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syncrodoka
Samba Member
Joined: December 27, 2005
Posts: 12005
Location: Santa Cruz, CA
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 Posted: Sun Dec 14, 2014 2:56 am Post subject: |
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Dogpilot years ago suggested cutting a laundry detergent bottle open and wrapping it around the driver's side frame rail and duct taping it in place. This allows the tank to slide into place a little easier without digging in.
Jam the tank up and over the passenger side frame rail then pry the tank into place over the driver's frame rail with some pry bars being careful to not damage the sending unit.
Swearing helps. |
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Phishman068
Samba Member
Joined: February 19, 2007
Posts: 1867
Location: Pittsburgh PA (ish)
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| Posted: Thu Oct 01, 2015 7:18 pm Post subject: |
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Okay those of you listening, WELCOME BACK!
I can't believe I haven't updated this in a while, i guess i've been busy. With that said, I really did slow down bigtime on the syncro, but it's back on schedule....sort of.
Anyway, The bottom end up to the front subframe cross member was ground down, repaired, and undercoated with Noxudol cavity wax.
A whole bunch of shiny new gold colored hardware has taken the places of rusty old bits, there's big tires and wheels on it but still no new suspension (all sitting on the shelf), and there's an engine back in place.
The engine proved to be a problem though. So, the engine last showcased in here ended up not being the engine I ended up going with. A friend of mine had purchased a 2.1 from another friend of mine due to an engine swap, with plans to rebuild it and make it a 2.2. Somewhere along the line he realized he was in over his head and brought it to a local vw engine person to finish it off. Somewhere along the line, said VW person, proved they have no experience with WBXers and plenty of experience with taking peoples money, and he was issued a big bill of several thousand dollars for a "REBUILD" that didn't even include opening the bottom end. With that said, he couldn't trust the engine, and gave it to me.
With that said, I can't trust the engine, so I started really going over it from the outside and found some flaws with how some of the accessories were assembled and remedied them, but never choose to open the engine up.
I then installed the engine.
Once installed, I found that the starter would BARELY turn it over, and eventually came to realize it was SUPER tight.
So, I pulled the engine back out only to find that the shop had done an astonishingly bad job of assembly and it resulted in the thrust washer falling out of it's groove while setting the end play, then the flywheel torqued on cramming the thrust washer into a new spot in the case and causing less then zero endplay and a really tight engine. I was able to clean up that portion of the case "pretty good" (I think it will be fine), replace the thrust washer, replace the shims, and set the end play. The engine is now back in and it runs, though it has some running issues (though at this time I assume them to be via the fuel injection system and not related to the block itself).
So, There's an engine in it! Heck, It drives under it's own power within the driveway fairly nicely for a car that still doesn't have power steering or any brakes.
Here's the engine/trans before going back into the car:
I had gained some forward momentum on the project before summer came and stole all that momentum back from me, as I work seasonally and this was a really intense season. In June, Disaster struck. I got a call from my parents one night in the midst of a storm to be told that something had happened to the syncro, and that we'd know in the morning just how bad it was. Sure enough, a large locust tree had fallen and landed it's significant weight atop my beloved syncro! This car wasn't on the road yet, and thus had no insurance on it (Bad decision!). Our home owners insurance wouldn't cover it, because the tree had not contacted the home (If it were 6' longer, we would have been covered). It took some ingenuity, a few guys, and a chain saw to free the syncro from it's tree but alas, we had it free and could survey the damage.
Resulting in a sizeable dent that holds water and destroyed the AC ducting on the inside (Shattered it).
As well as a complex dent on the other side, right on the body's curved edge to the roof and down to the gutter. : /
Heartbroken and set back, I spent the summer formulating a plot and saving every spare dollar I could, working extra hours and odd jobs to accumulate a reasonable stack of cash that may be able to help with any plan I manage to formulate.
Luckily, A plan came together!
_________________
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=559766&highlight=winter+rust
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=482402&highlight=sunroof+syncro
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=569774
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6864936#6864936
"Along with the ability to go fast, one looses the desire to hurry." |
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Phishman068
Samba Member
Joined: February 19, 2007
Posts: 1867
Location: Pittsburgh PA (ish)
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| Posted: Thu Oct 01, 2015 7:32 pm Post subject: |
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So, on to the new plan!
Well, today was a milestone towards making the plan work. Today, I dragged home a donor westfalia and plan to perform the pop top transfer, as well as the complete interior to effectively turn this grey syncro into a syncro westfalia!
The part where things get a little weird, and a little confusing, is how the donor came about to be classified as a donor vehicle, and how it came into my hands. After all, It's a 1991 Syncro Westfalia!
The above image makes it look like way too nice and too desireable a vehicle to chop up, but I assure you, that's just it's best angle. The vehicle in question was owned for quite a few years by a local friend of mine and used to travel with his wife and family throughout the country. It had a TIICO engine in it, later upadated to an ABA block and some fancy pieces, and had even been professionally painted in recent years. However, that paint job was apparently a bad move and allowed rust to propogate at an accelerated pace. The result was that his beloved syncro westy was getting really rusty. So, he sent his bus off to a well known shop to have them restore it.
Upon receiving the bus, they came to the conclusion that it was actually quite terminal, and it would be cheaper in the long run to purchase a rust free 2wd westfalia, restore that, and move his entire driveline over to it in the process.
He now has a great new Syncro Westfalia with a spectacular paint job and all the bells and whistles, that started life as a 1990 2wd Westfalia. The shop then took all the 2wd bits and transfered them to the 1991 Syncro Westfalia donor in order to make it roll, and shipped the body back to PA. It then sat outside for one year, and inside for 5 years, waiting for some project that never came to be. And now, it's in my driveway and will contribute to this project.
It is extremely rusty. There are some significant holes, some huge chunks of bondo nearly 1/4'' thick in one area, absolutely no syncro running gear or specific pieces, a cut frame member where the syncro frame member was removed, and a bunch of 2wd stuff somewhat attached. Heck, it's got an engine (that supposedly ran pretty well) and a transmission (that supposedly worked fine but was loud). In summary, this simply could not be turned back into a syncro westy and will thus contribute its remaining pieces to yet another syncro westy project.
Here's some pictures of the problem spots on the body:
_________________
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=559766&highlight=winter+rust
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=482402&highlight=sunroof+syncro
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=569774
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6864936#6864936
"Along with the ability to go fast, one looses the desire to hurry." |
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Phishman068
Samba Member
Joined: February 19, 2007
Posts: 1867
Location: Pittsburgh PA (ish)
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| Posted: Thu Oct 01, 2015 7:39 pm Post subject: |
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So, because our weather window is closing fast, as well as my availability, this project is going to move at an accelerated pace (hopefully). I intend to utilize my local resourced and labor force to knock this sucker out of the ball park efficiently and professionally.
Today, we began attacking the grey syncro passenger van and removing it's bits. We started by removing the broken AC components, interior panels, seats, and subfloor. Then scrubbed and vaccuumed everything, put on a layer of FAT MAT sound dampener on the accessible spots (for now), and are prepping it to start receiving westfalia components soon!
The plan is to use FAT MAT throughout the vehicle, as I have a bunch of it sitting around from past projects and have found it works sufficiently. I know you don't have to cover the entire panel, but the plan here is to cover entire panels from about 3'' above the horizontal bottom seam and up, then adhere the reflective bubble insulation over that (As this is going to be a westy now!). The bottom 3'' of the vertical panels, the entire horizontal seams, and the entire floor area, is going to be scuffed and scrubbed then sprayed with a layer of UPOL Raptor bed liner for superior corrosion resistance from the inside. The horizontal seam most commonly associated with "Kitchen rust" is SPOTLESS on this bus, and the RAPTOR will help keep it that way.
_________________
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=559766&highlight=winter+rust
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=482402&highlight=sunroof+syncro
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=569774
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6864936#6864936
"Along with the ability to go fast, one looses the desire to hurry." |
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61Scout
Samba Member
Joined: November 06, 2011
Posts: 1297
Location: Shoreline/Yakima WA
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| Posted: Thu Oct 01, 2015 9:52 pm Post subject: |
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Hey I had a dent in my tintop just like that (the big one that holds water) and was able to pop most of it out. I used a large, 4 or 6" suction cup, sucked it down to the center. Then I passed a steel rod through the handle of the suction cup, long enough for a person to reach on each side of the van standing on step stools. Then push up and POP, a good 80% of it came back up. Just thought I'd mention it, don't know if it would work in this case. And clearly the van is taking a different direction! Bummer about the insurance... damn tree.
-Kevin
_________________
1986 Westfalia Weekender Wolfsburg, RJE 2.3
1985 Tin Top, Subie 2.2 + 5MT
Floppy Mirrors no more: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=653018&highlight=
Remove the front spindle nut with ease: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=679567&highlight=
Remove the rear wheel bearing housing without messing with the big 46mm nut: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=679507&highlight=
-Nec Spe, Nec Metu |
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dobryan
Samba Member
Joined: March 24, 2006
Posts: 16501
Location: Brookeville, MD
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Phishman068
Samba Member
Joined: February 19, 2007
Posts: 1867
Location: Pittsburgh PA (ish)
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Phishman068
Samba Member
Joined: February 19, 2007
Posts: 1867
Location: Pittsburgh PA (ish)
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| Posted: Sat Oct 03, 2015 4:42 am Post subject: |
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Another key question to pool the audience on.....
What color to make the pop top?
The top is currently white. It's in pretty good condition, but not great. The "Theme" of this vehicle has always been "Black out what you can" and will be getting black framed windows with limo tint, all the badges have already been blacked out, along with the wheels and the bedliner along the bottom. Putting a white top on it will look terrible, so White is somewhat out of the question.
The obvious thought then is "BLACK" to stick to the theme, specifically flat black. But then of course, isn't that going to just be absolutely terrible in the summer time? I have seen plenty that were painted body color when body color was pretty dark (Such as Orly Blue) and i've never really heard any complaints there, so I could go with either the body color (Dark Grey) or flat black. Any thoughts?
Making the top section white and the sides black has been proposed, but will look terrible when the top is popped.
I plan to get a dark grey canvas made up.
_________________
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=559766&highlight=winter+rust
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=482402&highlight=sunroof+syncro
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=569774
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6864936#6864936
"Along with the ability to go fast, one looses the desire to hurry." |
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Phishman068
Samba Member
Joined: February 19, 2007
Posts: 1867
Location: Pittsburgh PA (ish)
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Phishman068
Samba Member
Joined: February 19, 2007
Posts: 1867
Location: Pittsburgh PA (ish)
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| Posted: Mon Oct 12, 2015 8:48 pm Post subject: |
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Now on to the front. I took the carpets out because i'll be taking the carpets from the donor westy (They're in way better shape) and while the interior is out, I figured lets address rust and clean things up. There were a few minor rust spots that I addressed but overall it was very clean. I removed the asphalt based pad in the drivers area (That was a NIGHTMARE of work to remove and clean up, but with enough Lacquer Thinner, anything is possible.). I will be applying UPOL Raptor to the front floor area as well, and adding FAT MAT as I did for the middle area.
There is a massively dissapointing factory hole randomly positioned under that asphalt crap. I can see how this would easily let water in and hold it resulting in rust, so i'm glad I pulled all that stuff out. The hole has been patched and sealed.
And the front drivers side foot well was also rebuilt to match the pass side. It came out nicely.
Everything is prepped and masked, hopefully I can spray some Raptor in the morning.
_________________
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=559766&highlight=winter+rust
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=482402&highlight=sunroof+syncro
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=569774
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6864936#6864936
"Along with the ability to go fast, one looses the desire to hurry." |
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Bills85Westy
Samba Member
Joined: August 01, 2009
Posts: 423
Location: Napa CA
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| Posted: Fri Nov 25, 2016 9:51 am Post subject: Re: Rescued '87 Syncro "The Shakedown Syncro" |
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Any updates on your project? I am looking forward to seeing the finished product!
_________________
89 Tristar Syncro Doka - White
85 Westfalia Syncro (conversion)
SAH 1.8T Conversion - 2005 AWP
Engine Conversion Thread: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=612144&highlight=
85 Doka L345 Grey - 1.9L |
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Phishman068
Samba Member
Joined: February 19, 2007
Posts: 1867
Location: Pittsburgh PA (ish)
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