Club 80-90 Forums

Hi and welcome MArk

I certainly like the concept and would be very happy to see you make it real. Good luck with the challenges ahead.

Welcome Mark, nice to have a stateside visitor from time to time...

I can quite see why you'd be shaking in your boots if you turned up at one of our off-road events with that DoKa - we would too, laughing, knowing you'd get to the first tree-covered and slippery hillside and have to use reverse gear somewhat prematurely

A beauty it is, indeed, I've chosen that grey for mine, when I finally decide that a respray is in order (several years after everyone else around here has come to that conclusion )

I think your FuseID company should rename itself 'Out 'o the Box' after watching the amazing website intro (which stalled into a completely blank page at the end, despite a 2Mb cable link) - skipped it in the end to see some interesting products - liked the one-eyed furry fella

The doka that launches scuds.
This was a topick of disscusion a while ago.
Good luck with the project

Ah THAT Syncro ! The VR6 as I recall ?

No I would not want to offroad that too much either a beaut.

Yes, the one with the low-hanging sump. Surely with any engine conversion on a Syncro one of the first factors considered should be ground-clearance?

Go figure.

Hi Mark. If you fancy a Pinzgauer or a Unimog, why don't you get one?! Sound Pinz's can be picked up for around £10k over here now. Surely that would make more sense for an off road toy?

Tom, i reckon there is a practical advantage of having the syncro 4wd on any road surface; it does not always have to be on an off-road vehicle does it ?

I dont think that VW for one minute brought the syncro in to being on purely off-road considerations. Luxury Caravelles were never going to yomp around places like Coney Farm much (until we got hold of them ) I feel sure that part of the design brief was handling on snow and ice for instance.

The syncro paved the way for the quattro and that has never really been an off roader until the 'sports utility' Allrad derivation came to be, and even then they rarely are seen to get very mucky now.

Give it another 10 years of price deflation though and we may yet see a 15 year old Audi Allrad put through its paces.

Marks VR6 may have a serious flaw for the kind of things we have been up to but i bet it is an awful lot of fun to drive on the road.

re - VR6: I'm pretty clever, and thought I could modify the oil pan / pickup. Not easy, as it turns out [the pump itself resides in the pan]. My friend John Wessels [no slouch, that syncromog] thinks he'll install a VR6 in his, leaning at 50 degrees. In any case, I'm not a fan of the stock 2.1WBX motor, but wanted [this time] to stay 'all VW'. Yeah, I could've done a TDI, but I'd had experience with the VR6 [GTI] and loved it. I wouldn't recommend this motor for all of the obvious reasons [ground clearance, weight, marginal power] - but I'm very pleased for less obvious reasons [GREAT sound, adequate power, VW badge, uniqueness].
re- pinz/unimog: I enjoy the VW/Syncro community; it's fun to have a vehicle that vw and vanagon people can relate to; driving a pinz/mog on the road is pretty miserable; pinz/mogs don't have as much potential [or need] for modification ... you could well ask: why not drive a [fill in the blank] - I am amused by people who think I [or anyone] would be happier with THEIR vehicle choice. Thanks again for the interest and debate!

Mark Mudlark you should know I don't think that 4WD is just for off road, why else do you think I have a Syncro Golf - it's sure as hell not for off road use!

The T25 Syncro is also VERY tidy on road, too as a recent new Bristol-based Syncro-owner is just finding out. from experience a 2.1 would be perfectly adequate for pretty much any off road situation - I'm not looking at putting a Subaru in just for show, you know - there are BarryBoys out there wanting to be embarassed on road!

The Quattro drive system was first introduced in 1980, when a bunch of goons in a VW factory were still mistakenly putting Aircooled engines into Transporters. Quattro is a true full-time 4WD system, unlike the VC system on the Syncro which is only pseudo-4WD and was developed as a cheaper, compromise system by VW. The whole Syncro programme and vehicle range was carefully price and ability pointed to ensure big brother Audi's toes weren't trodden on - the sly hand of marketing in action.

Stateside Mark, I'm not suggesting you would be happier in a Unimog or Pinz, you are, on your website - here's a direct quote:

...my main motivation is probably how a vehicle looks. I'm an industrial designer, so there you go. I love the look of the awesomely functional Unimog and Pinzgauer ...

so from your comments on this thread we can actually infer that your main motivation is actually the community around the vehicle, not it's function or looks, which is entirely understandable.

A Pinz or Unimog isn't my weapon of choice, far from it, so don't go being amused by me, eh? I might just be not unreasonably interpreting your own words.

You may interpret, reasonably or unreasonably, all you like.
However, appreciating the functional look of a pinz or mog does not translate into 'fancying' one; nor does enjoying the VW community automatically make it my main motivation. My interests in vehicles [and other things] are complex, and I appreciate the forum as a place to -candidly- share/explore/refine these thoughts. But, sigh, if you insist on clarity: the VR6 doka simply is great fun; the concept van is simply an experiment. I suspect your main motivation is poking around looking for a reaction, which I also find ... amusing. Bit off-topic, I guess ... so dare I ask: what, in the syncro world, does interest you?

Of course you dare ask.

Syncros that are as capable as they possibly can be, on road and off road.

So, I have a velle at the moment, that will be replaced by another velle in 2006, with a non-VW engine.

There's also another T25 Syncro in the workshop, that will be leaving with an Audi 5 cylinder 2.3 engine (one of a range of engines turbo and non-turbo that you'd do well to consider vs a VR6). This will be purely a play thing and is shared with Syncro&101 from this forum. That engine hangs off a South African bellhousing, not some compromise adaptor plate.

For solely on road I have a Golf Syncro, which has already had a couple of upgrades and will get a bunch more through 2006, to make it a proper fast road motor.

I'm not poking to get a response, but it's good for people to be consistent in their attitude and views and also I can't figure out why people try to make things something they (by design) are not fit to be *sighs*.

Hello and welcome to the club Mister Syncromark......

... Bit off-topic, I guess

... as you can tell, that is usually tolerated here.

In fact it's often the norm

[re - "I can't figure out why people try to make things something they (by design) are not fit to be"] this is the most interesting [and sycnro related] question, to me ... how does one differentiate, for example, between a vehicle deserving a non-vw motor vs. non-vw suspension? [politely overlooking the -shared- inconsistant view question ...] This forum is good fun, thanks to you all!

There is a post on the syncrodoka list [ http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/SyncroDoubleCabs/ ]
requesting input for a custom aluminum rack design, am hoping some of you might participate - perhaps the design could be exported to the UK, even if the actual rack could not. On a non-related note, have you all seen the bitchen [if I do say so myself] doka tshirts at syncrosource.com ?

Er, sorry Mark, bitchen?? - cross betwen a bitch and a kitchen? There's Brits and then there's thick Brits, maybe me veering on the latter, but using the context I assume we're talking 'ravingly cool' t-shirts?

And they've gotta have been diesgined by your co.

Oh, forgetting myself, having a Doka better get over there and take a looksee- before they've all gone