TheSamba.com :: View topic - Rescued '87 Syncro "The Shakedown Syncro"

Tue Sep 10, 2013 8:11 pm

Well, I rescued another one!
First, some backstory.....
I have made it a bit of a hobby to take vanagons with no hope, no other chance at life, and put them back on the road. My current daily driver was purchased at scrap metal prices, my sunroof syncro sat for 13 years in a junkyard, and now this....

I received a call from my father at work on friday telling me his coworker asked "Are you going to that auction this weekend with the 2 vanagons for sale?". He tried to get as much information as possible, but the coworker didn't recall where he saw the ad. I proceeded to spend every waking moment to find that ad, only to later receive a link to it from a mostly defunct classifieds paper that the coworker was able to track down. The only information relevant was "2 vanagons" in the description, and a link to the auctioneers site. There were 10 cars for sale, all well photographed and advertised..... except for the 2 vanagons. Each vanagon had one terrible photo but thanks to the wonders of technology to clarify and zoom in on an image, I was able to determine one was a syncro! NOW i'm interested!
Anyway, early in the morning the following day (saturday) my father, mother, and myself showed up to the estate auction to take a look at the offerings. I looked over the two busses hastily so as not to draw much attention, and then had to leave to go to work. I left my parents with what I could afford to pay for the syncro, with no real interest in the 2wd (both '87s). Anyway, they called to say they had the highest bid, but it was not accepted due to a reserve, but.... had the phone number of the person handling the estate.

A lesson in persistence:
I called the officiator and made my offer, but he was hoping for quite a bit more (more than double my offer), and I made a fair bid on the 2wd '87 which I didn't want, again he wanted quite a bit more. We were far off, but I said "lets keep in touch". I got his email address and later that night spent an hour on the phone talking to him about the two busses, about my plan to save them, and eventually sent him a lengthy, well worded email about why he should sell them to me. He was of several false impressions regarding the true rarity of the syncro (believed they made 500, turns out they made about 42,000....) and I ended up getting a call from him after he'd read the email saying he was still interested in keeping in touch, but asking still over double my offer for the pair of busses.
Anyway, the two busses were the only cars unsold at the auction, the officiator was leaving the state in another day or two, and I was hoping to have the busses in my driveway before he left. So through a series of meracles I was able to get off work the following day and show up at the auction site. I told the officiator I would be there all day, and was hoping he'd take my offer. If not, i'd still be there all day, cash in hand.
To sum up the story,
This tactic worked and by the end of the day the busses were mine!

I really tried to not look at them while on his property, and tried to not look eager, so upon getting them both delivered to my house late that evening, the excitement began to build. Why did I buy another '87 2wd passenger van!?!
YUCK.

Or so I thought.
It turns out it's going to be a sweet bus! That will get it's own thread.
But here are some photos of the syncro as it started it's life with me.

It had been stored inside for a few years in hopes of becoming a project before the owner passed. Not by any means a clean syncro (like my other one!) but certainly not the crusty beasts I'm used to seeing out here. There is hope for this one. Further examination today has found a few concerning crusty bits, but overall the vehicle is in above average condition for this region and will be a good project.
It is more or less MISSING the exhaust....

But what do you expect for a western PA van? I just assume they all need full exhausts at this point.
Most of the real crusty bits are bolt on bits, not the frame/body. There is only one vertical seam with any seam rust, and the horizontal seam behind the front bumper. Both will end up below the bedliner line once properly treated, so not huge concerns, yet.
We call this "minor" here in PA....

Of course it has no brakes, at all, with a completely dry resevoir....
But welcome to PA!

Not bad....

Delivered!

Today I spent the bulk of the day tinkering with it, putting fresh gas in, adding a battery, cleaning a bunch of contacts, cleaning out the fuel pump, etc....and it runs!
Successfully drives in Gears R,G,1,2 (all i've tested)
No brakes at all.
Soon.....
For now it waits patiently for a full rebuild! I hope to make this my trail and winter syncro, but still a very reliable and used vanagon. Some possibility of it becoming a FULL westy (with poptop), we shall see....

The game plan is to put on 16'' wheels, Audi brakes, 215/70/16 General Grabber tires, NiCU brake lines, GW Stainless Exhaust, Stainless fuel tank straps, a westfalia interior, aux battery setup, a functional stereo, and perhaps a pop top.
The game plan will include removing pretty much everything from the underside, and PROPERLY dealing with the rust and coating it with a fresh waxing that will last another 20 years.
More to come! : )

Tue Sep 10, 2013 9:24 pm

Score! Glad it found a good home. Great story Phishman.

Can we call it the "Shakedown Syncro"?

Tue Sep 10, 2013 11:31 pm

Sweet man!!! 8)

Wed Sep 11, 2013 5:42 am

Well done, it sounds like it's found a great home!

Wed Sep 11, 2013 5:45 am

The ENTIRE bus is adorned in Grateful Dead stickers of '90s vintage. It will be a shame to remove them and I may leave one or two. The seller actually saw value in the stickers!
I'd say "Shakedown Syncro" is about as good a name as any!

Wed Sep 11, 2013 5:52 am

Nice find on that Syncro Craig.

It is always bad luck to remove a Grateful Dead sticker from any bus, do it and that transmission will go bad very soon.

Wed Sep 11, 2013 5:53 am

Wed Sep 11, 2013 6:15 am

I was going to say change your fuel lines,
But instead just change everything while you are at it.

Enjoy another $yncro :wink:

Wed Sep 11, 2013 7:12 am

where do you source your nicopp brake lines?

Do you flare yourself or buy pre-made sections?

Wed Sep 11, 2013 8:03 am

BelMetric and FedHill for high quality brake and clutch hard lines.

Wed Sep 11, 2013 8:35 am

Nice work! Great to see another going to be kept on the road!

Wed Sep 11, 2013 10:39 am

insyncro wrote: BelMetric and FedHill for high quality brake and clutch hard lines.

thanks for this. Belmetric looks like a great metric hardware source actually close to me!

Wed Sep 11, 2013 10:56 am

Very nice Craig. Think you will add a locker at some point ?

Wed Sep 11, 2013 6:33 pm

I'm not adding a locker unless someone is offering a locking trans and all the bits for no money.....

Otherwise I think a winch for $300 will get me out of whatever a locker would have gotten me deeper into anyway....

The syncro has been harvested for it's fuel pump to save the 2wd, and wrapped in a car cover to sit. Soon I hope to get to it.

Wed Sep 11, 2013 8:13 pm

phishman and "NiCU brake lines"--a coincidence?.....i think not. :wink:

Wed Sep 11, 2013 8:21 pm

AHHH!
Some sharp cookies in the audience I see!

In this case though I speak of Nickel/Copper (NiCu) brake lines that do not rust AT ALL and last forever. They are however, a pain to install and require special tools.....but they last forever. Even in PA!

And this is the shakedown bus, but someday I hope it will Run like an antelope, Out of control!

Wed Sep 11, 2013 9:58 pm

I have lots of perfect rust free syncro exhaust, used and cheap. Let me know if your interested.

Mike

Wed Sep 11, 2013 9:58 pm

I have lots of perfect rust free syncro exhaust, used and cheap. Let me know if your interested.

Mike

Fri Sep 13, 2013 8:55 am

Welcome to my driveway!

Fri Sep 13, 2013 12:13 pm

This was the plate on my '72 bus that I converted into a Riviera. Sold it a few years ago to a fledgling hippie chick from CT that offered me an extra $50 for the plates (sorry, worth way more than that to me).

I get the nickel copper alloy brake line at Napa. 25' spools are usually in stock and no extra cost or waiting for shipping. The NiCu line bends and flares so nicely that I would never consider using anything else. Knowing that it will never rust is just the icing on the cake.