Bavarian Syncro fire truck

[RainierSyncro]

A package from Germany! The fellow Vanagon owner in Germany (JensBrownstar) that helped me get in contact with the Syrgenstein fire department for pictures of my van while in service, helped me out with the missing dash mounted equipment. I had absolutely no idea where to begin to look for such items. Apparently, all this stuff is out there for sale, but you need to know what to type into Google or E-Bay to find it. The big clunky phone turned out to easier to find than I thought it would. Jens pointed me to a German company that still makes this stuff. For 500Euro, I can get the exact phone and base brand new. Waaay too much. Jens mentioned I look under "Handapparat Funk 60" in E-bay. Presto! Found a base and a phone. The yellow pull switch was located in the UK. Again, Jens was able to find the Hella part number to be able to locate the switch. There is a red alarm switch that I am getting from Latvia of all places. It will take about 3 weeks to get here. Then there was the mystery middle switch to find. All we had to go on was an operating diagram sticker placed on the dash just above the hole. Jens came through once again and was able to ID the switch. This one operates the roof mounted lights and it was picked up for about 35Euro. Even though none of this stuff will be brought back to operating condition, just the cool factor alone makes it all worth it. A big thumbs up to Jens for all the detective work.

[chase4food]

that is way cool!
_________________
- Vince 飲食玩睡

what Isolde wants Isolde doesn't always get, 4 I know what is best for her - Liebe macht frei

[RainierSyncro]

The fire department equipment has been installed. Had to do some modifications to get the phone base high enough so the phone didn't hit the dash. Took out the cig lighter and reinstalled the phone connector. The lighter will have to be moved to another location. Looks like I've got one hell of a Vanagon conversation starter!

[chase4food]

[RainierSyncro]

Quick update and I need some input from you guys. I've been spending the past couple of weeks gathering together parts for the next phase. The plan is for the shop to take out the dash and go through everything behind it. Check all wiring, clean out vents, readjust temp controls and look for any weird out of place stuff. The fire department gutted the dash and removed all their equipment. They may have nicked a wire or pulled something out that they shouldn't have. The dash check-up is for piece of mind. Other projects that will get done:

Add another set of H-4's next to the existing lights.
Hook up the fog lights on the bumper.
Add an extra LED back-up light.
Maybe add a 3 gauge set up for volts/oil pressure/etc

All the lights will have relays and be operated with pull switches.

Time to work on the wall. It's thin sheetmetal and is very tinny. I cut off a dozen or so pop rivets that were used for old equipment. Sound deadening was added in between the ribs. I will be using speaker box felt material to cover this side of the wall. The wall also seems to be the perfect place to mount some big ass oval speakers. My dad built some cool boxes for them. Now comes the question: Do I mount the speakers on the outside of the seats or go inboard? As you can see in the pictures, the seat covers most of the speaker if mounted outboard. If mounted inboard, they seem to be a bit too close together. Right now I'm liking the inboard mounting. I could get my dad to add in some kind of storage shelves between the speakers.

Rivets cut off

Sound deadening added. 75% less tinny.

Speakers mounted outboard mostly blocked by the seat.

Speakers mounted inboard. Storage rack opportunity between the boxes.

[RainierSyncro]

More updates - I need a radio. I need my heater controls and dash fan to work. I need fog lights hooked up and new lights in the grill. The solution? Lets remove the dash and go through everything. Nothing surprises me any more with this Syncro. The shop took the dash out and opened a can of worms. Here are the gory details:

The removal of the grill revealed serious rust issues around the fresh air intake. Huge holes! I had to find a guy who was parting out a van to get 1/2 of a front end to get some good sheetmetal. I wasn't sure how bad it was going to be on the inside. You can still see some of the green paint when it was use by the Munich police department. Of course, the cover to keep the bugs out was missing.

With the dash out, the rust didn't make it past the air intake, so only that section was cut out. The wiper motor was going south, so that was replaced. The heater core was rusting at the corners. It was decided to replace that as well. The heater box had to be reconstructed and the fan motor swapped out. The heater control cables were tangled up and had to be sorted.

The van never had a radio, just communication equipment. I had to find an antenna. I located a roof mounted Hirschmann item on E-bay. The main reason for a roof mount is to give me an early warning that I might hit the roof vent in a parking garage. The radio install has been put off for now because I need 2 items to finish.

Headlights! The plan was to recreate the same quad headlight set-up as in my old blue Syncro using H-4's and Vanagon headlight buckets (https://www.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/1075704.jpg). Since the shop didn't have the blue Syncro to see how it was installed, they (and me) were stumped trying to fit the light on the driver's side. There's a huge indent in the sheetmetal for the pedal cluster on manual vans that interferes with the light placement. It was decided to dump the buckets and use Hella 500FF's which cleared no problem.

Here's a close-up of how tight it is on the driver's side.

I found some Hella pull switches to operate a LED back-up light, bumper mounted fog's and the inner headlights. The switches light up when pulled which is cool. The location of the switches is perfect under the heater controls.

Here's a picture of the back-up light. The rear window is tinted and our driveway is very close to a huge tree. Hard to see anything in the dark with the regular back-up lights, so maybe this mod will help.

Other issues were address such as the non working door locks. The key only worked on the ignition and the rear hatch. The scary part was finding out that ANY key could open the driver's door. It's all fixed and one key works on all doors. The shop tech found a pile of spaghetti behind the dash. The German police and fire department wired up their equipment every which way. When they removed their stuff, they just cut wires. The tech ended up with a box of extra wires that went nowhere. It's now all cleaned up and sorted. Lastly, I had a tach added to the instrument cluster. The van is so basic, that not only it didn't have a tach, but it didn't even have the clock, just a blank face with only the water temp and gas gauge.

[RainierSyncro]

Update on the update - The lights work great. The fogs really light up the immediate area and the grill lights shoot out really far....right into the opposite lane. Those will need a definite readjusting. The LED back-up light throw out a huge beam, but it's that creepy blue tinged light. I can see everything back there now and I'm sure the neighbors across the street will think someone turned on their bedroom light.

[pnwkayaker]

Great job, hope you can bring your truck to the next Marymoor meetup!

That rear LED light looks really cool, do you have a link to it?
_________________
87 Syncro Westy EJ25 ("Tardis")

Seattle Meetup at Marymoor (link)
A collection of Simple Useful Mods (SUM) (link)

[RainierSyncro]

Here's the back-up light link:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NPPNKTU/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

There seems to be an amber version of it also.

[RainierSyncro]

Pulled the rear seat out. It will be replaced with a Z-bed that I picked up 2 months ago. What a super basic rear seat. The bottom is so light that it can be picked up with one hand and is attached to the van with only two bolts. Once the seat is out, I can then remove the aluminum panels, look for rust and then put some sound deadening back behind there. After popping the plastic retainer clips, I figured out how the fire department did the panel install and realized that I can't remove any wall panels without removing the floor panel first because of the overlap. Big problem. The entire floor panel is solidly glued down to the van. Removing it would mean ruining the floor panel. The top of the wall panels sit in a channel, so the bottom has to be slid out to remove. Looks like my only option is to figure out how to cut a few millimeters off the bottom of the wall panels to clear the floor panel. I was thinking of using a dremel tool to do the cutting. Looks like I'll have a long afternoon trimming panels. Yuck...

[Steve M.]

The floor is glued down...that really sucks!

Thinking a propane torch to heat the floor, but as soon as the metal cooled the glue would "glue" itself again.

[RainierSyncro]

Small update - New truck mirrors added.

Also new 3D printed headlight surrounds have been made to use on the Hella 500FF's. The Hellas are in a weird size zone between the 7" H-4's and the 5.5" SA inner lights. They are 6.5" and I spent hours trying to find something already made that would fit, but no luck. I've been helping a fellow Samba member get these made. I won't reveal his name until everything is sorted out, or if he wants to chime in beforehand. The weather will be absolutely horrible for the next couple of days, so I can't cut the grill for the surrounds. Here's a sneak peak of the progress so far.

With these 3D printed surrounds, there's another headlight option now using the thinner Hella 500's. More info will be revealed when I can get these mounted. Adjustments may have to be made, so consider these a prototype. Can't wait to get these mounted!

[Zeitgeist 13]

I would suggest a Fein Multimaster would be a better tool for trimming enough to get at the wall panels. With an offset metal cutting blade, you can get right up against the panels and maintain tight control of your cut.
_________________
Casey--

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

[RainierSyncro]

Time for paint! Contacted Zoltan the painter. He's been mentioned here on the Samba a couple of times. Does great work and has done miles of Vanagon seams. I wasn't sure if I really wanted a paint job given the fact the van is one problem after another. I'm scared of the horrors that will be uncovered especially around the driver's door area. Anyway, so far so good. Some rusty problems lurking behind the slider door cover under the pass side back window. Then there are the layers of paint. Green, white and red (the Italian flag!). It was a Munich police van in a previous life before doing customs work in Bavarian and then transferred to the Syrgenstein fire department. Zoltan says it will be done in 2-3 weeks. I'm thinking it's going to be 3 weeks because all 4 corners need work.

[RainierSyncro]

Finally some paint. Looking good so far. I'll have to ask about the flat rear tire. Maybe they did that to get it inside.

[junichi]

Looking good!
_________________
1964 Kombi- http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=640048
Sold: 1985 Transporter Doka,1978 Westfalia, 1975 bay x 2, 1986 syncro vanagon, 1965 beetle, 1980 vanagon, 1967 deluxe bus, 1988 golf

[RainierSyncro]

Back from paint. Picked it up when it was dark, so couldn't get a good look at it. Drove about 10 miles down the road and it died. Sigh... not surprised. Called AAA, waited 3 hours and had it towed to the shop. They said that the wiring to the fuel pump was "MacGyvered". Now it's fixed and running. Paint looks good. All seams taken care of and a slight texture was added to the lower panels. I didn't ask for that, but it is nice come to think of it. New window seals were used all around and both rear side windows were replaced. The old windows had lots of scratches in a pattern of which I can't figure out how they were made. Kinda like someone was taking stuff off the roof and kept hitting the side window.

Anyway, one more step closer to being finished. getting new decals made including new FEUERWEHR front & back and Zeigler decals. I think Zeigler is a company that converts vans/trucks to fire department vehicles.

[Birdcage]

Your van looks nice,

I've come across many vans of all makes with scratches in weird patterns. It took me the longest time to figure out they came from a grinder cut off wheel or flap disc pitting the glass.

I wonder if that old red was the same color on our LT, I just had them scan it and then we worked on the mix ratios for about an hour.

Keep up the good work

Dai,
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@syncrostyle
@optoverland

[SlalomVan]

[Steve M.]