2wd as good as a syncro!

[..lee..]

Cut it out you two. Cooper that first pic is filthy. For shame.

[Cooper]

Do you find driving an t25 or the syncros that your get more attention in them?
Whether its from nice people but mainly if its a camper people telling you you can park there!

Would you say that its easyer to steel the vans that we like? Thats one thing im worried about that a herbert can easly break into it and drive away.

[BOXY]

Do you find driving an t25 or the syncros that your get more attention in them?

Depends how badly the exhaust is blowing or how thick the smoke is coming out the back.

Whether its from nice people but mainly if its a camper people telling you you can park there!

Syncro's & T25 tend to get parked wherever they breakdown, no-one tells you where to park.

Would you say that its easyer to steel the vans that we like? Thats one thing im worried about that a herbert can easly break into it and drive away.

You'll need a lot of steel to patch up all the holes most vans have. Oh you meant "steal"?

[Cooper]

Yeh i meant someone nick it and drive off.

[BOXY]

If you fit a tracker, alarm and use a method to disable the ignition then that's about all you can do to make it hard for someone to take your van.
The standard locks are easy to open by today's standards. My driver door used to open to anything that got pushed into it, including Yale door keys and lollipop sticks. Once it the van it would take less than a minute to screwdriver or hot-wire the ignition. How far they would get after driving off depends on when it was due its next breakdown.

[HarryMann]

If you fit a tracker, alarm and use a method to disable the ignition then that's about all you can do to make it hard for someone to take your van.
The standard locks are easy to open by today's standards. My driver door used to open to anything that got pushed into it, including Yale door keys and lollipop sticks. Once it the van it would take less than a minute to screwdriver or hot-wire the ignition. How far they would get after driving off depends on when it was due its next breakdown.

[HarryMann]

Coop e r

Mebbe of interest yah!

Anti-theft tracker devices

[ericos_bob]

I own both a syncro and bay window kombi. My syncro I've owned for only a couple years and have had to replace almost everything. The worst thing is to buy a syncro that is fairly worn but not worn enough to make underlying problems obvious in the immediate future. Some things I 've had to replace are as following, cv joints (front and rear) Trans and diff, balljoints, upper control arm bushings, shock absorbers (front and rear), prop shaft (in process), lower control arm buchings, engine (went to subaru power), radiator, front and rear wheel bearings, diff lock actuators, viscous coupling ( replaced with cecoupler and solidshaft), brake pads need attention and there's probably more things I can't remember. I paid 5 grand aussie and have spent 25 grand on my van but this includes extras like poptop, camper conversion and subaru conversion parts.

I still have problems to sort out like right now I have an issue with my steering (one of the few things I haven't renewed yet) and my transmission is broken again! I'm expecting another 5 grand will go into it by the end of the year and I haven't given a thought to rust repair/paint job. I'm at the point where I have so much money into this van I don't want to sell it but then again I don't have any faith in it.

Too be honest If I had to do it over again I'd probably have stuck with my much simpler more reliable bay window kombi (Bob) and set it up as a baja kombi for a fraction of the cost my syncro.

The bay window has less room but it is still adequate for two people and fantastic offroad. Did my first round australia trip in the bay window and went down all the 4x4 tracks, through deserts, over sand dunes, river crossings, and some of the muddiest rain forest terrain you can imagine (55000KM total). Smart driving and a good hand winch got me out of every ugly situation. Remember this is a stock kombi! You can easily modify these vans to suit larger tires (33" rear, 29" front) and float over every dune or plough through most any mudhole you come across. Even more impressive than it's offroad ability was the fact that apart from a couple oil changes and a drum brake overhaul my kombi runs flawlessly despite the beating it took over so many offroad miles.

I can only wish my syncro can run over 50,000kms of the beaten track and come back without needing a bunch of repairs.

The syncro in 2wd is a sad thing to see. Having a decoupler and I often drive the syncro as far as I can go in 2wd and engage 4x4 when the going gets tough. In 2wd I can't even drive on moderately soft sand even when aired right down to 15psi (30x9.5x15 tires) and the articulation without lockers is so poor I get stuck in very modest terrain!

I'm not trying to put you off buying a syncro but I hope you don't buy one just for the cool factor of owning a 4wd t3 and don't expect them to ever to be as cheap to run as a bay window or other equivalent even once sorted. The 2wd bay windows are nearly as good offroad when set up right. Forget the 2wd t3 unless you don't plan on any offroading.

Check out this link for a little inspiration
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyT2zq00GTU" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[syncrowjoker]

That,s well nice

[silverbullet]

Interesting throttle technique for climbing that dune...

[HarryMann]

Fantastic thing, and nothing wrong with the sound either!

Apologies ... but a small but... Methinks your Syncro is not fully prepared for arduous off-road, we here find them pretty robust overall.

[Cooper]

Eircos_bob

Sounds good but once buying a bay how much would it cost to make into the baja capable of what you have in the youtube link?

[Cooper]

Can i fitt bullbars to a syncro?
Is this legal?
Where can i buy them from?

[lloydy]

yes
yes
ebay sometimes. Or wanted ad on here

[Cooper]

yes
yes
ebay sometimes. Or wanted ad on here

Cheers.

On the mechanical side of things does the vw take metric or imperial sockets spanners and such?