Vanagon – syncro transmission rebuild
Posted by albell in syncro, vanagon, vanagon mods on March 12, 2022
This is Quentin’s work, he’s at Vivid Vans. A series of pics with his comments interspersed. I’m envious.
Teardown:
You can see the make shift m5x.7 puller I made for all the idler shafts to the left of the housing. An m6 bolt ground down and tapped to m5 haha. You can also see wear from axial movement of the mainshaft bearing in the casting.
I took a photo of each gear with its respective syncro for easy reference at reassembly. You can also just go off the number of teeth but it was easier for a newbie like me.
Nice and clean after being glass bead blasted and thoroughly cleaned.
Test drilling old diff housing for pinion oil squirter. Right on the money first try. (housing was trashed)
My NOS S.A. aluminum diff housing I had modified by Mr. GAS in Colorado for a locker and extra material for the pinion bearing squirter. Yes it would have looked a lot nicer if I had it milled down but I ran out of time.
AN4
4th Gear cool oil bath squirter. Questionable effectiveness but doesnt hurt nonetheless. Bathes 4th gear in cooled oil.
Main bearing oil squirter. Squirts cooled oil directly into the main bearing from the front side.
Main bearing retainer plate. South African style reproduced by Alika Motorsports. Prevents axial play. (I had the wrong thrust bearing pressed into the housing please ignore! Fixed it the next day.)
Cut the oiling groove in the pinion race using my CNC angle grinder. Drilled with 1/8 carbide drill bits.
Setting up the ring and pinion with the help of our head Tech Tony. Didn’t get photos of final pattern but It was spot on. Probably the most difficult part of the rebuild.
gear stacks assembled. I literally spent months labouring over the gearing. Ended up going with:
3.333 First
1.82 Second
1.125 big tooth Third
0.75 Straight cut fourth
Deleted the reverse/granny syncronizer and installed a 2wd slider instead. TDIs have been seen to rattle the syncro assemblies apart and destroy the low/reverse housing.
Fully assembled all aluminum goodness
Painted, torqued, ready to thrash. I just need to plumb the oil cooling circuit and it will be ready for break in.
One last photo of my trans temp gauge I custom built. My oil cooler pump is activated manually by a 2nd defroster switch. I considered doing and automatic cooler set up, but your brain is the best automatic controller money can buy.
Vanagon – start of trailing arm “rebuild”
Posted by albell in vanagon, vanagon mods on March 10, 2022
Years ago I had a pair of trialing arms which I fixed up for good friend Simon. I shaved the wheel side seam and welded in a reinforcing plate in that area. Also welded up the spring pad perimeter. He finally had them installed last summer. His old ones he gave to me.
They were heavily coated in tar like undercoating and had been quickly cut from the van. I burdened off the undercoating using a tiger torch, and also got the bushings out.
Had them sandblasted. Here’s what one looks like after that. You might be able to see the Zip disk cuts in the arm, and the bent tabs. No idea what that tab on the inboard bushing area is for.
I welded up the zip cuts, and then I drilled out the spot welds on the spring perches. Yup, that’s what it’s like under the pads. Even though though the arms were rust free, on the surface, under the pads it’s nasty.
I’ll go out on a limb and say, unless you’re living in a super dry part of the world, your good looking spring pads will have cracked paint and rust under. Just saying, not being a Cassandra 🙂
Vanagon – funny Trucklite headlamp behaviour
Posted by albell in vanagon, vanagon mods on March 6, 2022
Hi, I bought another, yes another, set of cheap led headlamps. Let’s not get into the pros and cons of that just yet. I’ll report on those later.
But I had the chance to compare quickly, the new ones with some older Trucklite headlamps. They differ completely in the led arrangement and number. But when I was doing a quick comparison ( very quick , shining onto a welding curtain) , I noted the Trucklite unit had a delay switching from high beam to low. You can see in this shaky vid. Trucklite on the right
Vanagon – quick autopsy of GW throttle body
Posted by albell in vanagon, vanagon mods on March 6, 2022
It’s from the burned out orange van. Engine fire so you can imagine all of the plastic parts in there are melted or burned up. I did manage to pull the throttle body and it’s a go westy one. Here it is, even after an hour in the ultrasonic cleaner. I’m guessing it was black anodized.
Took it apart. The bearings , sealed, 22mm OD, 8mm ID, 7mm thick, we’re toast of course. And the throttle position switch burned off.
I did my best with scotch Brite pad on the main body and I skimmed a couple thou off one end ( lathe). The small parts I used vibratory tumbler, mix of walnut shells and grit. Put it back together using a a pair of cheap ceramic open bearings that I had. Of course you should use sealed , ti reduce the air bypass along the shaft.
Couple of notes. It’s a well made thing. I’m impressed by the build quality. The shaft has a very small groove where the bearings sit. There was something in the groove but maybe not an o ring, maybe it was some sort of sealant. The butterfly is a simple flat disc, no ramp or bevel as in the stock plate. The fit in the bore is very good, very close.
Good friend Greg has one in his van. He says it’s great. I don’t doubt it, it’s well made.
I’ll keep this one for a spare, yes I’ll swap out the bearings and see about something with that tiny groove in shaft under the bearings. And I need to get a tps either a kit from the usual sources or make one up. I’d did notice GW kit uses a 3D printed cam.
Vanagon – some dash gauge resistance values
Good friend Greg is working on a replacement instrument cluster foil. Part of the work required some research into the gauges.
This info could help with troubleshooting gauge issues. it’s 86 and up specific, 2wd
Vanagon – Syncro trans case mod
Posted by albell in syncro specific repairs, vanagon on February 19, 2022
Not mine, a friend, I just did the simple machine work. Not really much to see just a slight mod to an added bearing retainer ( one side milled down to clear casting) and corresponding webbing in mating case milled down to clear the retainer.
Vanagon – another D15 connector failure
Update, 27/02/22
I was working on stripping more stuff from the burned out van today. Took a pic of the big white D connector that contains the failed D15 connection. I think you’ll agree that it’s toast
I’ve written before, 10 years ago it seems, about the failure prone D15 connector on the 86 and newer fuse panel.
https://shufti.blog/2011/11/02/vanagon-d15-connector-issue/
Well, the other week I found another. This time on a van I bought with a friend. Sad story about the van. We bought it as salvage, after it had an engine fire. I’ll post more about that later.
Anyway, I pulled the fuse panel and found the white D connector badly burned and melted at the D15 pin. The pin is undersized for the circuit that it supplies. And what it supplies is the ignition coil and the crank case breather tube heater.
It was an oversight by VW. Other VW vehicles of that era using the same panel moved the circuit to the larger D23 pin. But on the vanagon it wasn’t…. The D23 pin is unused. I’d recommend owners to check that connector and add a pigtail to connect to the free D23 pin. I outlined that in the linked post above.
You can clearly see the burned pin
I guess I ought to show the entire back of panel
I have to emphasize, failure of this connection will stop the engine. It will strand you.
I found another bad connection on this panel, on fuse 14
You can pop the front off the panel and reveal the quite wonderful brass circuitry. There was bent prong in the fuse 14 position. Easy to bend back to shake with needle nosed pliers. I’m guessing some ham fisted person bent that pin, caused bad connection and the resulting heat melted the plastic.
Ok, I’ll post two pics of the burned out van. This was at sellers place on the mainland.
Trips – mostly Klanawa
The day after fixing the coolant hose problem we went on a trip. Of course, I was nervous. Maybe foolhardy to go off on such a trip , out of cell coverage, long walks to get help, without doing a better shake down of the van. A 35 year old van. But off we went anyway 🙂
Headed to Port Renfrew on the off chance we could get through RCMP roadblocks and get to our favourite spots northwest of the town.
There is a big logging protest in the area, as of writing I think there have been over 800 arrests of people protesting the logging of one of the last remaining old growth watersheds, the Fairy Creek watershed.
Wikipedia entry here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairy_Creek_old-growth_logging_protests
We got stopped by a private security roadblock well south of the bridge over the Gordon river. The stated reason for the roadblock was road work further on. Yeah, right. Very uncommon to hire private security when doing road work. Makes my blood boil just thinking about it.
Turned around and headed to Cowichan Lake via Harris main ( also know on as Pacific Marine Road. This road is paved and a popular part of a circle route back to victoria via Cowichan.
At the lake we headed west on the south shore road , and back onto rough gravel. Onward west, and into the Nitinat watershed. Nipped down the wee road to check out Nitinat river falls camping area. We’ve camped there a couple times before, but there were others there this time and so we headed back on main road, onward to the bridge across the Nitinat , and looked for spur road that we had gone up 10 years ago…
I took wrong spur and ended up on the south side of Worthless Creek, road got steep. Nothing we aren’t used to, steep enough to have to use G gear on the syncro, and ease through a couple of ditches across the road.
Here’s the approx location.
Yes, that’s Nitinat lake in the distance. We could even make out the kite surfers ( binoculars ).
You might think us crazy, but we love having a view even if it’s on a rocky logging road.
The marine fog, low cloud, the next morning .
Off again Klanawa Main. Oh btw, passed Flora Lake and the forestry campsite. Pleased to see the campsite has been fixed up again. Few years ago we saw the access road washed out.
Then down Klanawa main logging road. Stopped at a spot on the upper reaches of the river. We have stopped here on other trips, lunch spot. As expected the river at this point is dry. Forst pic looking upstream, second downstream. And yes, others have been here and left fire pits on the gravel.
Further on down we came across some helicopter logging. Erickson by the look of it.
Timber Harvesting
Sikorsky Skycrane, I was surprised. I knew they were used for this, and have seen them used on the mainland some years ago. But to be honest I didn’t think they still were in service.
About a minute and a half round trip, from picking up logs to dropping them and return.
Then onward down the river to find on of our high view point camping places ( shown in other posts labelled Klanawa). Passed the Tscowis creek campsite, no one there, but we wanted high. First try we found the road trenched, de activated. Damn. Then onward again and found that Darling main road is washed out close to Klanawa river.
Then back track to get the the other end of Darling main, found some interesting things and also found road to another high spot choked with alder. Tried to drive thru but gave up after about 100 m.
So then back up Klanawa main to little lake we have camped at a few times before. And it’s been logged on one side!
That kinda spoils the ambience. Interestingly though, found some sundew plants there, never saw them at that spot before.
So back again to the Tscowis site.
It wasn’t that bad. Very little traffic on the road nearby. Mind you the creek is unusually cold. We haven’t been there at any time when the water is bearable for more than just a quick dip.
Spent two nights there. Did nothing but read,eat, drink, lounge.
And one more thing… first night on this trip noticed the fridge not working well. It was lit, but not cooling. Just like what happened on last trip , last year. I posted recently that I had cleaned the burner jet and the fridge was working great at home. So I figured the jet was partially clogged again. I’m thinking the bumpy roads is stirring up some contaminant in the propane supply and causing this blockage at jet.
I pulled the fridge after we got to Tscowis. Cleaned the jet the best I could, and back in it went. Fridge lit and worked like a champ! Close to showing plumbers crack here.
Return trio to home uneventful. Went back via Cowichan lake and Duncan. All in all about 550km.
Vanagon – hosed!
Finally, and just as the weather turns from the driest and warmest for years to showers, my wife and I get going on a trip to the places we like to go.
Of course I was nervous, after having engine and trans out. But driving around locally the van was fine.
But… we get maybe 30 min from home, driving thru Langford, I see steam in the rear view mirror. I get off the road at suitable spot and sit, contemplate, let the steam die down, before popping the engine hatch.
Was wetness at the rear of engine. Spray pattern, you know. Couldn’t see anything until I poured water into expansion tank. Then we both saw the leak. End of the hose from expansion tank to the left side pipe. The branch of that pipe just adjacent to the water pump. Ironically ( not sure if this is good use of that word) I had replaced that pipe with stainless version.
The hose down there was split at the clamp. Was able to push more hose down over the barb, get more water into tank, and drive back home.
The ess shaped hose is quite VW specific. Instead of going to dealer ( thinking would be an order in part) I went to local NAPA store. Beacon Auto. I like the place, good service. Thought I’d cobble up something.
Stock hose is nominally 1” ID at one end, 3/4” ID the other. They didn’t have anything but I bought a 1” right angle hose and some 3/4” hose. They didn’t have adapter nipple. But I said to myself … I’ll go back to work and make one…
Didn’t have the stock on hand at home to make .
Suffered the teasing at work 🙂
Made adapter, hose barb looks small , was a guess and worrying about stiffness of new hose, worked out fine. Original on left, shortened at the failed end.
I’d have liked to have spring clamps all round, it used one gear clamp ( rolled edge though )
Installed. Looks clunky but believe me it’s tight .
Something different – WWII Canadian Civil Defense helmet
Over the last winter I picked up some stuff. One interesting thing was this Brodie helmet, WWII vintage ( 1941) , Canadian civil defence warden. Sorry but I lost the internet link to more info. But according to the stamping it was made by the Canadian Lamp Company.
Yeah, I’m on holiday and sitting with a nice drink digging up these pics from last winter.
Vanagon – Grills! Grills! Grills!
Over the years I’ve had fun making silly grills that go on the back end of the kitchen unit. Ostensibly the grill is to provide a bit more ventilation for the heat made at back of fridge.
I started with a more less copy of the stock grill, but that’s not fun. This led to my Cthulhu line of grills. Accommodates a USB outlet and a voltmeter, and switch to choose between either. This particular example has a cut out for a fridge cooling fan controller wiring .
Next was the, perhaps more obscure, Austrian armament company line. To be fair Steyr , as in Steyr-Puch, had a hand in making the Syncro. You might notice lack of small hole for the switch to choose between USB and voltmeter, and the addition of screw holes that I used to mount a muffin fan behind to maybe help the “Vennelashun”.
Recently I’ve drawn inspiration from the Dieter Rams school and went minimal. You’ll notice the slightly wonky angles of the inserts… Herr Rams would not be pleased.
Ask me if I take myself seriously …
Vanagon – all wipers and washers stuck on
Hadn’t used wipers in months. Tried them last week and nothing. Funny… but had other fish to fry. Yesterday afternoon checked fuse and it was blown. Swapped in good fuse and when ignition on front and rear wipers turned on, and front and rear washers. Stalk wiggling did not fix. Pulled fuse.
Today I had a better look. Both wiper relays fine. Must be the switch. Steering wheel off and switch assembly pulled ( simple, just remove the electrical connectors and three screws. It’s pretty obvious).
Noticed that the contacts for the wiper wash function ( the pull or push in the stalk) were all together. There is a springy center contact that is moved by the stalk to select either front or rear wash function. Seems I had all on. I moved the stationary contacts back as much as they could move. They are held in place by plastic tabs moulded into assembly. The pic I took was after that. Pity I didn’t take a before pic. Near side contact not shown fully in pic, but same as the far side one
No idea how this happened. Hope it doesn’t happen again…
Vanagon – fix the nasty part two
It’s a hack job but I need it done stat so we can go camping in the backcountry. Have more grinding to do, and seal seams, and fill holes with filler…
I’m not proud but I just have to, as they say in the U.S of A , “Git ‘er done”
Vanagon – fix the nasty beginning
Body work is hard. But then again it’s quite satisfying. And especially if you’re not trying to be perfect. Today , well yesterday too, I cut out the rust and removed the temp patch I made about 8 years ago ( thinking it’d fix proper soon, but didnt).
Today was cutting replacement metal, using the roof section I cut out years ago to make tin top into westy
Nice little Miller mig welder at work, 0.023 wire, in the hands of someone who knows what they are doing it’s a great machine. I’m having issues with my skill level. Good friend Donovan stepped in to tack the metal I had cut…
Btw, check out Donovan’s main gig here
Btw, the seat belt anchor point is reinforced on back. You can see my mig skills showing thru on that. Took the pic after seat in , as I was prepping to drive home. Not the best pic.
The side and corner still to be done . Lots of repair needed inside. Don’t get on my case, I know, I know . But I have a corner clip and a side clip , but the latter might not be used, I might want to make a feature on the side.
Steel is so dirty compared to my usual aluminum work. Tomorrow is another day, next chapter.
Vanagon – Dometic fridge fooling again
You have to know by now that if diddled with the fridge or as long as I’ve owned it. And this is an ‘82 vintage 182b , first installed in my old white 82 ( originally diesel ) westy. It’s been in the Syncro now for 11 years.
Last time I posted about fridge out and played with mods was back in 2017
https://shufti.blog/2017/06/19/vanagon-a-couple-of-minor-fridge-mods/
Couple of things about what I did then, and subsequently changed… the bank of squirrel cage fans were replaced by two smallish muffin fans directly under the upper row of fins.
And I found the right stuff , thermal mastic, and re-did the fins to pipe and plate arrangement on the evaporator inside the fridge. Funny about the mastic. I asked at local rv store and they practically gave me their last tube for free. They have no need for the stuff anymore.
Anyway, fridge worked well after all that. I didn’t do any measurements like I did way back in 2010, but I’d guess I had same performance. A delta T of 22-23C below ambient is I think as good as you can do with these fridges in the van.
But last summer the fridge started to not perform as well. It would light fine, and cool, but not cool as much. So last week I pulled the fridge again.
Opened the combustion chamber, found more rusty dust then I’d expected, and I pulled the gas jet and found it fouled. Sorry, not a good pic but you can sort of see the dirt on the jet.
Ultrasonic cleaning for 15 minutes in that CRL ( calcium , rust, lime) stuff and it now looks like this.
Other things I did were:
Re lag the exhaust pipe ( I do think this lowers the behind the fridge temp
Installed a new thermo probe for a new fan controller. inkbird, replacing the no name previous one. I think it’s a nice mod to be able to adjust the temp that the behind the fridge fan(s) come on.
Added copper strips to bridge the gap between the two aluminum plates I added to the fins last time. My idea is to make a continuous shroud back there to better direct the air flow over fins. I used copper as I had a roll and the two banks of fins are on different planes from each other making a rigid panel bridging them difficult. Stuck them on with double sided tape ( supposedly thermal tape) then covered up with some sticky back foam reflective stuff.
And the results? Fridge lights easily and cools down as fast as it ever did. I’m really pleased by how fast its cooling. The behind the fridge fan noise I think is reduced, but never was loud to begin with. I can’t recall the cut in temp for the stock thermo switch , maybe 50-55C? I’ve been trying a lower set point, 38C. So far, at home tests with sun in side of van and ambient temp s of around 25-27C , the fin temp is staying around 39-42C with fans running.
Vanagon – home made muffler update
Posted by albell in vanagon, vanagon mods on August 20, 2021
I made a muffler eight years ago. Here’s a link to all the blog posts about construction then.
https://shufti.blog/?s=Muffler
Since then I’ve added a working cat, and new exhaust pipes. But I’ve also hit the muffler a few times on rocks and snow banks. Hit it enough that I cracked the weld at the tail pipe end of the muffler.
So when the engine was out recently I cut that end off and re-welded. Gave me a chance to look inside and see how the stainless steel swarf I used as muffler packing was doing. Was a little sooty, not much, a little discoloured by heat, but overall surprisingly good. Don’t know why I was expecting any different.
Gave the muffler a bit of a buff to take off dirt and shine it up a little. Also made new hangers. Same style as before but stainless pins to hold the band clamps instead of aluminum. It’s 3/8” aluminum, 1/2” diameter on the pressed in pins. Oh and new band clamps.
Sounds more or less the same as before. Yes, louder than stock.
Vanagon – wanna see something nasty?
I knew I had to get around to it someday, poked today, ugh. It reminds me of “Harry’s Garage” Lancia ( see his YouTube channel).
Heavy rubberized undercoating on the wheel wells is what I’m calling the culprit. And my years of neglect. But now the van is not daily driver it’s going to get some love.
Welding this Saturday
Vanagon – new fridge knobs installed
Posted by albell in vanagon, vanagon mods on August 18, 2021
Had to pull the fridge out a bit. Was it worth it? Meh…
Vanagon – Dometic fridge knob repair
I need to adjust the stem lengths, but this is what I came up with
Second op – the part should be obvious now
Haas mini mill, coolant off for the shots, scallop tool path with 1/4” ball end mill. I like the pattern the scallop tool path makes, I think it works for this part.
Must be obvious now what part of the westy I’m trying to fix.
Corrected speeds/feeds
But still with unnecessary tool moves. Yes, it’s a Vanagon part. Only the first op on the lathe.
Wrong speeds/feeds
Programming mistake on the Haas TL-1 lathe. You’ll see what I’m up to in a bit…
Vanagon – replacing rusted rear spring perch
Posted by albell in syncro, vanagon, vanagon mods on August 14, 2021
Recently noticed the right side trailing arm spring perch was rusty, lifting from arm and the bump stop hanging on by a hair.
I think I showed the perches I made in recent post. Pretty well copy of stock except no flange on top of bump stop. Don’t know why I didn’t make flange.
But here are all the pics I have of the perches I made. Approx 1/8” steel, bump stop made from solid stock ( no right sized pipe handy) hollowed out a bit. Welded to plate on back side . Hdpe on top, with recess for spring pig tail. Those counter sink holes are a mistake, thought I’d screw plastic to the plate… no need .
Anyway… today I took van to work and got on with the rusty perch. It was ugly. Lifting at the rear. The plate is held to the arm by spot welds. So it’s common for rust to get between plate and arm. I thought I’d got all the spot welds with drill, but missed one. Chisel and hammer was the motivating force to lift the plate. Then power wire brush and flap disc.
I cleaned that mess up more. All the rust. Treated with rust converter. Ground down to metal around perimeter and clumsily welded on the plate. primed and painted. Notice the holes… why? I have no idea why I wanted plug welds in them. I tried but the rust preventative coating I put on… made welding not nice. So I stopped. Oh but before I welded the perch on I drilled and tapped the bump stop. Put a set screw in for now. I was worried I needed the flange that’s on the stock bump stop. The tapped hole makes it possible to screw on some facsimile if needed.
And plastic on , spring on, etc etc.
It all works but I’m not happy. Recently found out that the euro 16” Syncro had and angled aluminum spring perch, matched the spring angel better. I wish I had known this before. It would have given me more confidence to do what I had a notion to do. I need more courage. And I was considering a swivel spring perch. But no, I could have, but didn’t. Coward.
But it all works, good enough for now. But I’m not happy. Things can be made better.
Vanagon Syncro – some shift linkage mods
Posted by albell in syncro, syncro specific repairs, vanagon on August 8, 2021
During the engine and trans out ordeal the last month or two, I added a couple of mods. One was a new shifter “cup”. The part that fits over the ball thingy attached to the selector shaft.
I had made a few different versions of this part over the years and was using a simple cylinder shaped aluminum one. Decided to swap in a stainless version I made some years ago. Also made aluminum version of roughly same design but I liked the stainless. You can tell which is which in this pic.
You see both are split bottom designs. Doing away with the stock method of a roll pin to attach to the shift rod. I think it’s better with the bolt. No slop at all. Here it is with boot on. The fit of the ball in the cup is close, not binding close, but close. Lubed with sylglide.
Here’s the old oily dirty simple version. oh and you can see the guide bushing in its bracket. And I had put in a zerk fitting on the cup.. why? for gods sake.
Another thing I did was make a new plastic bushing that guides the shift rod just infront of the above part. My Syncro did not come with the booted bushing found in later syncros or the ones with the “bad weather package”. Consequently the bushing gets hit by road spray and dirt and slush etc. You have to routinely clean and grease it. I’d like to have boots on it, but until then I made a Delrin bushing with a Teflon liner. I won’t grease it. To reduce the possibility of the Delrin transmitting more vibrations to the shift rod than the softer stock bushing, I added an o ring around the middle, located in a groove. The computer model shows the groove in a refined model. I added similar groove to the part after I took the pic. The grooves at each end are for boots if I can find suitable.
Yeah, always for me the first go round of making something brings up things I’ve overlooked.
Hazet Assistent 172hd
A bit of a tool gloat, but it’s cool. I think it’s an early 70s model. Came with some VW specific Hazet tools.
I’ve wanted one of these carts for ages, but they are so expensive. This one was a good deal. Believe me, it’s very sturdy and rolls smoothly. Not saying other less expensive carts won’t do the job, but when you see one of these in person and try it out…
Vanagon – new rear spring perches
The van has been off the road last two months. Had to do some transmission leak sealing ( selector shaft seal) , clutch repair, and engine cooling line and exhaust work. Maybe I’ll post something on that business later. But while I was doing all that I noticed that my right rear spring perch was separating from trailing arm and the bump stop was also breaking off.
So I decided to make new ones. The steel part is water jet cut 1/8” mild steel, the bump stop was turned down 2” mystery steel ( I didn’t have any pipe or tube to suit. I did bore out the solid a bit though). Bump stop welded to plate on back side, recessed 1/6” in the hole for fusion weld ( no added filler). Yeah, I was a bit hot on the weld. I promise to try better next time.
The larger holes in the plate are for plug welds to trailing arm , if I choose to do that. The smaller holes are to be, or maybe not, tapped for M6 screws ( right thru trailing arm to). The screws to hold down the plastic part. I’m not sure if that really needed though.
Plastic part made from un virgin polyethylene left over from another job. This recycled poly machines poorly. Fuzzy cuts even with sharp cutters.
Made a recess for the spring pigtail. That seemed to work out ok ( 1/8” ball nosed endmill , scallop tool path).
Van is back on the road now so I’ll get the bad spring perch replaced and decide at the time if I’ll replace the other side too. Pics show old spare spring in test fit.
Here’s a pic of a model of the pad. I changed it slightly, slightly larger spring groove and led it further around
VW Tool 681
I have my engine out, the old 2.1wbx. Reasons are a few, won’t go into it right now. But part of the work I need to do involves removing some seals. I thought it try making the VW 681 seal removing too.
Found drawings on the net, here is a pic
I made a model from the drawing in fusion 360. I’ll append this post tomorrow to include a link the the fusion model and a dxf file, for those wanting to make their own.
The drawing calls for tempered spring steel, and if you can do that it’s a good idea. I think mainly to toughen up the sharp tip of the tool.
But I used 1/8 304 stainless, as that’s what I had. Waterjet cut then tip ground on belt sander as described ( more or less) on the drawing. Oh and I added a hole at one end for hanging, and I engraved the tool number ( diamond tip scratch engraving, not the most visible)
Dxf and stop files here, zipped.
Tirfor Griphoist
This winter I picked up an old Tu-28 Griphoist for next to nothing. I’ve been intrigued by these type of winches for years.
It was pretty dirty and missing the cable and handle. And a couple of the nylon bushings were worn, and one bushing missing. The idea was just to take apart and clean up, but as you’ll see I had the case and levers powder coated. And I made new plastic bushings.
The pics are pretty poor, I was just taking snaps to help me remember how things went together.
This guide helped me a lot
Couple of notes to add to the pics. You can see the three aluminum shear pins in the handle lever. Two sets of spares were packed in grease inside that handle. Might also be able to make out where the missing plastic bushing was supposed to be. And how the heck did a shrimp get inside the case?
The last pic is the hoist mostly assembled, I’ll get a better finished pic. And I’ve been absent from wordpress for a year and the changes to the editor has me a little stumped. I’d like the images in the gallery to be linked to full size… I’m trying … got it… clicking on image takes you to carousel of images.
Maybe dumping the images here might help anyone who decides to rebuild one of these hoists. For sure you can have things backwards on reassembly. I did, a few times.
Simon’s van gets new underwear
Good friend Simon took his Syncro hitop to vivid vans here on Vancouver island to get the nether regions gussied up. New springs (schwenk), new suspension bushings, new rear brakes ( drums and pads etc), new rear bearings, and a coat of sexy paint.
Oh and new front bearings too. That’s a bitch job on Syncro. Good to have that done.
He’s got the trailing arms dirty already
Vanagon – Bilstein shock perch spacers
Update, if there is any interest I’ll upload a drawing and fusion 360 model of the spacers.
Got a full set of the 16″ Syncro Bilstein shocks. I’ve already installed the rears but delayed the front install until I made up some sort of spacer to raise the spring perch a bit.
Made two sets, from some scrap aluminum which either 2024 or 7075. Im leaning to the former, but either one is a good choice.
Two sizes, 12 mm and 19 mm. With the correction for the suspension geometry, that’s about 18 mm and 25 mm of lift. But I’m not completely sure about the 1.33 X multiplier of the geometry.
If the weather cooperates, I’ll install the shocks this weekend.
Comments on the pics. First machining shot is of the shorter spacers, the second machining shot is the taller spacers. I used the tormach to do the majority of the machining as it allowed me to use the scrap I had. I didn’t have suitable round stock. Plus I could do other things as the machine did the work. The other end machined manually on lathe.
And yes, you can stack the spacers. That stack way too much but one could. I did play around with a designs that would allow adding spacers without removing shock. But I gave up, my ideas were clunky and I lost patience.
shooftie 