Club 80-90 Forums

toomanytoys wrote:If you are worried about money then you shouldnt be trying to run a syncro and especially a 16" on a very tight budget..

This is a Syncro 14" with 16" wheels.

They can soak up quite a large lump of cash to get properly right but once done it should be b1oody tough.

By the end of this month mine will have soaked up about £1500 but it'll be right. CV's, VC, Tyres etc.

I guess any Syncro thats not been enthusiast owned will need a good sum of cash spending on it.

I thought he said it was a 16"!!

Yep.. mine has/is swallowing a large amount of dosh at present.. (up to 1600 and not finished yet..)

But, once sorted should do another 10 years.... (I hope )

toomanytoys wrote:I thought he said it was a 16"!!

Nope, having seen it, its definately a 14!

The biggest problem i've found with the Syncro is trying to understand which parts i need when making orders.

You mean you're ETKA-less

Afew hints here:-

http://www.club80-90syncro.co.uk/Syncro ... hnical.htm

Now well confused to what I've bought!!! I'm sure it was easier when I owned a bay...but maybe old age is taking its toll!!

Got van off my brother who bought it as a German import, and he was told that the steel wheels it came with were the origional....now realize that this doesnt make it a 16"

So, why bother putting 16" wheels on a syncro, when 14" were the origional and there seems to be far more choice with 14" tyres than 16" ?

Does the syncro naturally sit higher than the standard type 25, as I read somewhere that putting 16" on a standard is a little tight?

Thanks to Ian for letting me pick his brain at Dub freeze....should have picked it a bit more! (But at least I know how the heater works now!)...and I'm about to buy 5 tyres!!

32,000 Syncro were produced (IIRC) and were just std. Syncros, all coming with various 14" wheels.
This was a very capable tough and strong vehicle, made in many guises.

About 1988 VW/SDP decided to produce a special version, somewhat more capable and decided (probably erronesouly) to call it the Syncro 16"..

as it had 16" wheels! which carrying high AR tyres required a bit more clearance agaianst the rear radius arms and parts of the front wheel arch/body.

About 2,300 of these were made, 99.?% being left-hand drive.

They had other mods, some body and possibly chassis strengthening, bigger brakes all-round (due higher rotational inertia of the wheels and tyres), stronger driveshafts etc.etc.

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Whilst 15" wheels and off-road tyres are cmmon modification to std. (14") Syncros, its possible to fit 16" wheels with some types of tyre without clearances reducing to zero. This is what some people do...

the original 16" steel wheels of the Syncro 16" are only 5.5" wide and whilst strong, this width to some extent limits the tyres that can be used.

andysimpson wrote: I do an 2003 A4 quattro which the owner put 2 cheapo tyres on the front, i pointed out the error to him but he knows better than me and audi, that was about a year ago. It came in recently for an mot and he said it has funny vibrations.

Just as a point to clarify... Audi's quattro system is nothing like the VW 4Motion Haldex clutch system (used in the TT, despite quattro badges) or the Syncro system. It has three proper diffs and suffers none of the tyre size sensitivities of the Syncro models. In complete contrast to the Syncro, the quattro transmission is virtually bullet-proof, even after years of flinging a ton of car off the line with no wheelspin!

PS - another badge-engineering anomaly is that a Passat 4Motion is actually a quattro!

HarryMann wrote:You mean you're ETKA-less

Afew hints here:-

http://www.club80-90syncro.co.uk/Syncro ... hnical.htm

How about sources and part numbers for CV joints?

How about sources and part numbers for CV joints?

The Wiki perhaps?

http://wiki.80-90.co.uk/index.php/Syncr ... CVJ_repair

http://wiki.80-90.co.uk/index.php/Syncr ... _CVJ_seals

The other 3 std. GSF rears, whatever they cost now, were £15 ea. now maybe £25. There's a slight difference in the front inner boot, but the normal ones do the job on 14" syncro OK most seem to find.

Trundler wrote:

andysimpson wrote: I do an 2003 A4 quattro which the owner put 2 cheapo tyres on the front, i pointed out the error to him but he knows better than me and audi, that was about a year ago. It came in recently for an mot and he said it has funny vibrations.

Just as a point to clarify... Audi's quattro system is nothing like the VW 4Motion Haldex clutch system (used in the TT, despite quattro badges) or the Syncro system. It has three proper diffs and suffers none of the tyre size sensitivities of the Syncro models. In complete contrast to the Syncro, the quattro transmission is virtually bullet-proof, even after years of flinging a ton of car off the line with no wheelspin!

PS - another badge-engineering anomaly is that a Passat 4Motion is actually a quattro!

I an very familar with what type of 4wd is used on every vw/audi its all i work on.

I have another 2002 a4 quattro in work now with a broken propshaft michelins on the front wanlis on the back. Read the owner manuals of any quattro they ALL state tyres must be same make/size/tread pattern or transmission damage is possible. Prop 799.48 + fitting + 2 tyres +vat.

I agree the torsen (quattro system) is the strongest of them all but its along way of being bullet proof (2 in work in last 2 months). I think it was regarded as bullet proof up untill about 10 years ago, since then they have engines with lots of low down torque rather than the old 5 cylinders which had little low down torque, combine this with tyres mis matched and something will eventually break. It does have bad points main one being transmisson shunt which gets very noticebale with diesel or high power petrols, this does not apply to automatics.

The haldex system is by far the best, does not have the nasty shunting of the torsen and has better control of where the power goes. Down side to this system is it can be heard adjusting front too rear bias if you listen hard enough.

The viscous coupling is crude compared to others but does a similar job to the haldex its just not very forgiving about tyres.

Shunting transmissions - Ugh!

i thought 16" rims were commonly 5.5j,cj.

EKTA say 5.5.

the original 16" steel wheels of the Syncro 16" are only 5.5" wide and whilst strong, this width to some extent limits the tyres that can be used.

5.5", correct(ed)

...even more limiting!

clive were you bitten by a 16 when you were younger or something?