Westy Syncro SVO
Posted: Mon Jan 10, 2005 5:05 pm
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
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