Hello All!
Great group of folks here with a lot of combined wisdom. Now let me try to go ahead and tap into some of it!
I'm getting out of the Army in a few months and my wife and I are planning an epic journey to help me decompress from almost 9 years of service! Being young, idealist, tree-hugger types (perhaps not what you'd expect from a soldier I know - but there are a few of us quietly reading Chomsky and Zinn in our own private closets wondering how the hell we got ourselves into this club!), I have been researching endlessly to help me construct a vehicle that meets the following hard criteria:
1) Needs to offer the absolute smallest ecological footprint possible.
2) Needs to sleep 4.
3) Needs to provide a fridge, stove, sink, and small furnace.
4) Needs to provide a reasonable amount of storage space as we will be living out of it off and on for at least four months.
5) Needs to be either 4WD or AWD.
Oh yeah - and we're headed to Alaska (albeit in the summer, but still), and will ultimately land in Portland, ME. In other words, COLD climate vehicle.
So my searching has brought me to the conclusion that I need to build a VW Westfalia Syncro Van converted first to a diesel and then to run on Straight Vegetable Oil - or SVO/WVO (with a large tank to allow for good range in between oil fill-ups). If you've never heard of this, go here:
www.greasecar.com
So who can offer some guidance? I haven't bought or even found the Syncro Westy yet (these babies are rare) - although I have seen them on the internet in a few places. I'm not a strong mechanic (yet - just learned how to do my brakes, and looking forward to my next lesson), but I have friends who are good mechanics who would be willing to help (we have a full shop with lift bay on base at our disposal) - I'm also willing to have the engine conversion done proffessionally if need be. But I'd like to do as much work on my own as possible.
I live in the DC area. Most of you have experience with converting the Vanagon to a diesel I assume? What's the best engine - a later-model Passat 1.9L TDI? That's the first step. We can talk SVO later.
Thanks!
PS - for those of you interested in finding out about other progressive service members, go to www.soldierforum.org
Westy Syncro SVO
Moderator: Fatmobile
You know if you stick it out for 11 more years you could retire and then really take life easy. Maybe you could get stationed in the Mother Country and find your vehicle there.
I believe most of us on this forum actually have 1982-1984 Diesel Vanagons as they came from the factory. I am not sure how many have taken a gas van and converted it to diesel. This is not the most common engine swap for Vanagon's, usually the engine is either a Subaru or a in-line 4 (like a gas rabbit, golf, jetta) so I'm not sure how much advice you'll get going the way you want to.
When you say a large tank for vegetable oil, how large are you talking. Most tanks I have seen are the 6 gallon marine tank. I am going to use a Tempo 6 gallon tank with a transmission cooler installed inside of it. My fear with going with a larger tank is that I won't be able to heat the vegetable oil warm enough to get it to flow properly. Also with a larger tank you will loose more storage space which is one item you mentioned you wanted.
In searching the web have you run across Roadhaus's trip around North America? You might find his site informative; the site is http://www.roadhaus.com/ He was trying to sell his Syncro (it's gas) but I don't know what the status of it is now.
My guess is that if you go through with your plans you will become a strong mechanic or very poor. Maybe you'll be lucky and find a diesel Westy Syncro, I've never looked for one, but if you build it and look to have someone else do the work my guess is that if you get it all done for under $20,000. you'll be doing good. TDI engines along start at about $3000 on up.
How much are you planning to spending for this vehicle? There are diesel Westy's out there (1982-1984) but prepare to see America at 55 MPH. You might find one that has had the tranny swapped out with a gas tranny and it might have a 1.6TD or bigger engine but those are rare. The old saying, "Speed costs, how fast can you afford to go" applies.
I hope I don't sound too negative. Some of my dreams have turned to nightmares but I wish you the best of luck, let us know how things work out, if you go through with your plans and if you have more questions please ask.
Kevin
I believe most of us on this forum actually have 1982-1984 Diesel Vanagons as they came from the factory. I am not sure how many have taken a gas van and converted it to diesel. This is not the most common engine swap for Vanagon's, usually the engine is either a Subaru or a in-line 4 (like a gas rabbit, golf, jetta) so I'm not sure how much advice you'll get going the way you want to.
When you say a large tank for vegetable oil, how large are you talking. Most tanks I have seen are the 6 gallon marine tank. I am going to use a Tempo 6 gallon tank with a transmission cooler installed inside of it. My fear with going with a larger tank is that I won't be able to heat the vegetable oil warm enough to get it to flow properly. Also with a larger tank you will loose more storage space which is one item you mentioned you wanted.
In searching the web have you run across Roadhaus's trip around North America? You might find his site informative; the site is http://www.roadhaus.com/ He was trying to sell his Syncro (it's gas) but I don't know what the status of it is now.
My guess is that if you go through with your plans you will become a strong mechanic or very poor. Maybe you'll be lucky and find a diesel Westy Syncro, I've never looked for one, but if you build it and look to have someone else do the work my guess is that if you get it all done for under $20,000. you'll be doing good. TDI engines along start at about $3000 on up.
How much are you planning to spending for this vehicle? There are diesel Westy's out there (1982-1984) but prepare to see America at 55 MPH. You might find one that has had the tranny swapped out with a gas tranny and it might have a 1.6TD or bigger engine but those are rare. The old saying, "Speed costs, how fast can you afford to go" applies.
I hope I don't sound too negative. Some of my dreams have turned to nightmares but I wish you the best of luck, let us know how things work out, if you go through with your plans and if you have more questions please ask.
Kevin
-
westyd
svo syncro
hey,
join the yahoo tdi conversion group. tonnes of people are putting td's and tdi's into their syncros. lots of kits around. or import a german one that already has a 1.6 td. tonnes on ebay.de.
join the yahoo tdi conversion group. tonnes of people are putting td's and tdi's into their syncros. lots of kits around. or import a german one that already has a 1.6 td. tonnes on ebay.de.
If your budget is limited don't follow this link. 
They'll make whatever you want according to the site. You should try to find some references before pre-paying for the work. I think you're looking at 20K for a fully rebuilt 4x4 with SVO. I wonder how many bears you'll attract with all that oil???
http://zsimports.com/vehicles/index.htm
Cheers, Steve
They'll make whatever you want according to the site. You should try to find some references before pre-paying for the work. I think you're looking at 20K for a fully rebuilt 4x4 with SVO. I wonder how many bears you'll attract with all that oil???http://zsimports.com/vehicles/index.htm
Cheers, Steve
1992 4-door Golf 1.6l
Currently 418K and climbing
Currently 418K and climbing
Wow, quite ambitious plans!
Synchros are pricey; westy synchros are pricier!
I did look at acquiring a synchro vanagon drivetrain, and adapting it to a non-synchro westy chassis... It makes more sense to modify an existing synchro into a westy, however.
The diesel Synchro conversions are pricey, and I'd guess your best contact would be the Yahoo group which focuses on them; both TDI and 1.9 diesel transplants. Be aware that the group is frequented by commercial interests, however, so sometimes the info you might get can be biased from personal interests in your cash! It's still a good resource, tho. I consult it as I continue to mull over sticking a 1.9TD or some sort of TDI into my diesel westy.
Synchros are pricey; westy synchros are pricier!
I did look at acquiring a synchro vanagon drivetrain, and adapting it to a non-synchro westy chassis... It makes more sense to modify an existing synchro into a westy, however.
The diesel Synchro conversions are pricey, and I'd guess your best contact would be the Yahoo group which focuses on them; both TDI and 1.9 diesel transplants. Be aware that the group is frequented by commercial interests, however, so sometimes the info you might get can be biased from personal interests in your cash! It's still a good resource, tho. I consult it as I continue to mull over sticking a 1.9TD or some sort of TDI into my diesel westy.
"My 87 syncro with AEL 2.5tdi is $4k obo. I have spent about 5k on
that project. The syncro project is not complete. Vans are in NW
Georgia. william cahill 706-236-2097"
Above is a synchro diesel project that was just mentioned for sale on the Yahoo group. See if it'll work out for you; the 2.5tdi is about as big as they get!
-Josh
that project. The syncro project is not complete. Vans are in NW
Georgia. william cahill 706-236-2097"
Above is a synchro diesel project that was just mentioned for sale on the Yahoo group. See if it'll work out for you; the 2.5tdi is about as big as they get!
-Josh
-
tortuga
my favourite place to dream/plan about a diesel vanagon with enough power to get up my driveway is www.fastforward.ca
check it out.
check it out.