87 Westy Syncro TDI conversion and restoration~lots of pics

[thasty07]

Great thread!

[87vanwes]

There has been one part of this build that was looming over my head for some time....The Rear Hatch Opening. I just dreaded how to fix the damage and do it right. Every now and then I thought I was a super hero and could fix what was there. It was clear after staring at this thing, there was know way without a gallon of body filler and that was not an option.

So the next thing was how.

There was two options

Option 1. Drill all the spot welds on all the panels that make this part up which I think there's 4

Option 2. Cut a section out of the center of both vans and make them line up.

Neither one of them come easy and I'm not a body man to boot.

So no matter what it was time.

Here is what we're dealing with. Ouch.

And here's the one on the donor van. It's in great shae for the most part.

The plan was to measure and cut using an aluminum guide for the blade to ride on and hopefully do the exact same thing on the other van.

On this one I measured one hundred and thirty seven times and made the cut. The point of no return.

Now we've done it.

I went as close as possible on the top and Vd the cut inward.

The top actually fit pretty good right out of the gate. What a relief but there's still a ways to go

With the top fitted I used spray paint to make a guide line. This panel needs a little work on the bottom. What's nice was I was able to dolly it out on the floor using all kinds of implements laying around the shop.

After some straitening and a good dry fit a little sand blasting was in order. This part did come off the rusty van.

A little more tuning. I do kinda like the walk in engine compartment

This was a good time to treat some of the internals.

The fit is ready.

Time for some welding.

As tempting as it is to make nice pretty welds its just to hot and warps the panels. Little dots work good.

New piece with the old.

All tacked in.

I am quite happy at this point. This could have gone horribly wrong but it didn't.

The next morning I went in the engine bay and welded it al in from the back side. This worked out really nice. Grinding and sanding was almost painless.

This was a major mile stone and it won't be long and some paint will be flying.

The gas filler is done.

And the side marker on the other side is moved back.

_________________
Kevin


1987 westy syncro tdi conversion and restoration.
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6...highlight=

[fleet_maintenance]

Seriously. I agree with ALIKA, this is my favorite show on the Samba channel. Nice work. I take it you're keeping the new welder?

[tjet]

[ejimmi]

[tjet]

[87vanwes]

[87vanwes]

[casey79westfalia]

Nice work. Your flying through this restoration. You'll be on the rd before me.
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66 Westfalia
87 Westfalia Syncro "Phoenix"
88 Double Cab
76 Porsche 914
2014 Audi Q7
2010 Tdi Sportwagen

Currently looking for 62 Double Cab, 66 Westfalia Parts!
(Rear seat and pedestal, bumpers, mirrors)

http://www.baycountrymotors.com

My 87 Syncro Westfalia 1.8t Restoration

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=418933

"Do it the right way, or you'll pay for it"

[87vanwes]

[casey79westfalia]

[87vanwes]

Still plugging away at this thing. Sometimes we're guilty of finishing the things we want to see. This part has been sitting unfinished for a while now. I took the time and effort to do the gas filler the right way which makes it a tougher fit. I think the purpose of the all metal filler and tube in the engine bay would be for fire safety.

Finished the final trimming.

The body wax was thick and I really didn't want to remove to much just enough for some welding.

A little west systems.

And it's just like icing on the cake. I then sprayed undercoating and a quick coat of the black paint.

The brackets that hold the transition from steel to rubber brake lines were hurting to say the least. Time to make new ones.

Every one should have acces to a scap dumpster like this one. There's one for aluminum and another for stainless.

I chose to go aluminum it's much easier to deal with. Stainless would be a better choice.

A little drilling and a few passes through the band saw.

Some scrap aluminum in the vice and time for a bend.

These are the screws used for meal buildings. They should hold up well. They do on the buildings.

I see a lot of attention paid to fuel lines around here. Lets not forget brake lines especially the front ones. They are around 80% of your stoping power.

I chose to go pre made lines. There was a little length that had to be burned up but overall it turned out nice.

Now we have brakes. I chose to keep the drums on the back and the gowesty big brakes on the front.

I really wanted to keep the old tires and wheels on for now but the front brakes won't allow that. So on with the new.

The plan now... Is to be able to move the van in and out of the shop under its own power. This is no body shop and all the sanding both dry and wet is best done outside. So I picked up some goodies frome home

_________________
Kevin


1987 westy syncro tdi conversion and restoration.
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6...highlight=

[fleet_maintenance]

Eyeballing the aluminum scrap pile I smell a custom awning in the works when this is done.

[ALIKA T3]

Hey man!

Thank you for the kind words

I don't have time to work on mine and haven't been coming on the forum recently: it's nice to see at once a big chunk of progress made! Looks dope!!

I would say replace those rubber front outer CV boots with the thermoplastic ones like the originals. VW ones were white, made by Löbro GKN, the new ones are the same brand sold aftermarket, black. Exact same stuff.

Aloha!
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Silicone Steering Boots and 930 Cv boots for sale in the classifieds.
Syncro transmission upgrade parts in the Classifieds.
Subaru EJ22+UN1 5 speed transmission
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=416343
Syncro http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4...num+gadget

[87vanwes]

The syncro gas is no fun to get out and no fun to put back in. I went round and round on redoing the tank with new insulation etc. in the end it was best to leave it alone. I did replumb the rollover valves into a simple vent system for the diesel.

Remember this beauty... Who knows how long the gas tank was horse back riding the trans. I think it was a long time. These tanks are tough.

The syncros had a shelf of sorts that I was prepared to fabricate. After a test fit of the tank I felt the shelf was a bit extrainious and the tank fit better IMO with out. Now it was getting the straps in that we're bolted to that shelf.

The right side was easy. There was a hole near by to finagle the nut on to the bolt. The left side.. Not so much. I welded a welding rod to a nut and went fishing.

After a few choice words and a calming brewski I got it. Notice the tail of the rod coming out of the wire chase.

With the tank and staps in place I decided on some extra cushin for the old tank.

This was a piece of 15 inch silicone exhaust hose that I cut. This stuff make great chafing gear.

Not very hard to work with at all just a very sharp knife.

All nice and happy and a great fit.

With the tank in place it's tdi time.

I was not planning on putting the engine in at this stage but I'm often here alone and wanted to be able to move the van in and out of the shop.

The hole I made for the tach sender. Thankfully the ring gear ended up in the center of the hole.

The location turned out good.

Oh boy...

And the lift begins.

I put some long bolts in the trans mount to guide her on in.

The decisions start here ground clearance vs bed clearance. Please feal free to chime in on this.

I hung the syncro mustach bar in as a rock solid reference. Remember I lowered the trans mount an inch and a half so there is lots of wiggle room for driveshaft flange angle.

With the engine almost flush in the opening I lose very little ground clearance.

Well anyways I have a little time to think about it. At this point the plan is to get the engine running just to mone in and out of the shop. The blue hose on the engine and other things like spark plugs are to make it hold coolant for short runs. This is how I test ran the engine after assembly. There will be no radiator till after body and paint.

Well it's going to be a few days before I can get back here. It is cool to see the engine in the bay

_________________
Kevin


1987 westy syncro tdi conversion and restoration.
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6...highlight=

[87vanwes]

I already had these pics uploaded of the rear CVs. A lot of what I do is inspect and repurpose. There is so much junk on the market these days it's almost a safer route.

I powder coated the shafts and they are ready for assembly.

From two vans I ended up with some great CVs. I chose the best four to go on for now.

It was nice to have a bunch of hardware to pick and choose both bolts and backers. All questionable Allen bolts were introduced to the round filing cabinet aka trash can and the rest were primed and painted.

As the assembly came together a simple bag over the ends.

I think everyone wants to bring along one of every spare part for there vanagons at one point weight and storage is a big issue. I decided to vacuum seal the remaining joints in milar bags.

This is a chamber machine and comes in very handy around here.

A little oil an oxygen absorber and wallah a preserved part

Not planning on carrying them all but why not seal them up.

The trans parts went down the same road.

I will try to share all the cool uses for a vacuum sealer both build and traveling and or camping. I'm addicted to this machine and have been using it for years. It all started with fishing and preserving seafood.

Cheers
_________________
Kevin


1987 westy syncro tdi conversion and restoration.
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6...highlight=

[87vanwes]

The last thing I would want to do is to share bad information. I have only rebuilt one VC or viscous coupling before this one and have very little time on it. The oil I used is a diff oil used in rc cars. The one in my van now has 50k cst silicone fluid in it but I'm looking for a more aggressive VC.

This one I'm going with 100k cst oil made by the same company...factory team

Filling the VC is very easy if your not in a hurry. I've seen the YouTube of the guys trying to do it with clamps and such. I started with a good clean up of all the seal surfaces with bronze wool.

I started with weighing the bottles lids and all.
The 100,000cst is some thick stuff. I just start adding fluid and plates not real science in the beginning.

I was looking to get 275 grams in. Leaving the bottles up side down and walking away is key.

An over night in the clean room/bag

Then the next day give them a squeeze.

Eventually most of its in there but it takes more time for the air to make it to the surface.

Another overnight in the bag.

Eventually it will settle.

Plenty of room to get the final litte bit in.

Once I get to 85 on the scale it's done.

The lid will never go on with both plugs in.

With the cover on line it up with the center punch on the housing and center the snap ring.

I have no idea when I will install and test this VC. Perhaps a longer run and test of the other one would be a good thing. One nice thing about not installing it right away is if any of the seals are compromised it will leak It may take a month but I feel it will leak so I guess after some time it will need to be flipped over to test the other lip seal.

I wish this could be rock solid information but I feel that more testing is in order. I did forget to mention the diff oil is 100 percent silicone and is made by Lucas.
_________________
Kevin


1987 westy syncro tdi conversion and restoration.
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6...highlight=

[tarandusVDub]

Really, really fun to watch your build. Mad skills, patience, and creativity. Some day when I'm retired and successfully robbed a bank, I want to rebuild a sweet syncro. U R bookmarked.
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1990 Syncro 16" DoppleKabine 2.1 DJ 112i
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Sold: 1972 Bay Campmobile; 1984 Westy, base model, 2WD.

[87vanwes]

The engine mounting is one of the things I have put a lot of thought in to. There are many complaints about noise and vibrations of the diesel power plant. Volkswagon has been fighting this for years and I think I've driven every variant and still have some of them.

This is the 1.6 turbo diesel in my MK1 jetta. These early ones are the worst. It's mounted in three spots on rubber mounts. These things will shake a martini on the dash board and help you remove all the screws over time.

The next one was my daily driver for years. A MK2 1.6 non turbo jetta. This mounting was leaps and bounds better than the MK1. The mounts were moved more so the left and right ones had most ov the weight and the front one acted more like a torsional link but still had some weight on it. The car also had a some what softer mount. Much smoother but not great. This one would simply stirr a martini.

This is my current daily driver. I bought this alh tdi golf with a blown automatic trans while I was looking into selling the parts from my wrecked donor car.

I was going to just do a five speed conversion but decided to take the engine as well. It only had a hundred and twelve thousand miles on it.

These things are great at keeping to themselves vibration wise. It hangs by two mounts left and right using a small torsional link at the bottom. If you disconnect the link, you can literally swing the engine back and forth. This is my choice to try to replicate.

I knew this was going to be a tight fit a little trimming is needed.

There was know way to use the factory mount bracket. A little more drilling and cutting.

With the factory mount pieces it's time to fab a mount for them that will fit in a very limited space.

I had a piece of scrap half inch plate.

The original aluminum mount stuck out way to far but makes a great pattern.

My favorite toy.

And some trimming.

A dry fit for determining spacer length.

Cutting spacers.

And some more fitting.

This part worked out nice. I could back up the wedge with a nut and a small hole in the timing cover.

Time to weld.

All assembled and powder coated.

I will try to update this tomorrow. There is more.
_________________
Kevin


1987 westy syncro tdi conversion and restoration.
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6...highlight=

[ALIKA T3]

Starting to look real good in that engine bay

What's the WBX engine carrier bar for? To retain the skid rails?


Cheers!
_________________
Silicone Steering Boots and 930 Cv boots for sale in the classifieds.
Syncro transmission upgrade parts in the Classifieds.
Subaru EJ22+UN1 5 speed transmission
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=416343
Syncro http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4...num+gadget