Never owned a VW so I bought a $2300 Syncro Doka daily driver.

[IdahoDoug]

Hmm, snap judgement on my part? Sounds like Joetiger knows this owner/vehicle. Pics!! Post a couple of the beastie!!

Heh...
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1987 2WD Wolfsburg Vanagon Weekender "Mango", two fully locked 80 Series LandCruisers. 2017 Subaru Outback boxer. 1990 Audi 90 Quattro 20V with rear locking differential, 1990 burgundy parts Vanagon. 1984 Porsche 944, 1988 Toyota Supra 5 speed targa, 2002 BMW 325iX, 1982 Toyota Sunrader

[Viva.Sabata]

[WiscoNonCompliant]

https://photos.app.goo.gl/Qkt8hE2jG8sffgxf9

[djkeev]

While I have no reason to doubt your mpg claims, you need to understand how wildly high they are.

My guess is that your odometer is horribly off, recording way more miles than you have actually traveled.

There have been reports of mpg gains using non ethanol gas ... but not that high.

I doubt the 28 is an accurate number if you use a GPS and verify actual miles traveled.

If you come up with 28 using a GPS, I want a lot more information about your engine and its fuel management system!
This is something I want to copy!

Oh wait!
Just looked at your photo, you have a KPH speedometer.
That's 17.4 mpg (kilometers x .62 = miles)

That's good for these units and normal mpg range.


Dave
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Stop Dead Photo Links how to post photos

Ghia
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=392473

Vanagon
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6315537#6315537

Beetle
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=482968&highlight=74+super+vert

[WiscoNonCompliant]

Checking into the temp 2 sensor tomorrow, will post pics of my new trunk lid I made.
Leave you with a little 3 wheel rear locker action in the moonlight.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/kq7nes1p49XubaZC6

[danfromsyr]

do try to understand how incredibly lucky you were for that amount of $
that the transmission alone is worth ~$2300.
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[4Gears4Tires]

The transmission alone is worth twice that. If a Syncro Doka popped up locally for less than $10k I would be racing to their door on my motorcycle.
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'87 Syncro
Ferric Oxyhydroxide Superleggera Edition

[WiscoNonCompliant]

Here's a screenshot of the original ad on Facebook and her maiden voyage home. https://photos.app.goo.gl/6ayrYhxrRZrp3eiPA

What ceases to amaze me is that the dude didn't even think that it would make it to the gas station 5 mi away at 30 mph. I proceeded to drive it home 60 miles at 60 MPH. I've since then put over 3,000 miles on it and have driven it up to Madison on i-90 at 70 through 75 mph. I'm well aware that the syncros are rare, few made them stateside and the ones that did ended up in the rust belt.
To put it into perspective I've owned over 25 land cruisers 40s-80s and I never thought I would own a 4wd Doka in my lifetime.

[4Gears4Tires]

I would have thought that post is a scam.

Good on you for snagging it. What a steal.
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'87 Syncro
Ferric Oxyhydroxide Superleggera Edition

[danfromsyr]

used syncro locker trannys aren't worth $5k yet...
are they

[Sodo]

[rogertj]

Boom!

This was a steal! wow, what a great price to buy a Doka Syncro!

I guess is time to apologize to the ones who said he was a troll?

Till the next post and future reviews on his new rig so that we can enjoy his improvements!
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Roger
Had a Carbureted ABA after engoing the heck out of it now going for ABA 2.0 Jetta EFI ill put a garrett in to the tin can later or maybe go electric?
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...mp;start=0

[4Gears4Tires]

[WiscoNonCompliant]

I will use this as my build thread so I can keep everything in one spot.
It has 65,000 miles on it for those interested. Started leaking fuel last night from of the fuel filler neck fabric vent hose. So I'll be replacing those asap.

[4Gears4Tires]

If you haven't replaced the trans and front diff fluids, you really should do that immediately too.

Don't just replace the vent hose, replace all the fuel lines. Don't replace your fuel level sender if it's reading accurately. The new ones are trash. GW doesn't include the rollover/expansion tank valve in their fuel line kit but they really should because if you touch them, they will shatter. So add them to your list of fuel line replaceables.
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'87 Syncro
Ferric Oxyhydroxide Superleggera Edition

[WiscoNonCompliant]

[4Gears4Tires]

People here are fond of Swepco 201 and 202. I tried a bunch of stuff and settled on Pennzoil Syncromesh. I was surprised to find that it immediately smoothed out the shifting and eliminated a crunch when cold.
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'87 Syncro
Ferric Oxyhydroxide Superleggera Edition

[Sodo]

BTW its “Gear oil” 80W90 etc not “hydraulic oil”. Hydraulic oil is a light oil like ATF or power steering fuid, for actuators etc. You probably meant gear oil. But it should specify “for Hypoid gears” which refers to the R&P that shares oil with the transmission gears. A hypoid R&P has a lot of sliding contact and needs a certain additive for that.

Any gear oil that doesn't have steel sparklies in it is about a million times better than what's (likely) in there now. I don't think specialty oils (that you need to “source”) will make any difference for the 90hp. A good solid gearbox survives kinda OK with poor maintenance even under double the HP. Remember there's only a tiny bit that oils can possibly offer, like single-digit percents. Clean oil is a way bigger benefit than specialty oil running after it's contaminated, so keep that in mind if you go for expensive oil.

Some modern oils are 'thin'. This 1980's era gearbox is not made for thin oils and the (miniscule) fuel economy it offers. Modern transmissions are made for thin oils, I would avoid them in this old gearbox. Thin oils can allow faster shifts and people like that, of course. But realize it’s because the synchros can mash thru the oil film and grip the cones. This does not bode well for the bearings, gears, R&P. It depends what you want, you don’t get both. But possibly you can have more of both if you keep the 90hp engine.

Also note the Syncro gearbox is a 2wd box with a 4wd “strap-on” (like a transfer case added to a 2wd). The gear cluster is much heavier than the 2wd, and the synchros struggle to spin up the heavy cluster. So you have to shift slower. If your Syncro can’t shift with “two fingers” you’re moving the gear lever faster than the synchros can accommodate. Don’t buy thin oil to solve this problem, instead shift a little slower. It just a little slower, like 20%? (Wild guess)

Don’t bumpstart in reverse, you can shove the reverse idler out the case. It cracks under that 6-bolt cover, gear oil drips out and at some point it starves of oil. Bumpstarting in granny is also very very hard on it. The parts you break are NLA. All you can find now are the rejects from somebody’s junk pile so don’t bust stuff.

Many gearbox longevity problems are due to the addition of big engines where the increased duty-cycle wasn't paired with a new, higher level of maintenance. The increased duty-cycle makes more steel dust and you gotta just get that out more often. It doesn't cost much if you can go under the van.

Most of this (discussion of longevity etc) is because many have changed to a bigger engine, and dramatically increased the duty-cycle.

Even with 90hp, there are a few parts that break inside and cause problems. Lugging it is a likely contributor to fatigue-fracture the 3rd/4th hub. It's a very good plan to open the trans and replace these parts before they break, because when they do, it can fill your trans with steel dust and take tens of thousands of miles off your gears, shafts, R&P. Maybe hundreds of thousands. Whereas if you get them replaced while all is good, running tight & quiet. Put in fresh new bearings, and maintain it too, you could have a super-long transaxle life.
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'90 Westy EJ25, 2Peloquins, 3knobs, pressure-oiled GT mainshaft, filtered, cooled gearbox
'87 Tintop w 47k 53k, '12 SmallCar EJ25, cooled filtered gearbox
....KTMs, GasGas, SPOT mtb

[WiscoNonCompliant]

Ok so I went to replace the main vent hose started pulling on the smaller hose that leads to the "expansion tanks " on a vanagon. To my surprise it came right out and had nothing connected to it. Did the dokas not come with expansion tanks since they were non catalytic?

All the fuel hoses in the engine bay are new but it looks like the PO DIDN'T touch the lines above the tank. I don't blame him they look like a pain in the dick to get replaced.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/kr3VFwxmtJgQRkr17

[pjn_wyo]

You have a syncro and that diagram is for the 2wd tank.

Edit: further, the syncro doka wont match the syncro routing shown in the bently exactly. My manual is at the shop but I don't remember doka stuff being in their either.