Club 80-90 Forums

A quick update. Several months ago I posted that I had bought two syncros in the same week after having been a long time lurker on this forum. Well, today I finally have the 16" at home. I took the train from London out to CJ's place where he had assisted in getting the van registered in the UK and then drove it back to London. While severely short geared, it was a blast to drive back and ran along with no problems whatever through some nasty weather. The van is in terrific condition and was previously in the service of the Finnish Army. The van was bought from Mike Plompen (Busman) in Belgium who was a big help in selecting the right one, and helping to get it to the UK. So a big thanks to Mike and CJ for helping me get her on the road. Next weekend I'll be mounting two of Gary Lee's spare tyre carriers, and installing a South African grill with uprated Hella lights. Next will be a gearbox swap for longer gears, along with a front locker, then a mtdi conversion. And so on... This is the 16:

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/rswestlin ... 6524156706

The Tristar Syncro is coming along nicely at Syncro-nutz. The Tristar was first posted on this forum by someone who had taken posession of it after it had sat in a field for many years. It had only 29,000 miles on it and was completely intact and original, but after picking it up i realized pretty quickly it was not really up to regular driving. So, off to Syncro-nutz for a complete restoration. It will also be getting correct aluminum gates, and new carat alloys. I think it will be a very nice doka when its done. If anyone is interested, you can see pictures of the work done so far at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/14602120@N ... 380002941/

Take care,

Robert

Saw your van at CJ's a couple weeks ago. Nice looking van! I wondered who ended up with the Doka find. Now I now. Looks like a great reastoration job.

was tempted by the tristar myself at the time,glad it got a buyer who will look after it, enjoy.

Robert, great pictures. Does beg a few questions though, the Tristar resto seems pretty extreme.

What was the main reason for it, the Tristar must have been in pretty good nick to start with ? Whilst it'll all be very clean you'll have lost that originality.

It that a new engine or a rebuild ? I take you left the gearbox alone at that mileage ?

Oh yeah, another thing, I'm sure you've thought it through, but I'd advise caution when making changes to the gearing on the 16. From experience I can say that apparently modest changes (eg. going from 14 to 15 wheels) can have a noticable effect. It is easy to end up over-geared which does impact on overall driveability. Of course it depends on what you plan to do with the vehicle, but personally I'm happier with a restricted cruising speed but better acceleration and grunt.

Robert,

A nice resume there of your plans, and the very best good fortune in getting them both up to scracth... be great to see another two good examples on the road here sometime this year.

I know what Andy means about not overgearing and tend to agree, especially for TD's although I'm sure you're taking good advice from those that run mTDi's already, as well as Aidan Beaker Talbot who can advise on the currently available gear ratios.

PS. Checkout the End to End event above if you want to stretch their muscles a bit this summer, and see some views of this country that few often get to see...

hi rob,i`ve just got a 16 myself, one that cj sold origonaly and i find it quite long geared. dont know what rpm i was doing but it sat comfortably at 75/80mph (gps speed) for approx 160 miles on the way home. was running 205/16 tyres apart from that i believe it to be standard. will be running 225/75/16 next so should be slightly longer geared again.


nice syn`s by the way. love the 16`s in dark blue.

Hi again,

The 16 has the lowest gearing available. CJ said he's almost never seen this gear set. I'll need to go longer no matter what when I do the mtdi conversion as the power curve will move down to 2500 rpm or so. Right now, flat out on a flat section of the motorway I can get to 63 mph (according to the gps). I'm running 205/80R16 Kumho KL78s.

Today I noticed a diesel smell coming from the engine bay. On opening it up I could see a fair amount of diesel on the head, and down below on the top of the pan. So I fired her up and saw very quickly that the culprit was a cracked and leaking injector end cover. So I went to the local halford who said adamantly that they would have nothing to help me. After some looking about I found a fuel line kit with exactly the small rubber cap I needed. I put it on, went out for a drive, and no more diesel smell. (Yes, a simple fix, but as this was my first full day of ownership I feel pretty chuffed for figuring it out.)

Andy: The resto to the Tristar is pretty extreme. But, having sat unmoved for so long, there were many components which suffered. I wanted the it to be as reliable as possible, and to last for a while, so I opted to have everything done. We're doing everything we can to keep it original, but also useable on a daily basis. In fact, other than fresh paint and a new engine of the same exact type, it will be completely original. the interior is 100% intact and original, including radio and all trim. I think even with the rarity of these, there's actually almost no market for them so it's not begin thought of as an 'investment', it's just a vehicle I've always wanted. (I'll never be able to recover what I'm spending to rebuilt it, but relative to a new 4x4 of similar charactoristics, it's still a bargain.)

Harry: I have been considering doing the end to end in the 16. I'll try to decide this week and get in touch with the organizers to see if there's still a spot. It's my 12 year old's birthday on the 28th of May so unless he want to go, I won't be.

Thanks for the other comments. The 16 is really nice, especially underneath where it appears to be rot free. (go figure) But on getting in my wife's first comment was "this van is filthy!" She's right, it's full of Finnish dirt, but I sort of like it that way. And the dark blue is a great color. I think when I get around to having it painted I'll keep the same color.

Take care,

Robert

Sounds like you have the 6.16 final drive ratio. That's low ! If you are planning to go MDTi, I'd hold off any gearbox work until then, but it'll be a challenge to get as tall as you'll need without binning the diffs. Aidan will give you good advice I'm sure.

PS. If your water hoses got covered in diesel keep a close eye on them, as it rots rubber quickly.

Thanks Andy, I'll check them out as best as I can this evening. I do plan to have the gearing and the conversion done at the same time. For noe the gearing is bearable (if only just barely.)

rswestling wrote:(I'll never be able to recover what I'm spending to rebuilt it, but relative to a new 4x4 of similar charactoristics, it's still a bargain.)

Nice way of looking at it.