An Alaska NSYNCro build

[TomInAlaska]

As some of you may have seen in my previous thread and owing to the failure of the group to talk me out of it, I am now the proud owner of one silver 1986 Syncro tintop affectionately dubbed NSYNC by the previous owner.

It's sporting a Eurospec engine swap of unknown age or mileage using (from what I understand) a factory fresh 2.0L engine normally found in an early to mid 90s Jetta and what looks like very good quality conversion parts. I will say that it runs great and has significantly more power than my '84 with its stock 1.9L waterboxer.

The front interior is in very good shape. Think typical blue seats/carpet and black dash. The rear cabin was a custom camping setup with a bench seat from a Ford Econoline using custom fabbed adapter brackets bolted down in the middle seat position and a large sleeping platform behind that. I've actually already swapped my 'weekender' rear interior from the '84 into this van and vise-versa. Much more useful for my purposed. I still need to make a mounting setup for my swing away table. That's definitely high on the list. I may or may not do something similar to the '84 with a house power system. I don't think I ever actually used that one so we'll see.

I got in a good work session today and straightened a few things out that have jumped out at me so far. First was the horrible alignment. I knew it must've been pretty far off on the test ride when it was all over the road and that the seller told me he had recently replaced all the ball joints and tie-rod ends and had tried to 'get it close'. I haven't looked at the caster or camber yet, but the toe-in was very toed-in. I did a quick and dirty adjustment with a tape measure and it actually handles pretty well now.

I also addressed a pretty severe gear oil/grease leak from the right inboard CV boot. At first I thought it was a torn boot, but turns out the center of the flange cap was broke out somehow. <shrugs> I put a couple new ones in my next GoWesty cart and RTV'ed the old one back in for now. Since I was under there I figured now was the time to check the oil level and see what the magnet looked like. I have to admit I was a bit nervous pulling it out, but extremely relieved to see it:

And a quick view of the oil that escaped, there was a little brass glitter but I'll take it:

There is also some evidence that leads me to think that somebody has been inside the transaxle. Mostly that there a couple of seams that have just a little bit of rtv peaking out. I plan to pull it and the front diff for a rebuild and front locker install at some point in the next year or so. I also suspect that the VC is getting weak.

The other major issue I took care of was the loose and rusty gas pedal mounting area. Happily it ended up just being surface rust and dirt. I ripped out the sound-deadening (which wasn't glued down any more) and scraped and wirebrushed all the scale and loose paint. Some Por-15 rust converter/sealer should hopefully stop any further deterioration. Now if I can just keep the padding from getting soaked... Anyway, I decided to improve the pedal mounting arrangement. I added a couple of 1/4-20 riv-nuts (with a dab of JBWeld for good measure) and have a vastly more solid mount than the wood screws in the sheet metal it was before.

I've had it for less than a week so these are still my first impressions but I think its a very solid van. It has a few more issues to iron out with the biggest being a huge driveline vibration that I think is due to the engine swap; it appears that the mounting bars are only 1/2 spaced down for the Syncro engine drop making the rear pinion angle steeper than factory. I'll break out the angle finder tomorrow.Maybe try to add or pull shims at the front diff mounts.
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'73 Super Beetle (formerly resto-mod/rally look with a healthy 1776, currently in another round of resto with a 1641)

'84 GL adventure van project [sold] (1.9L, 4speed) https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=755844&highlight=

'86 Syncro tintop (2.0L Eurospec/ABA engine swap) https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=800194&highlight=

[JavaJoe]

I’m looking forward to this thread (after watching us collectively fail at dissuading you from buying it).

I just got a new syncro a couple of weeks ago and all I’ve managed to do is clean out the “spares”, clean the cloth seats, and make a list of items to fix. But I don’t have a garage so I’m more weather constrained than others.

Oh, almost forgot I found the detachable radio face plate and got the radio working

I see three hookups on the side of the van, are they for power and water?

[4Gears4Tires]

You should note that the upper front control arms are not reversible. If they are upside down the alignment will remain out of spec. I've made this mistake before. Reference the below pic, the strut needs to be forward of the shock.

Nice job on getting started quickly on the maintenance! I found that BG Ultraguard really made a difference in my trans.
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'87 Syncro Ferric Oxyhydroxide Superleggera Edition
'85 Westy Sciuridae Domus Edition

[MarkWard]

There was a member “insyncro” that over time was banned. Your vans name reminded me of him. He had a wealth of information and parts, but had an unusual way of sharing. Good luck with the build. I’m not a fan of POR 15. Some swear by it. I like to use Ospho, followed up with Rustoleum.

[dobryan]

[uberaudi]

Looks like a super clean find, nice! Has it been repainted or just garage kept all these years?
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'84 Adventurewagen 1Z TDI, '08 Audi Avant Quattro 6spd BHW TDI

[AndyBees]

Subscribed to follow along!
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'84 Vanagon Tin-top, ALH TDI, two trips to Alaska, 2014 & 16. 1989 Tin-top unmolested.
1983 Air-cool, 225k miles, 180k miles mine, seven trips to Alaska from 1986 thru 2003. 1975 Bay hopeful.

[TomInAlaska]

[kamzcab86]

[skills@eurocarsplus]

I don't think I'd want to name anything I own after a mediocre 90's boy band, but hey, to each their own
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[bobbyblack]

From the photos the paint looks to be LP7Y [X9] Flash Silver. I had not heard the PO's name for my first T3, so my kids decided to name it... I learned my lesson there. Now I use their paint code as their name, and it is easily stamped onto my keys, since I have literally a dozen keys that look nearly identical. So, my '87 keys have X9, my Pastel White have R1, etc... Also it is interesting that some of the dealer -- two character -- portion of the paint code have a great sound to them. When I got the R1 bus, it was intended to be a family fun bus, for trips that needed to accommodate more family members / generations than my first bus had worked when it was just me and my 3 children. Now they are grown, and starting their own families, so the aptly sound R1 sounds out to be something like Our One. When the J2 bus is back on the road, we'll have some damn fine options

After looking into the PO's back story and finding his daughters, I reached out to them to ask what he had called the bus, they said "El Camparo"

Great looking bus there Tom!! Way to go!!
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'87 Westy 'Flossie','86 Westy 'R1','86 tintop GL - Subi2.2 'J2','83.5 stock tintop L 'ZoomBus','74 Karmann Ghia, '63 Notch

[Christopher Schimke]

[dobryan]

[Howesight]

That’s a nice looking Vanagon, Tom! That 8 valve engine is the best of that generation and the install looks clean. Will be watching your progress!
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'86 Syncro Westy SVX

[TomInAlaska]

More work is underway:

I've been wanting truck mirrors for a while.

Next on the list in addressing the driveline vibrations. Never having driven a Syncro before, I didn't know what to expect, but to be honest, it felt like it was trying to shake itself apart above like 15 mph. I initially chalked it up to the engine swap throwing off the u-joint angles and crawled under the van prepared to move/remove spacers or even modify the engine mounting bars. Imagine my surprise when I found that the u-joints were out of phase! No wonder it was shaking so bad! I quickly unbolted the rubber donut from the main propshaft body and rotated the u-joints to be in phase. I did drive it a few miles yesterday and the vibrations were vastly improved, but still a there. While fixing the phasing, I noted rust/dust coming from around the cracked and partially missing rubber seals of the joint itself. After a little research I ran to Napa this morning and picked up a Neapco 813 which seems to be the most readily available pretty-close substitute. The caps are less of a press fit and more of a slip fit. I think its more meant for tractor pto work and less automotive. I did apply a little bearing retaining compound (what we use at the bike shop to keep "press fit" bearing cups in place in carbon frames) to help hold it in place and have my fingers crossed. While I had the propshaft out, I scrapped and cleaned as much of the unevenly sprayed on rubberized undercoating off as possible. Its probably not enough weight to throw the thing out of balance but every little bit helps, right? The U-joint I used is a greasable type with the zerk fitting in the middle of the cross which obviously won't fit. I'm testing an idea of replacing the standard zerk with a flush mount needle-type fitting. I'm hoping that by unbolting the propshaft and rocking the flange over as much as possible, there'll be just enough room to get a needle in there to pump some grease into the joint. Worst case scenario, I have to buy a whole propshaft with regular ujoints.

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'73 Super Beetle (formerly resto-mod/rally look with a healthy 1776, currently in another round of resto with a 1641)

'84 GL adventure van project [sold] (1.9L, 4speed) https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=755844&highlight=

'86 Syncro tintop (2.0L Eurospec/ABA engine swap) https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=800194&highlight=

[TomInAlaska]

Oh, I also noticed that after unbolting the propshaft at the transaxle, I was able to turn it slowly by hand but the faster I tried, the more resistance the VC gave me. Can I assume that's a good sign?
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'73 Super Beetle (formerly resto-mod/rally look with a healthy 1776, currently in another round of resto with a 1641)

'84 GL adventure van project [sold] (1.9L, 4speed) https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=755844&highlight=

'86 Syncro tintop (2.0L Eurospec/ABA engine swap) https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=800194&highlight=

[Sodo]

[TomInAlaska]

[MsTaboo]

[TomInAlaska]

Anybody know if this downpipe/headpipe is still available?

I've reached out to FAS since they have a lot of parts and info on various inline 4 swap and they're looking into it (thanks again guys!) but I just saw that Van Cafe (and RockAuto it turns out) sells the 'correct' flange gasket but not the head pipe itself. They do list a really nice looking stainless steel header but its for a manifold with a six bolt flange, mine is four.

Unless by a small miracle the FAS guys get back to me with news that a new one of these is sitting on a shelf, I'm gonna pull it out and try to weld up the cracks. I'd like there to be the possibility of a replacement if I really booger this one up, but I suppose in the worst case scenario, I figure out what manifold works with Van Cafe's header and do some more upgrading.
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'73 Super Beetle (formerly resto-mod/rally look with a healthy 1776, currently in another round of resto with a 1641)

'84 GL adventure van project [sold] (1.9L, 4speed) https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=755844&highlight=

'86 Syncro tintop (2.0L Eurospec/ABA engine swap) https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=800194&highlight=