The "great-life-lesson-on-limits-and-not-cheapening-out" Syncro

[4Gears4Tires]

No, I ran some Pennzoil 75w90 for about 200 miles with a pump constantly circulating through a filter. Then I ran this current oil through the same pump/filter/cooler combination for probably another 500-1000 miles. I stopped using the pump because it was so freaking loud.

At 45-50mph it's totally fine. However, I get a weird vibration at 1200-1500rpm in first and second gear. Probably third too but I don't know because I wouldn't lug the motor like that. My solution is just to not go below 2000 rpm.

Here's a pic from 2021 making sure everything is lined up. It was really smooth back then. 10mm off center tracks with what I am seeing. If it's not alignment, I am not sure what the deal is. I am using the GW Driveshaft that does not have a guibo. But their claim is that "most people can't tell the difference." This is a pretty noticeable difference.

_________________
'87 Syncro Ferric Oxyhydroxide Superleggera Edition
'85 Westy Sciuridae Domus Edition

[joetiger]

[4Gears4Tires]

The shudder I feel around 1200-1500 rpm goes through the whole van. It is definitely not right.

I can feel a bit of vibration throughout all speeds, but it's pretty minor and hard to distinguish from regular road bumps/vibration. But having driven the van without a driveshaft and with a driveshaft I can tell it's smoother without the driveshaft. That highway speed vibration doesn't bother me, but this shudder at low rpm is not right. It almost feels like I am lugging the the motor.
_________________
'87 Syncro Ferric Oxyhydroxide Superleggera Edition
'85 Westy Sciuridae Domus Edition

[Sodo]

[4Gears4Tires]

It's load dependent. I can cruise down a hill at 1500rpm no problem, I can't accelerate from a stop from 500rpm to 2000rpm without experiencing it.

It appeared immediately after adding the driveshaft.

Exhaust related would be nice, but I am doubtful. I'm not super happy with the exhaust, they have all these slip fittings and they don't seal all that well. One of these days I will weld flanges on and use gaskets and bolts. I will bang on it with a mallet though.
_________________
'87 Syncro Ferric Oxyhydroxide Superleggera Edition
'85 Westy Sciuridae Domus Edition

[candyman]

What carrier bar is that, Kennedy? Ask bc I have the exact same situation that I am dealing with. My waterboxer was vibe free. I Installed a subie 2.5 in 2019 and thought it was vibe free until a bearing went out in my decoupler a couole of years later. Sent it off to Tom sheils for a rebuild and he walked me through “feeling” for vibes. Turns out that i do have a vibe (go westy donutless driveshaft) that is not noticeable at all except for when looking in rear view mirror, images slightly bouncing around. My vibe comes on at 58-64mph (that is from the van speedo not from gps so speed may actually be different). Anyways he says that i need to get engine 10mm towards pass side off center. With my Kennedy engine carrier, there is no adjustment. So I have driveshaft removed until I can figure out a solution on this. Very curious what you come up with. Also, before I went through all of this, I bought the VC driveshaft and the vibe was worse. Incidentally, if i loosen the front diff mounts the vibe goeas away completely, weird.

[Sodo]

I have been 'hearing' that vibrations around 60 is the front diff pinion shaft bearing. What does the drain magnet look like?
_________________


'90 Westy EJ25, NEW oil rings (!) 2Peloquins, 3knobs, pressure-oiled GT mainshaft, filtered, cooled gearbox
'87 Tintop w 47k 53k, '12 SmallCar EJ25, cooled filtered gearbox
....KTMs, GasGas, SPOT mtb

[Steve M.]

[candyman]

[4Gears4Tires]

I am using a VanCafe/RMW Subaru carrier bar. They knew I had a Syncro when I ordered the kit. But now that it was mentioned, I ran without the driveshaft because it vibrated pretty badly so I removed it. I thought it was the CV joints because one was kind of floppy. I totally ruined that job, so I just kept going without a driveshaft.

I didn't have time to remove the driveshaft and really check flange to flange with the laser yesterday and it was snowing. So I left the driveshaft on for my trip. Next time I'm back in my garage and the Westy is off the lift I'll see what I can do. Drove just fine at highway speeds, no vibrations or anything. Easy cruising at 70mph.

Steve, the diff and trans mounts are from 2019. Certainly not new, but they look to be in good shape.

Also, I didn't notice any difference between Swepco 202 and BG Ultra Guard in terms of shifting feel. Still had that slight grind going into second gear if I don't rev match the shift when cold. I had "good used" 1st and 2nd gears used when my trans was rebuilt since my bill was already nearly 7k. Maybe on the next rebuild I'll replace them with GT so I can have GT 1,2,3, and 4.
_________________
'87 Syncro Ferric Oxyhydroxide Superleggera Edition
'85 Westy Sciuridae Domus Edition

[candyman]

I want to keep this theme going instead of staring a new thread. But like 4gears here is my alignment since installing my 2.5 subie with kennedy carrier. Obviously needs to go towards pass side about 10mm. There is no adjustment in carrier bar or in engine mounts to slide the engine over. Any thoughts on how to get engine over? Would love to see some other alignment pics from other syncro owners with subie conversions. This misalignment would certainly explain my driveshaft vibrations, which led to my decoupler bearing failure after about 5,000 miles. Luckily it didnt crack the housing as we have seen in a recent thread

[4Gears4Tires]

If you can rotate the front differential input flange so the bolt holes line up vertically, I think it gives a really easy indication of how far off it is. Is that 10mm though? Looks like ~5mm to me.

As for fixes, I can't imagine anything easy. Slotting the engine mount holes and possibly welding washers in a new location occurred to me.
_________________
'87 Syncro Ferric Oxyhydroxide Superleggera Edition
'85 Westy Sciuridae Domus Edition

[candyman]

[4Gears4Tires]

Yep for sure. The 2 nuts should be bang on even, can't have a one side lower situation here.
_________________
'87 Syncro Ferric Oxyhydroxide Superleggera Edition
'85 Westy Sciuridae Domus Edition

[dkoesyncro]

I can appreciate what you’re going through and have had the same headache before. I’m also going to re-evaluate my alignment/angles in the future.

If you scootch the engine over Pside, this alters the flange angles on x axis and alters the Y axis a bit during rotation”?”.

I have a scratch built 1.8T engine swap/conversion and lost my alignment along the way. I had to alter the front differential on the Y axis to get the appropriate flange angles to work out and a couple of washers to lift the engine mounts. I kept the center line true as possible. Plumb bobs hanging front and rear, laser aligned on the two, while splitting the seam castings on the drive train.

It’d be great if a non modified syncro with a smooth prop shaft would chime in with using the laser method and report findings of offsets and flange angles.

[Sodo]

Are there "measuring point locations" on vans that are used by a frame-straightening machine?

Who knows this stuff?
_________________


'90 Westy EJ25, NEW oil rings (!) 2Peloquins, 3knobs, pressure-oiled GT mainshaft, filtered, cooled gearbox
'87 Tintop w 47k 53k, '12 SmallCar EJ25, cooled filtered gearbox
....KTMs, GasGas, SPOT mtb

[tjet]

I dont think you will have any problem with that as long as the trans and engine diff are in line (meaning, not pointing at each other. You want them like this _-, not _/
But, you should do yourself a favor and get a driveshaft with an added slip-joint.

I shoehorned a 455 Olds into my old pickup, and I needed to bias it toward the passenger side a few inches to clear the steering box. Was fine for 15 years. But...the drive shaft is not fixed in like a stock syncro.

https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/media/0_0.527331/full?d=1425173343

Wow, the price jumped up on these since I got mine

https://vancafe.com/drive-line/

Good luck!!

EDIT: I meant trans and diff

[MsTaboo]

[4Gears4Tires]

That is really good info, Taboo. Thank you. That's not thread drift at all, I welcome all advice and input. And it may be that I need to use your advice really soon.

I went to drive the Syncro today and it 100% was acting like the clutch was slipping. I barely made it around the block super light on the throttle and feathering the clutch. In neutral it revved just fine, so I am inclined to think it's not the motor but I will double check it's not a sensor or something. I am 175 miles from my garage so it's going to be a bit of a chore getting the van back there. I think I ignored the leaky rear main seal for too long and now I have a completely oil soaked clutch. I ignored it for a year of driving and it was leaking about a quart every 400 miles, so pretty nice leak. I saw it on first start and honestly, I should have just dropped the motor right back out. Valley Westy is a few miles from me, but I do not want to pay to drop the trans to replace the seal when I don't want to run the motor at all anymore. The plan was to run it for a year and put in a JDM motor. So I have to figure that out. And the Westy is still on the lift. Argh. It's annoying when someone gives me advice, I don't listen, and they were right. It's worse when I tell myself the right thing to do, I don't listen, and I was right.
_________________
'87 Syncro Ferric Oxyhydroxide Superleggera Edition
'85 Westy Sciuridae Domus Edition

[dobryan]

Dude…. use your AAA tow and take it to Keith!
_________________
Dave O
'87 Westy w/ 2010 Subaru EJ25 (Vanaru) 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