Coming out of the shadow

[Sync or Swim]

Hi y'all.

I've been lurking on this forum for a little while now, but the time has come to step into the light and solicit opinion from the elders and betters of this place (and the idiots if necessary )

I used to live next door to a dude who restored beetles for a living, and he whetted my appetite for the Syncro, last year I stuck a bid on one on eBay (to see what the reserve was), much to my surprise it ran and I became the accidental but proud owner of a Wolfsburg 1.6 turbo diesel day van:-



Now it ran like a particularly slow snail, so recently I shelled out for a new blower, and while the vet was there I had a new cambelt put on as wellplus a flush through and cahnge of body fluids and filters, and it was running sweeeeeeeetly, so I decided to take it to Yorkshire (I am based in Staines) - had a loose cat on board with the windows up on a very hot day, but that's another story

Anyway, got to J24 of the M1 and it pumped all of its oil over the back window and started running badly, I stopped immediately, it was ticking over (badly) but I got it recovered (don't ask how much...)

I took it to the vet who did the original work for me, and he pressure tested all the pots and it seemed fine, so he just put a new pressure sensor in (that had blown out, happens apparently, and that's where the oil came from), and re-oiled it again. Today I went to get it, he was driving it home for me, got about 3/4 of the way (it's only 2 miles) and it graunched and stopped, now it won't even turn over, so it has obviously had some sort of organ failure.

In my shoes, would you be looking to

• rebuild this engine

• Source a new/recon 1.6TD

• Re-engine with something a bit gruntier (I am going to use it to lug boats amongst other things)

R

[Mudlark]

Deep Wallet? then a 1.9Mtdi would probably be the sweetest solution; a few folks on here run them and report favourably on power and mpg; otherwise get someone who knows what they are doing to rebuild what you have (if its salvageable) and live with its limitations.

[syncrosimon]

Hello and welcome.

Nice van you have there, if I were you I would get it to Baxter at Brickwerks or Syncronutz and let them sprinkle their magic on her and get a bigger lump in. (The 1.9 aa??) seems popular.

I am sure that there are others that can do the conversion, and many have done it themselves here.

Of course you then have the gearing to think about, to make better advantage of increased power, you can add bigger tyres or an Aiden Talbot box.

Choices choices.

Simon.

[toomanytoys]

1.9 AAZ, less hassle than a MTDi.....

or perhaps a scooby 2.5 or 3.3 on Lpg... that will pull some boats......

[syncroandy]

1.9 is probably the way to go. 1.9 IDI turbo-diesel (eg. AAZ, 78bhp stock) will be far easier and cheaper upgrade than the 1.9 TDi (eg. 1Z, 90bhp stock). The AAZ is probably easier to tune for more power as well. The TDi has a lower peak torque rpms, so needs different gearing. Loads of good resources out there, look in the Wiki here, or on Brickyard there's a good AAZ conversion doc. There's also the IDI section of the vwdiesel.net forum for tuning info.

[Sync or Swim]

Sounds like the general feeling would be to re-engine with a 1.9 AAZ, presumably the TDi is the same unit that I had in my Bora (which despite being bought from a good friend who had had it from new and properly looked after it, was a PoS!)

What is the AAZ unit, and could anyone give me a guess-timate as to how deep my wallet would need to be (" 'tis not as deep as a well, nor as wide as a barn door, but 'tis enough, 'twill suffice" as some old bloke once said)

R

[Aidan]

probably of the order of £2-2.5k for a decent one fitted by someone who knows what they are doing with some support and customer service, good mTDi with gearbox rebuild probably twice that, electronic TDi maybe less as retain electrics but have to splice in and make work and fix the interlocks different sort of work.

[Pete Nice]

An AAZ you could get fitted for £500 if you know the right people. It looks like a nice van too.

My old 1600jx had an oil pump problem & knocked a big end out. A mate swapped the lump for me & away I went again.

[HarryMann]

The final failure was no doubt due to the first loss of oil occurence...

SEAT Toledos and many others had VW AAZ 1.9 diesels. They can soemtimes be found quite cheaply on eBay or elsewhere when old/ crashed etc.
Various VWs, some Passat Diesels etc. (£150 ~ £250)
The 1Y non turbo version is also worth considering, being less hassle generally, but more limited on hill-climbing and heavy loads, but are used

Whatever you do, don't part with ANY bits off your JX installation until all is done and back up and running, particularly:

Turbo,
Exhaust manifold and pipes
Engine mountings, sump, bellhousing, starter, flywheel, clutch etc.
Inlet pipes, air filter
Turbo cooler fan, pipe. switches and relays (if fitted)
All coolant hoses and pipework

Also, if you find one, make sure you cut all the temp and oil sensor connection wires well back, retaining the multi-pin plugs that fit the socket on the new engine.

The AAZs come with different injection pumps depending on which vehicle they are fitted to, just don't worry unless you want top performance, else keep the one in place

====
Just check that the engine doesn't seem to have succumbed to 'bottom end pulley bolt' problems, the main achilles heal of these engines. (Bad running, starting, timing slipping, bottom pulley bolt comes loose and mullers the pulley/crank keyway etc). A quite scroot down there might show a clue, might not. Best if you hear it run, they should start and run fine, and once running any smoke should clear quickly and idel rev fairly smooth and cleanly
=====

Don't worry about gearing with an AAZ, at first, can just subsequently up the wheel and tyre size to 15". They aren't briliant on fuel in a T25 but can be good enough and give plenty pulling power

Good luck

[peasant]

depending on how bad the original engine actually is, rebuilding it might still be an option.

If you then nail on an oil cooler and an intercooler and don't go overboard with squeezing the last possible ounce of power out of it (up to 100 bhp are reportedly possible with that setup), but tune it for cool running instead, you should get a pretty healthy engine that is well able to pull boats.

Not cheap either, but saves you fettling with the gearbox.

This is hearsay though ...no experience with this myself

oilcooler: http://www.syncro-bernd-jaeger.de/ENGLI ... nlage.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

intercooler: http://www.syncro-bernd-jaeger.de/ENGLI ... er-td.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[HarryMann]

I wouldn't think an AAZ transplant requires any gearbox work, unless it is suspect already.

[Paul C]

Hi,

Did the van come from Cornwall?
It looks very much like one I went to look at last Sept / Oct - it was near Lostwithiel.
I was very tempted as it looked to be in good overall condition.

[Sync or Swim]

Excellent info, thanks everyone.

Looks like one of the big end shells has failed (and yet still managed a 360 to take a few bits with it...) and so is beyond economical repair )c:

That's scuppered my trip to Italy then.

AAZ it is, I think the gearbox is fine, going down to 2nd is sometimes a bit of an acquired skill (going up in all the gears is as smooth as you like) but you just need to show it who's boss.

The van did come from Cornwall, it is in very good overall condition, sound underneath and sound bodywork, some of the intererior upholstery is a bit grubby but then you should see my landrover...

Notwithstanding Harry Mann's advice to keep all the bits, if I can source a replacement unit with a good turbo I would hope to recoup a bit on the brand new turbo via good old eBay, but I guess it's time to spend a bit of time on some of the techy V-Dub forums finding out more about the AAZ and then finding one.

I can't see this van and me parting company any time soon, and like any good mistress, I suppose it's gonna cost...

(c:

[jebiga41]

AAz is your man alright can be put in quite easily lots of info on it on brickyard and the wiki see links , needs some parts from Mr Baxter well worth buying them to make it as painless as possible.
http://www.brick-yard.co.uk/forum/aaz-c ... KW=another" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
https://club8090.co.uk/wiki/Al ... gine_1.9TD" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
As the lads mention the other cheaper alternative is the 1y which is the non turbo 1.9 (follow the AAZ conversion instructions also Ringotts has various info linked )but underpowered in a syncro although still does the job pushes my heavy syncro camper around. However it is getting an AAZ upgrade after the summer (more of a stop gap at the moment) the 1ys can be turboed and supposedly they like it supposedly you can even use the 1.6td injectors and pump (see brickyard again) although it is essential that you keep all your bits and also change the pulleys don't sell your turbo, unless to me they are worth keeping onto

I think the gearbox is fine, going down to 2nd is sometimes a bit of an acquired skill (going up in all the gears is as smooth as you like) but you just need to show it who's boss.

might also want to get that looked at if it isn't the linkages aidan's your man for that

[Sync or Swim]

Just been following the links and digging around, seeing the big thumbs up for JG Baxter/Brickwerks, and thinking that I paid three hundred and fifty quid to get the van (and self) recovered back down to Staines - seemed like a good option when you consider it would have cost me alone a hundred and sixty in train fares to get back for work and the van would have been two hundred miles away.

However I had it recovered from Shepley which is just a couple of miles from Brickwerks.

%^& and $£**% and #*&#* and **&^*%%$. I'm losing the will to live

Oh the joy of 20:20 hindsight