Bavarian Syncro fire truck

[RainierSyncro]

No progress on the headlight surrounds yet. I did cut the holes for it. Going to do the decals first. As for the speakers, I should have turned them sideways to get the seat back a few more clicks. Always finding a better way of doing things AFTER I'm finished with a project.

[Merian]

That's why a project is never finished.


BTW, there are some 'thin' subs that could mount back there & I hope you add some amber backup lights - the mix of amber & blueish should be just about right...
_________________
....

[RainierSyncro]

Finally got my stickers today. There is a company near Seattle that will pretty much make a decal to whatever you can come up with. I had already used them for the decals on the door, but I thought I'd used them again for the other decals. My old paint job had the "Feuerwehr" decal peeled off the front and back, but there was a cool ghost outline of it. That disappeared when I got the new paint job. So, to retain the "ghost" feuerwehr look, the sticker company was able to find a clear matte finish material that did the trick.

The Ziegler decal was easy to replicate. I just went to their website and took their logo, sent it off to the sticker guys and told them the dimensions. Presto!

The phone decal was a real b!tch to get right. They had only a grainy photo to work with and they kept getting it wrong. I had to use my weak photoshop skills to tweak it the right way. I could of had the 112 done in white, but I thought it would be too much going on, so I had it ghosted.

There is a real problem getting the matte finish decals on. You can't touch the decal because your finger prints will show. Also any tiny air bubble can be seen a mile away. I had to peel off this 112 because it just wasn't working. I got spares, but I need a better way to apply these flat decals. If anybody is interested in any of these fire department decals, let me know and I'll help you get some.

[RoryGirl]

Any sign shop in your area or cheap online - google "vinyl sticker squeegee"

Should get those on bubble-free and no prints.

_________________
1991 Double door pop top conversion

[RainierSyncro]

I got the squeegee. When I tried it, there was so much stuff going on to stay on top of it. It all wanted to do was stick to the van at the same time. Then it's too late to fix things. Sould have checked YouTube first. There seems to be a couple of methods to apply like the dry hinge way:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRkURz3GrDQ

Then there's the wet method:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTzOCQkFO2w

Most of these decals are under $7 each, so I can make a mistake. The feurewehr decal is over $20 each, so I'll have to be really careful.

[bluebus86]

[RainierSyncro]

Tried the "wet" method to apply the clear flat decals. It seemed to work way better than going dry way. When I got the FEUERWEHR decal, the distance between the lettering was shorter, so I had to cut each letter and space it out to the proper distance. That involved checking, rechecking and checking again. Once you have it lined up right, add tape to one side and use it like a hinge. Fold it back, peel off the backing, spray (heavy) the water/soap mix on the surface and on the decal. Fold back and then squeegee off the water and eliminate the air pockets. Wait for about a minute and then start peeling back the top sheet. Worked pretty good but time consuming. The R's and the W was quite the problem to get right.

Got a few PM's about the company that made the stickers. The business is called diecutstickers.com They really had a lot of patience with me and my picky requests. It took about 4 months back and forth to get it right. The reason was mostly trying to work with fuzzy pictures and my insistence to use the clear material. If you have something figured out and ready to go, it might take 2 weeks or less.

[Firetruck]

You are doing a great job - keep on doing so!

Since you are going through so much effort to get everything right, you should get rid of those black bumper corners. Your Syncro once was a police bus. It was built white and green and had black bumpers.

The specification (DIN 14502 - Deutsche Industrie Norm -> German Industrial Standard) for Firetrucks requires a red body with bumpers in a white-to-ivory-tone.

Many volunteer fire departments had the used busses they obtained painted in red with plain white bumpers and re-used the black corners. Like yours is. White-ivory corners are still available at volkswagen classic parts.

Also if the bus was equipped according to the DIN 14502 the front grilles would be red, the passenger's room painted beige, the rims and hubcaps black - except for Syncros. They always had silver rims

This is the official vw marketing brochure for firetrucks: http://www.vwpix.org/T3/Prospekte/deutschland/auf_...index.html

These are my two firetrucks. On the right is an original aircooled firetruck. It was taken off the line in Hannover and sent to the vw customer request's shop (Kundendienstwerkstatt) to be equipped with all the goodies the DIN 14502 required (Fog lights, extra turn signals on the roof, rear window heater, furnace, aluminum boards on the lower inside of the doors, emergency horn on the bumper and blue light on the roof, mudflaps and one sliding window in the passenger's room aka emergency exit ). After that it was delivered to a fire department which i bought it from 16 years later.

The left one was yellow in origin and bought by a volunteer fire department as a used bus. They painted it red - and off course it had those ugly black corners before I bought it. It does not comply to the DIN 14502.

My above original firetruck in service (same car):

When I bought it, it was missing the lettering and the emergency equipment. Had to redo that on the rim between beeing legal and illegal

Tim
_________________
On the seventh day, God drove a VW Bus.

[RainierSyncro]

Those are nice firetrucks. My plan is not to go back to the original look 100%. The bumpers are getting powder coated white and I just bought a factory front skid plate from Germany. The interior is stripped down and needs finishing. You said that the interior is beige? Do you have any pictures of this type of beige interior?

[Firetruck]

I lost all the pictures of that bus due to a hard drive crash. It is stored in a dim barn with no chance to even get to it in a reasonable time.

But in the brochure is a picture of the inside of the passenger's room. Right underneath the front wheel of the T3.

http://www.vwpix.org/T3/Prospekte/deutschland/auf_...index.html

The body was first painted red completely and then the back of the bus was sprayed again beige (RAL 8021). From the B-pillar to the D-pillar. Back of the bulkhead as well. Both tin and panels. The seats in my original firetruck are dark brown.

This truck seems to be an original volkswagen firetruck as well (at least the color-scheme):
http://www.truckscout24.de/search/ger/showAllImage...ice_type=1

Tim
_________________
On the seventh day, God drove a VW Bus.

[Boltze]

Very cool thread. I love to see that this firetruck will have a good life far away from his home 😉
_________________
Regards

Christoph

1985 Caravelle GL syncro
1990 California
1981 Joker
Germany

[Steve M.]

It is good to see your updates.
Though I was thinking of my friends matchbox collection when I saw the recent photos!
_________________
This free advice is worth exactly what you paid for it.

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

[RainierSyncro]

More updates. The shop that does work on my van took my instrument cluster idea next to the door and made a special bracket for them. Looks good in that spot.

My Germany connection, JensBrownstar, was able to track down and ship over a factory skid plate. I prefer this wider version over the GoWesty aftermarket plate. Thanks Jens!

The "ghost" FEUERWEHR stickers look really good on the new paint. It's already a conversation starter at parking lots. Both bumpers were powdercoated white. The new replacement rear bumper was stamped a little "off". There was a 1/2 inch difference from the mounting hole to the end of the bumper on one side compared to the other. The result meant the plastic cap on the driver side will not fit into place without some plastic being carved away to fit. Not happy with that. Aftermarket parts. Oh well.......

Not much left of the mechanicals to take care of except going through the 4WD system. The outside is almost done with the grill project and the top needing buffing out and detailed. (it wasn't painted with the rest of the van). After that, it's digging into the interior and getting all that sorted. The ABS door cards are going to get a vinyl covering and maybe a pattern stitched into it. The panels are at the upholster right now and hopefully he can take my idea and run with it. Thanks everybody for following the updates and your comments.

[RainierSyncro]

Finally got around to fixing the grill to add in the headlight surrounds for the Hella 500's. Unibagel designed and 3D printed the surrounds with a little input from me. After record rains in Seattle, there was a 2 day stretch of nice weather to get it done. Used a dremel tool with a plastic cutting attachment to carve out the main hole and then used the sander attachment to fine tune the opening. The surround design has no cut out for the the light bracket. That is because the grill curves across the front and more coverage is needed on the inside of the surround. You need to flip it over 180 to do the other side and then make the cut-out for the light bracket. Glue the works together and pop the grill back in. Presto!

Since my van has the bigger tires and the stock 2.1, going up hills require more downshifting and one particular local hill has me puttering in 2nd with flashers on. So, with that in mind I had some stickers made inspired by a late 60's 911 window decal.

Had some extras made if anybody is interested.

[CinnabarVan]

Hi, thought that this may be of interest, but I ran in to a couple from Alberta Canada touring through the southwest with their Westy converted Syncro Firetruck. This was at Bryce National Park last weekend May 20, 2017.

The gentleman purchased the van at an auction in the little town in Germany and brought it back to Canada. He had a Westy which was too rusty to keep on the road and he converted the firetruck with his old westy interior.

The van is a 1.9 carburated engine with the Syncro drivetrain.

[RainierSyncro]

Small world. That Westy/Firetruck was mentioned before in this thread. Go to page 3 and scroll down a bit. Surprised he hasn't been pulled over with those blue lights.

[Steve M.]

It's looking GREAT!
_________________
This free advice is worth exactly what you paid for it.

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

[RainierSyncro]

Another modification in the works. Just got my ABS panels (Werksberg) back from the upholstery shop. I always wanted to cover them just like what badassdubs did to his Breadbox van. When I finally decided to get it done, I found a picture of a diamond pattern door card done in Germany. Very reminiscent of 50's & 60's sports car interiors. I really like how it fits in with this fire truck. I still have to cut out the various holes for the hardware. Unfortunately, my driver's side window will not go up without a lot of effort and I just broke my window crank. So it looks like I'll be doing some window regulator maintenance before popping this panel into place.

[RainierSyncro]

Decided to get a door panel on today, but first I had to prep the door. I put my hand down inside the door to feel around the bottom. Lots of gunk. Vacuumed out most of the crusty stuff and then took a pressure washer and blasted the crap out of it. I'm glad I did that because I noticed the water was just dribbling out of the drain at the bottom. One shot up the drain hole from the outside caused the water to pour out in a huge stream. I let the door dry out for a day and then POR15'ed some sketchy areas before spraying Fluid Film along the bottom. Sound deadening material was added then some heavy plastic over the door. Cut holes for the speaker and door handle. Popped the panel in place and presto, done. The window crank will hit the speaker barely and I had to carve some plastic away to get the corner vent to line up with the screw holes. The driver's side door will be more of a challenge because the window regulator is getting super stiff and will have to be taken out and cleaned up.

[joetiger]