Club 80-90 Forums

The Vin plate should be mounted on the offside A pillar.


The vin number stamping should be on the front offside chassis outrigger. The tenth letter tells you the model year (B for 1981)


There is also a plate under the left front seat.
with just the partial vin number on the bottom left corner.

In the first pictures of the engine bay, the ignition amplifier is in the right place (albeit upside down), there are no redundant screw holes for a digital idle stabiliser box (a CT would probably have had one mounted just in front of the coil) and the van has a lower grille. All points towards it being built as a water-cooled, or a very thorough and professional conversion!

ajsimmo wrote:In the first pictures of the engine bay, the ignition amplifier is in the right place (albeit upside down), there are no redundant screw holes for a digital idle stabiliser box (a CT would probably have had one mounted just in front of the coil) and the van has a lower grille. All points towards it being built as a water-cooled, or a very thorough and professional conversion!

The first picture is pre move of it by me. It does have the holes for the idle stabiliser, its just been painted to keep it neat ;0)

So found the engine code, many thanks, and as the knowledgeable folks on here all ready knew.... But correct its a DGxxxxx Glad to say chassis code matches.

So mystery over, bar why it lets me down.

So now what do I do? I have a Van with the wrong motor, and obviously need to get that sorted with DVLA and insurance? nightmare.

Thanks for all the help so far.

mate.... insurance won't be an issue - nor should dvla.

Dvla - fill in the new engine number on the log book - and tell them that it is a standard VW engien for that model, and was like that when you bought it.

That should sort that. These vans are regualarly having engine changes....mine has gone 1.9 DG, 2.1 DJ and now its an 2.0 AGG (from a golf). I have to notify the DVLA of that...with a letter saying its all genuine VW parts.


Insurance....give them a call. See what they say, then confirm in writing. If you are feeling really conscientous, provide pics of the chassis number too. They just like to be kept informed. I doubt that the extra horse or two will affect your quote much

It will be ok. Others have gone through worse.

Take care and enjoy your van. There is much help on here to guide you along the way

Em
xx

DVLA do make mistakes or it could even be a typo when first registered. There are a couple of 1985 MY syncros on B plates that were wrongly registered from new, they should be on C plates. It happens.

silverbullet wrote:DVLA do make mistakes or it could even be a typo when first registered. There are a couple of 1985 MY syncros on B plates that were wrongly registered from new, they should be on C plates. It happens.

SB DVLA? Make mistakes...?

What are you suggesting??


It only took them three goes to get the colour, engine and fuel change registered....(I sent them all in on the one log book, honest!)

so update.

I'm getting close to loosing faith in the classic, and might have to consider the unspoken thought of selling her on and replacing her with a modern van "Horror" as i don't have the skill or patience to keep messing around. We have sadly not had the time in the van we had hoped for this summer, and she has just been a money pit.

The annoying thing was having 2 2 hour runs out without incident, then a 20 minute run up the road and she can cut out.

We had her into the local garage to have a look over, and other than running lean all was ok, and she came back running well.

This morning I started her, as shes been sat for a month, and she got to temp, ran for about 20 minutes, then just stopped. no spark, and wold start. and that's kind of where im up too, after replacing the coil, amplifier, main coil lead, wiring to amp and distributer.

the van has been confirmed as per the forum, as being a 1900 water Cooled conversion (report and info now also lodged with DVLA), and other than the carb not running very efficiently all looks good, and further advice would be gratefully received and really appreciated.

You are obviously and understandably frustrated. These vans are very simple in design so I'm surprised your efforts haven't isolated the fault.

I would get a length of wire (including a fuse and switch) and power the coil directly off of the battery (bypassing all the ignition circuit) and see how it runs then. That will prove the power supply to the ignition circuit. I'd remove the tic tac thing as that may affect the hall sensor pulse.

Use the van like that for a while.
SyncroAndys website has a diagnostic test VW manual for the carb and ignition system. Most of the ignition testing can be achieved with a simple Multimeter. Carry out that test when it's working and nte results then repeat the test when it has failed. Hopefully you will isolate the ffault then.

http://syncrosport.com/info/manual/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Here's the link. Use the Pict 2E3 manual - ignition testing is in there. Most of it is simple voltage and continuity checks of the coil, dizzy and amplifier and their associated wiring.

Bubble Meister wrote: I'd remove the tic tac thing as that may affect the hall sensor pulse.

This is not usually attached, just connected up if it stops working ;0)

Ill give the other things a test, need to borrow my friends multimeter again.

cheers.

No spare petrol to test, but I started the van, it ran for 15 minutes, cut out, then wouldn't turn over again, just kept turning over. And assume again no spark.

If I go for a new dizzy, that's pretty much all the components replaced, so that may be next step.

Did you ever replace the rotor arm inside the distributer?
The ones with a rev limiter can stop working properly when they get warm I am told, and cut the ignition as if they were over revving.

I'll try that.cheers.

quick stupid q. I ordered a dizzy cap, difficult as the chassis number on the van and reg is for a 1600, and it arrived, but I can not fit my ignition leads to it, as the leads have the peg in them? if that makes sense, should I buy new leads? or if there a different type of dizzy cap I need?

cheers

John