and made to look pretty factory from the kick panel

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16" syncro multivan pop top AHU TDI
“Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set fire to him and he's warm for the rest of his life.”

[lloydy]

A cheap spray job was next on the cards, just to cover over the some of the bare panels. Proper bodywork was on the cards..

the old power steering pipes were removed due to a few leaks

and replaced with new hoses

first bit of wild camping for me and the boy

Picked up some new rubber, as the van was still on its original tyres..

Antiroll bar rubbers needed some love

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16" syncro multivan pop top AHU TDI
“Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set fire to him and he's warm for the rest of his life.”

[lloydy]

[lloydy]

A kitchen of some kind was needed, the wife found this nice set up out of a mazda

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suits our needs perfectly, couple of mods made to it was removing the tiny gas bottle and fitting a westfalia underslung tank, with a quick release fitting between the two
This kitchen unit almost made the wife forgive me for selling the last van to fund this one

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16" syncro multivan pop top AHU TDI
“Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set fire to him and he's warm for the rest of his life.”

[lloydy]

A weekend offroading was then arranged with the syncronauts, this fun weekend ended on the drive up there, when all power from the little jx engine departed

Eventually traced to no compression on any cylinder, i took this opportunity to upgrade to the AAZ td engine

and fit some s/steel tank straps

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16" syncro multivan pop top AHU TDI
“Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set fire to him and he's warm for the rest of his life.”

[lloydy]

It was around this time that a VW magazine got in touch and wanted to do a article/photoshoot, heres a couple of the pics

After seeing those pics i decided a lift was in order, so some 30mm spacers were fitted all round

I chanced upon a genuine multivan kitchen unit, bought it, but it is way to big really, so it was sold on pretty quickly

there then followed a period of just driving, camping and enjoying te van

We even managed to get ourselves a two week holiday in Wales and the lake district

A little decent here..

Things were going pretty well.. Driving down to stonehenge one evening a coolant hose decides to split, dumping all the coolant on the motorway. But with me being a positive thinker, i thought hey, lets go TDI and get the box rebuilt. It'll be super reliable then...... The gearbox was rebuilt by Aidan talbott and has been perfect ever since. The TDI not so, it was entrusted to a garage, who ended up having the van for nearly 3 months and totally screwed it up as well as ruining carpets and leaving bare live wires everywhere. A few random pics will follow of the 'quality'

this picture i should have acted on sooner..

To ad to this the engine mounts that were made up, then broke. I took on fixing it up myself, with some help..

new battery turned round

left more space for the air inlet

bernd jeager engine mounts were fitted

bashplate back on and all running nice

just in time for our euro holiday
Also starting to look a little different, double glazing all round, tinted headlights, front bashplate

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16" syncro multivan pop top AHU TDI
“Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set fire to him and he's warm for the rest of his life.”

[crukab]

WOW, a 16" Multivan, very nice Combo
Looks like you are getting the family into it as well !!
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Tom

My Pops:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=604100&highlight=
I know you will always be with me, rest in peace with no more pain. 8/13/14.....

In the yard right now:
'51 Dodge 5 window truck
'65 Bug
'66 Singlecab
'82 Rabbit Truck Diesel from CALI
'86 Doublecab W/T
'91 Vanagon carat/wolfsbrg.Tiico
'88 Dodge Ram pickup
'11 Jetta Wagon

[lloydy]

Orange roof rack swaped for a more streamlined version

and some CLK alloys fitted

It was around this time that i hydrolocked the engine.. Going back to the picture of the unsealed snorkel, we had a very heavy downpour at a syncronauts meeting and it filled up the air intake. It looked as thought the engine had survived unscathed.. nearly..

packed for the holiday, heading to Rome

And yes it made it back france, italy, switzerland, germany, france-home
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16" syncro multivan pop top AHU TDI
“Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set fire to him and he's warm for the rest of his life.”

[insyncro]

Money well spent IMHO.

Awesome.
Enjoy.

in$yncro

[tam_shops]

Nice work! Looks like you and your family are enjoying this and it's become a family project!

LOVE this unit! There was one, perhaps yours, on the weekender kitchen thread. If they had units like that here, I would have bought a weekender myself as you can pull it out most of the year and use the extra space/seats, instead of driving around dead weight. AND, you can pull it out and use it outside instead of having a built in stove and camp stove. I like to be outside for the fresh air and to keep an eye on the kids. Plus, there is always so much stuff inside, cooking inside sounds like too much work, so I've yet to do it! ENJOY this unit and keep it always!

[singler3360]

Nice van , family and travel log. We are renting a Euro Westy this summer in Germany and plan time in France as well. With your pics, we can hardly wait.

[lloydy]

thanks all, its a labour of love for sure..

Battery wise, it's a factory diesel so the battery is in the back from the factory
My daughter loves working on it, maybe she thinks it will be hers one day
Still a bit more to come, just writing it up now..

ah, yes.. staines, all of it was oil. It has all come off the seats fine. Carpets are ok-ish.
There is a massive build thread of mine on club8090 syncro section called 'getting there' 200 od pages now, details the work a lot more. particularly the bad engine conversion. Shocking work really
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16" syncro multivan pop top AHU TDI
“Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set fire to him and he's warm for the rest of his life.”

[lloydy]

So, when i say the van made it back.. It did, but was giving out a lot of white smoke especially when cold. This and other little hiccups would keep me busy for nearly a year.
First up was a power steering hose in the engine bay splitting

replaced with a genuine VW hose, which has the baffle fitted that aftermarket jobs seem to miss out

My up to that point perfectly operating difflocks started to play up, traced to the little red boot new ones bought and fitted

Got the immob ring fitted on the ignition barrel

view of the engine

fitted a better positioned peddle from a VW sharan (lhd) almost perfect position now

missed this earlier, the ECU and all the relays fitted in the lower part of rear wardrobe

Made myself up a flip key with the immob chip inside

spot of wild camping again

started to look at reasons for the white smoke.. fitted the vw oil seperator the breather set up

more camping!

I was wanting to freshen up the inlet pipework as the stuff that was done for me i wasnt really happy with. PD inlet manifold was first

followed by a custom MAP sensor boss

which replaced this thing

EGR delete pipe next

along with the start of making my own oil return pipe

also plumbing in a bmw oil seperator which seperated the oil back to the crankcase. Fitting for oil seperator return to block

mann one way valve for oil sep return

New turbo

bmw oil sep

flexi oil feed line to turbo

new 0.216 injectors

still getting white smoke....
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16" syncro multivan pop top AHU TDI
“Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set fire to him and he's warm for the rest of his life.”

[furrylittleotter]

[lloydy]

Decided to make the jump to SA lights and grill

SNOW!!!

Rear ladder removed and a paulchen bike rack fitted

started to think it looked a bit low again...

Then got distracted by big brakes..

Then some BIG springs turned up

New pistons and seal kit for the new calipers

widening of the carriers. before and after

Then the new centre caps from T3 technique turned up

Calipers and carriers zinc'd

Time for a raise in suspension... Due to me trying to remove the rear trailing arm bolt and snapping it It was decided the van would be trailered to brickwerks and left in their capable hands, as surely other things would need doing too....

it snowed a bit on the way.... spent the night on a campsite..

bit of rot on rear arm mount

spring top hats seen better days

16" specific

lower arm with new bits

Andreas springs with new 16" dampers

GMB ball joint spacer

Andreas rear springs with trailmaster longer HD dampers

new ride height, about 53cm hubnut to arch
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16" syncro multivan pop top AHU TDI
“Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set fire to him and he's warm for the rest of his life.”

[scottbott]

never realised all the work you have done just by looking at it at busfest

[Zeitgeist 13]

This is epic. Love the color and that really groovy modular camping unit. That's exactly what I need, since I'd rather not tote around camping stuff the 363 days a year when I'm not camping.
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Casey--

'89 Bluestar ALH w/12mm Waldo pump, PP764 and GT2052
'01 Weekender --> full camper
y u rune klassik?

[Brickwerks]

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