Battle Jitney Syncro camper build thread

[rmcd]

Finalized the carrier bars and mounting brackets. Here is the drivers side.

Welded in the rear valence plates.
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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=

[Zeitgeist 13]

How are you milling those slots in your brackets? Are you stick welding them?

Really looks great!
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Casey--

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

[rmcd]

I’ve been trying to figure out a ladder to get to my cab storage area. I saw some fold out steps on a fire truck and got the idea to mount steps versus a ladder.

Fire truck steps are either way too big with four widely spaced mounting bolts or require mounting to heavy plate via two bolts. Then at SEMA 2016 I spied these.

Upon returning home I placed a preorder via a very bewildered flaps dude. They weren’t available yet.
After a year of waiting I got this in two days from Amazon.

They are straight and won’t fit the curved side,of the van rocker without some modifications.

A little bandsaw cutting. Bonus if you are careful you can cut both sides ata the same time.

Some bending, a few ugly TIG welds and now they fit.

A few nutserts and good to go.

First impressions. Still to high for my short inseam!
Very sturdy with my 230# the step didn’t move or flex the sheetmetal.

I’m going to paint the pokey parts with hi vis something or I can wait until I leave it out once and catch my shin on it.
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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=

[rmcd]

Finally done with my revised stubby exhaust except for a couple small heat shields.

The carrier bars were easy. I was really worried about screwing up the passenger side while modifying the bars to clearance the ac unit. In hind sight the carrier bars and motor mounts went in over a weekend or so. I had a little issue with the hydro mount stud lining up but that was my own stupidity as I mocked the whole busnatch up without putting in the valence plate on the driver side so the stud hole was off the thickness of the plate. Duh.

The exhaust was a nightmare to engineer with the mounting system and crazy to build with my experience level. I pie cut the pipe pieces and weaved the pipe between the frame rail and carrier bar with a 1/4” to spare on either side. I had to weave in three dimensions.

I will redo it again some day and in stainless steel pipe as the aluminumized steel doesn’t work out so well. Long story for another time.

Heat wrapped and bolts welded to the pipe for some small thin aluminum plates to function as heat shielding.

Built the exhaust in two pieces with a v-band like connector.
Lots of pipe cuts.

It’s best practices to mount a TDI exhaust off the motor versus the frame and add some kind of flex coupling. The TDI vibrates so much the allegedly it will crack the down pipe. It was a bit of a challenge to cram a mounting system in such a small space with the frame, shock, carrier bar and motor mount in the mix. I managed to make it happen and incorporate some replaceable rubber isolators on the diesel cat.

It’s not too complicated either so I think it will be sustainable. Guess time and rust will tell?

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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=

[Zeitgeist 13]

Nice work. How does it sound with just the cat as a sound deadener?
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Casey--

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

[rmcd]

This is the second iteration of the stubby exhaust. I haven’t run this one as I need to fix the skid bars. I only get maybe 8-10 a week to do mods so it will be another week or so before I can truly test this one. However speaking from my experience with the first iteration the diesel cat is an excellent muffler.

Maybe we could do a phone app comparison with a full sized TDI exhaust and see the difference at the tail pipe? Why go to the trouble of a full width exhaust and the added complications if not needed.

BTW the former exhaust passed DEQ sniff test with flying colors.

Question is. How long will the cat live so close to the turbo heat?
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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=

[Zeitgeist 13]

I'm asking because the exhaust I designed for my ALH build uses an aftermarket cat and a long stainless glasspack type muffler. I haven't fired it up yet, so I'm curious to hear whether this combo is sufficient.
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Casey--

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

[87vanwes]

Love this build....

I loved how good of job that cat or particulate exhaust did on my van, and it was just right on the sound. Mine started to fail within the first two hundred miles. I noticed a change in tone and pulled over and it looked like crunched up potato chips spraying out. My EGTs were around 1100.

Perhaps it was do to vibration as my exhaust is all connected to the engine.

Keep up the great work and keep posting.

You have me thinking I need to update.

Cheers..
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Kevin


1987 westy syncro tdi conversion and restoration.
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6...highlight=

[GreggK]

Hi rmcd,
So does the diesel cat replace the muffler?

[rmcd]

[rmcd]

[Multiman mv]

Great build. Your fabrication skills are impressive to say the least. Looking forward to seeing it "finished." I would be interested in hearing what it sounds like also. Awesome build and keep up the great work!

[rmcd]

Finished up insulation in the slider door. Definitely lost some skin stuffing carved up insulation blocks into the cavities of the slider door.

Taped it up. Lost more skin. Then installed JM’s lower slider door panel.

There aren’t too many OEM panel van slider doors needing an upper panel so JM doesn’t make one. I made a template and cut my own upper panel out of the same type material. JM graciously supplied me a scrap to use. I think it came out well.

Next up is dry fitting the rear panel wood templates I made from some,paper templates. Fingers crossed the holes still line up!

While fixing my carrier bars I needed to ditch the leaky ineffective Catch can installed during my motor swap. I followed the lead of some TDIClub builds and went with a Provent 200.

_________________
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=

[rmcd]

I posted a couple pictures of these templates when I started them a while back. Now that the vertical support plate and PolyIso insulation is done it is Time to finish.

Finishing up the plywood version of the panel van templates - that is. Started the templates with paper taped to glued-together old OEM panels. The OEM holes lined up almost perfectly.

I placed the panels and fastened them in place with panel clips. Only then did I drill through the wood templates and into the sheetmetal to create a starter hole for non OEM fastener holes.

Note that I had to drill new holes a little higher than the OEM holes to get over the horizontal body line where the old panels fastened. Hard to explain. If anyone ever builds panels for a panel van then call me.

The interior dimensions of these panels is slightly over 60”. I can’t source ABS panels over 48” so I had to cut them. I had foreseen this so I incorporated my vertical support plate where I would want the cut.

Not sure if I will do the final panels in black abs crinkle panel like the Werksberg or cover them with fabric or both.

I Still have some experimental work to do along the lines of molle rigid panels.
Probably run these for a while.
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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=

[dobryan]

Covering with fabric would provide some noise attenuation in that big box, if that is important....
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Dave O
'87 Westy w/ 2002 Subaru EJ25 and Peloquin TBD

"To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive." Robert Louis Stevenson

MD>Canada>AK>WA>OR>CA>AZ>UT>WY>SD
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=620646

Building a bus for travel in Europe (euroBus)
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=695371

The Western Syncro build
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=746794

[rmcd]

[rmcd]

Nice to start buttoning up pieces. And OMG the backup camera and mirror replacement “project” is a long one.

I wanted a backup camera and I wanted the video in the mirror. I want my MTV.

Tadi Brothers had a system that seemed doable but they don’t have a stalk that will work with the Vanagons screwy mirror mounting. Plus I wanted a longer stalk to extend below my overhead console and I didn’t want to glue it to the windshield because there is a big ass space for an OEM mirror in the overhead console. It would be weak sauce if I gave up and it would look stupid. The OEM stalk is about 4”.

I found that there are some westy bay window mirror stalks that are about 8” long and will work in the Vanagon OEM mounting hole. They appear to be made of aluminum which I thought would be critical for the next step.

The Tadi aluminum stalk has a hole in the swivel ball where the wires run into the mirror. Of course no VW mirror stalk on the planet is setup this way. So I chopped off the westy swivel ball and replaced it with the Tadi swivel ball. Originally I was going to TIG weld or braze the Tadi aluminum ball to the Westy stalk. I came to the conclusion that the Westy mirror stalk was probably pot metal so in the end I mechanically pinned the two together.

Sorry but lost the stalk fabrication photos.

Had to split the mirror case and de-solder the Tadi wires to cut the ball off. This was terrifying for me and very difficult to solder back because I’m blind, don’t like plastic clips, and drink caffeine.

Shaking hands and the smell of fear will ruin your ability to solder nano scale wires.

I also needed to modify the Tadi mirror case to accommodate the acute tilt angle needed to clear the angle of the Vanagon stalk.

Needs a little touch up paint but it worked on the bench.

I’m finalizing the overhead console wiring diagrams using my copious installation notes. Once done I will finalize the new house wiring and install the overhead console.

More on the console later.

_________________
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=

[rmcd]

Got a little time this afternoon so thought I’d do a first final install of my overhead console. My end goal was electronic multi functional gauges that could do ANY sender I wanted. EGT, Boost pressure, oil pressure, oil temp, coolant temp, transmission temp, voltage and intake temp. In the end the gauges do all that and more. Only a couple senders are in place but all the wires have been pulled. I also wanted a switch interface and map lighting.

Researching gauges led me to multifunction aeronautical gauges. I felt the utilitarian design and function fit my theme and needs.

I also procured some aeronautical post lights, compass, clock and map lights. Some of this stuff is from WW2 war birds.

I found the E3 and TC1 gave the basic functionality.

http://www.aircraftspruce.com/pages/in/mgl_monitor/e3enginemonitor.php

http://www.aircraftspruce.com/pages/in/mgl_monitor/1105719.php

Thinking about how to house all this crap led me to an overhead console. I went with this format because it has a ton of real estate to work with and it is mostly out of the way.

So. I bought two of these consoles in case I screwed one up. http://www.vw-winkler.de/Dachkonsole-in-schwarz-Radio-DIN-Schacht

This is a Fiberglas re-pop of an ac console. Gel coat was awesome. Pretty thick construction and straight. Here it is covered in blue tape while I was mocking it up.

It needed some trimming at the ends to fit the door jambs and ceiling profile.

I had it recovered with the same material as my dash.

I welded in simple mounting plates with captured nuts. These would be used for mounting the thing. I figure the headliner will run under the console. You can see a couple of the mounting tabs here.

I wasn’t confident that all my goodies would stay in the console once I drilled 8000 holes in it so I took a que from airplane dashes and constructed face plates that would be used to mount all the gauges, post lights and switches. I chopped up thin plates and mounted everything using the same black nitrite coated button Allen bolts that came with the SmallCar AC kit. I wanted to match the slightly rusting bolts already present in the new AC dash plates cause we all know it is soooo important to accessorize with matching purse, ear rings, rusty bolts, and lip stick.

Here is a photo showing the airplane dash post lights used to light up the dark controls of the SC AC dash plate.

One of the biggest challenge to mounting a ceiling console or overhead 50”light bar is getting wires from the dashboard switches and power or the battery box.
I’m here to tell you it can be done.

I will be running toggle switches in the console to control the intercooler fan, a front mounted led light bar and several other goodies. I went with toggle switches just because I could. Why who doesn’t like a toggle switch!? I can fiddle with them all day!

Here is the wiring path. I drilled a 1.5” hole in the b-pillar to help fish the wiring into the channel above the door. I could do 5 posts on this project alone. Pictures will have to suffice.

And out the bottom into the driver side battery tray, the engine senders, or back to the dash panel.

Here are the wires at the roof with weather proof connectors for the led light bar and solar panels. Beats pulling the wires out the door jamb.

I can wire a house but DC wiring has been a but of an enigma for me. I challenged myself a bit. I’m happy to report that with endless notes and lots of bench testing while wiring this stuff together I learned a lot and it all currently works.

Final before install.

I like how it came out. Probably not westy style for everyone. I used red bulbs in all the post lights. The post lights in the console and over the SC AC controls are all powered by the OEM light switches and on/off controlled by the red buttons. . I’ll post pictures of the post lights when everything is fully powered.

The dangling cords are attached to two warbid map lights. The lights themselves swivel in all directions, are removable and controlled by NOS matching warbirds dimmer switches. Guess I need a picture of the lower section of the console. There is also an old military mechanical thermometer. I’m a product of our low bid education system so reading Celsius is going to be a stretch assignment for me!

_________________
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=

[bajaleo]

Amazing work! What these vehicles can become is only limited by our imaginations!
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Leo in San Juan Capistrano
1984 Wolfie Westy, Subaru EJ22 powered.

[rmcd]

Small car AC install here ... cross post

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=8753915#8753915
_________________
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=