Patty - Syncro Build

[yardbug]

Here are a few photos of under the seat - auxiliary batteries, controllers, tools, etc. a Bosch L-boxx 1a fits perfectly between the seat and the rear heater.
The batteries are from Enersys which provide around 155 aH combined. Ignore the piece of wood as the battery cover - it's all I could come up with in my time crunch.

Here is the temporary curtain install. I just tied bailing wire at fixed points and it actually worked great.

When we arrived at our camp the first night in Colorado, the fuel pump was buzzing pretty loud. So trip repair #1 was removing the pump and cleaning any debris out of the pump. This ended up being a re-occurring event on the trip. I didn't see any debris in the pump when removed but it was generally quiter when re-assembled. I'm wondering if it's just the pump. It's newer but an aftermarket brand.

Time to crawl under

First night in Colorado was in Estes park at a camp ground. The next morning we drove over trail ridge road in Rocky Mountain national park and stayed the next night near grand lake and granby. The following day we traveled south and had our next problem. We were coming down the pass and I pulled over to let some people go past us. I looked in the rear view and noticed some smoke. The heat from the turbo melted my breather hose. I knew I was going to need a heat shield but didn't have the time to do so. Luckily, I purchased a cap for the fitting just in case I had problems with the breather setup. By the way, it was discussed earlier on here that a baffle would be beneficial to the breather fitting. I didn't have room to incorporate that. My breather setup has a catch can and the 1000 plus miles before this mishap, I didn't have any oil accumulation in the can to speak of.

Smokin'

_________________
'69 Tintop T2 - '86 Syncro - '87 Westy - '02 337 GTI - '99 4Runner - '13 4Runner

[yardbug]

We even have a hot shower! Our camp location outside of Georgetown. Just off guanella pass is a trail called Leavenworth Creek Rd. Lots of dispersed camping alongside the road.

Some other destinations.

Camping outside of Gunnison off of the Sapinero Mesa Cutoff rd.

Brake backing plate rusted away 😬 Had to stop and remove that.

Ouray, Co

Engineer and cinnamon passes of the Alpine Loop

Another road side repair needed, on the way home. This happened just before Limon, CO.

We made it all the way back home. 2500 or so miles. Power is great on the highway. I was literally driving 85 according to GPS passing everyone in KS, even passing and accelerating up long steep grades. Where power is lacking is off road. The power is all in the green on the tack which is not ideal for uphill climbing on rocks or going slow. This is where a TDI would be awesome. Of course there may be some options to improve the low end grunt, possibly a turbo upgrade or there may be a tune available.

When we got home and cleaned the van up the next day, I started smelling gas around the van. Sure enough I had a leak. I thank God we didn't have a fire on our trip! A month after our trip, I finally got around to replacing the fitting. The AN 90 was fatigued and cracked. I purchased a different style, more of a union which is way more stout than the other. I'll probably end up making a bracket to support the FPR.

Cracked fitting

Compared with the new one.

Installed

I also need to get the heat shield made and installed warm spot on the deck lid.

_________________
'69 Tintop T2 - '86 Syncro - '87 Westy - '02 337 GTI - '99 4Runner - '13 4Runner

[yardbug]

Time to bring the top home. Every year between Christmas and New Years, it's pretty consistent that I don't have work scheduled. I am going to try installing my roof clip. I brought it back home this weekend and started removing the interior of the van for anticipation.

Its resting place

Loading it up

At home

Fiberglass removed

Another project I am working on is modifications to the galley cabinet. We never use the stove and sink - it's wasted space. So the plan is to remove the equipment, install a shelf and have extra storage.

_________________
'69 Tintop T2 - '86 Syncro - '87 Westy - '02 337 GTI - '99 4Runner - '13 4Runner

[danfromsyr]

with great power comes great responsibility..
yes with a 1.8T you can... can go fast can go long can go up
but each comes with other costs..

the turbo.. yes you NEED to get a heat shield on it.. it's a McDonald's heat lamp while going down the highway and up hills.. anything that red glow can illuminate will suffer.

then there's the gearbox and 4th gear bearing suffering on those long fast runs at 80+mph. with a tall tire even.. save up $$ or slow down and give it a rest some.. there's only 14,ooo US market Syncro.. and many a transaxle already burned up.

just because you can doesn't mean that you should...
can ask me how I know even... been there done and broken that.
_________________

[yardbug]

[yardbug]

Since this was brought up, I did grab some temps a couple weeks ago. I can use these numbers to compare with once a heat shield is built and installed.

Photo 1 - right side of deck lid - 57F
Photo 2 - left side of deck lid at hot spot - 182F
Photo 3 - temp at replaced breather hose - 271F
Photo 4 - temp at turbo downpipe - 457F

Outdoor temp was in the 40’s and I had driven the van for 25 minutes. Once the shield is installed, I’ll post comparative data.

_________________
'69 Tintop T2 - '86 Syncro - '87 Westy - '02 337 GTI - '99 4Runner - '13 4Runner

[rmcd]

May I recommend a heat shield over the top of the injector wiring? There is a good reason it came from the factory with at least a cloth one. My OEM Audi wiring actually cracked and failed from the heat. Good times getting to wiring in an aftermarket replacement!

There are metal ones made specifically to guard the clam bake going on above that manifold. Google will find you one for $50.
_________________
VW LT40 build. Like a Vanagon but 30% larger in every direction and 40% slower even in metric.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=749359&highlight=

[yardbug]

[danfromsyr]

nah I've run many vans on their ~3,ooo mile maiden voyage.. it's scary and a learning curve.. had many break downs too..


a heat shield doesn't need to be fancy.
it's just a shield.. that blocks the radiated infra red light..

on my van it's slapped in from a piece of galvanized flashing held to the 3 sheet metal screws by the valve cover (iirc it's the oil line shield spots).
gave the shield a tweak by hand to not have it flap in the engine compartment breezes...

been there for a few years and 2 trips NY to Western Mtns.. incl Ouray.

it's need was presented on my 1st drive... that turbo gets flaming orange back in the engine compartment..

contain the infrared or contain a fire. that fiberglass should NOT be discolored from a 1.8t..
_________________

[16CVs]

What method of top installation are you going to do? Are you going to the rain gutters or going to cut it short and lap it?

Stacy
_________________
1987 Syncro Westfalia Triple knob (bastard)
1989 Syncro Tristar Triple knob "Swedish"
2013 Jetta Hybrid a true "Zwitter"
Samba member # 14980
Call anytime number 650 722 4914 .
Keep Your van running and upkept tastefully for the love of the hobby.
Don't let your van end up in an "abortions" thread.

[danfromsyr]

regarding the use and abuse of long duration high speed high load (bigger tires or Mtns) driving on the transaxle.. this is only 1 pseudo documented occurrence.. but there are many threads here with similar learned lessons.

http://www.livethevanlife.com/reviews/transmission-rebuild
_________________

[yardbug]

With the help from a few friends, we started on the roof swap.

I have looked at many roof swap threads and have received opinions from a few folks who have done a roof swap. I have decided to do the "cut the roof skin" type of swap. I have done this type of work before, but never a westy roof swap. With the amount of time I have already put in, I am starting to question, "Why didn't I just cut the welds at the rain gutter?" Lessons learned. My current work will turn out great -- I'm thinking a roof skin swap is going to be more work in the end. Oh well, no turning back now. On to the progress.

First we drilled many spot welds. At least 100 -- that was fun.

Next, it was time to cut the skin off of the donor. Didn't really get photo's of that. Next was a rough cut hole in Patty's roof.

Next was to replace the center "arched" brace with the westy flat brace. This is where a lot of folks get hung up on the rain gutter swap being better than the skin swap. This was my solution.

Removal of the brace and rear bracket.

Comparison

Test fitting

Existing framing and flat brace trimmed and ready to weld.

In place

This is the fun part -- The hinge brackets. The rear area of my van was significantly different compared to the westy in regards to how the hinge brackets are welded. If you look closely, You can see how the metal is formed differently between the 2 vans. I had to do a lot of trimming on the brackets. For me, the easiest way to accomplish this was to mount the brackets to the roof skin, set the roof skin in place, and try to identify which parts of the brackets needed additional trimming. Without trimming, the skin would sit too high. Once I had the clearance I needed, areas of the brackets that originally were supported, were now not supported on Patty. I couldn't just simply weld them to the van -- once the skin is installed, a gap between the bracket and skin would be present which would result in deformation when the pop-top hinges are bolted down. So the brackets had to be elevated just enough on one side and aligned perfectly. My solution was using my kids Play-doh. I simply bolted the hinge plates to the skin, put large globs of play-doh underneath, set the skin + brackets in it's correct place, unbolted the brackets, removed the skin, and was now able to weld in place.

Aaron cutting the hinge brackets out.

Donor metal where brackets were

How Patty is built at this location

Play-Doh suspending the brackets

This is all I have at the moment -- Yes, I'll remove the Play-doh.
_________________
'69 Tintop T2 - '86 Syncro - '87 Westy - '02 337 GTI - '99 4Runner - '13 4Runner

[0cean]

Good job on cutting the top. Best way for a conversion. Wish I had done it that way, but hine sight is 20/20.

P.S. Watch out for the gap between the weld in bracket for the pop-top hinge and the top skin. If there is to much space there you will bend the skin when you tighten the bolts. Learned that the hard way.
_________________
I'm not a mechanic, I just play one on the internet

Cluster Rebuild:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=569920&highlight=

Left for Dead the Resurrection Story Build:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=613669
(Number of Different Donor VW Vans Body Parts Used: 12)
(Number of completely different vehicles parts used: 3)

[Steve M.]

Looking at the burn mark on the engine cover.
My thoughts on all engine covers is to replace it with a metal one so that just if there were a fire it would not burn through like the plastic ones. It would give your van some more precious moments in trying to get a fire out.
More important on the gassers and fuel lines problems.
I think the early Diesels came with the metal covers.

That heat shield material that GoWesty sells is worthwhile. That can also be gotten at PepBoys in the street rod exhaust area.

Looking good so far!
_________________
This free advice is worth exactly what you paid for it.

There are seven days in a week. Someday is not one of them.