Club 80-90 Forums

Want 16" Camper, like everyone!, But...

hello all, new to here but have been keeping an eye on all things syncro for some time now

As i said i am after a 16" pop top westfalia, like everyone and their dog, and rocognise i am probubly going to have to get someone like those very capable looking guys at Syncronutz to build it for me, with much in the way of importing of the syncor and a donor vehicle and all that stuff.

Befor i go to much further down that road i just wanted to see what (if anything) there is about in the uk alwready.

I am looking to get the gearboxs done, tdi engine, decouple and so on, so i know i wont be cheap.

what are people thoughts?

Might be easier to buy a bad syncro 3K+ (rotten body good running gear), and a good westy 8K+, and swap all the running gear over.

Once you get into fitting pop tops there is a lot more to it that just cutting a hole in the roof, original westfalias have a unique roof panel and aditional braces for the roof bed.

Why a 16"? Whats wrong with a 14"?

Start on http://www.mobile.de" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;, there are a couple of 16" syncros there for sale, one has only 65,000 miles up. Get a good one to start with and then worry about your gearboxes etc.

How much have you got to spend? By the sounds of your plans you have about £15k to £20k to spend!!

Keep us posted

Hello again, thanks for your replies

re the 16" to 14" question, I admit its a bit of a "not what I need - but what i want situation"! But I do want to go fairly heavily off road both here and in the eastern European mountains (the Mrs is from there) and the like (winter and summer). Also the big draw for me re campers is the ability to chose your "hotel" for the nigh and having really good off road ability allows me to pick some really cool places for the night!

And the fact that in NEED (read want) a 16” means that I think I cant put 16" mechanics on a standard T25 due to the modified arches and the like

Lastly, yes it is going to be in the 20K + area, but should be good when finished! I have justified by looking at the new cost of a (for example) Bilbos T5 conversation (which if LWB doesn’t even have the four-motion option)

The Wheel arch modification is nothing to worry about, a blind baby could do it nicer than the factory. Busman.be has reproduction 16" wheel arches and 16" trailing arms are "coming soon". If you have the money converting a 14" to a 16" shouldn't be to hard at all. Most other parts can be found too.

In my humble opinion, you're wasting your money on two inches (and some "prestige" maybe)

Neither the 14" nor the 16" Syncro are suitable for heavy off-roading. Have a good look at the overhangs and the reason why not is self-explanatory.

Get yourself a tidy 14" and pour some of your funds in Seikel springs and dampers, heavy duty drive shafts and joints, new rubbers allround some big tyres, nice engine & gearbox and leave it at that.

With the several thousand that you're going to save on 16" bits you can then go and get an old modded Suzuki and trailer and break that with heavy offroading.

hmm interesting, i did not know that, to be honest i have never even seen a picture of what is under the wheel arch covers, is it just a tin snips job?

like I said, I want a 16", but don’t ask me to justify it too much!

And im not too interested in the extreme off roading thing just for the sake of it (nothing against it mind, loved it on a bike during my teens) but i do want to get a lot further to the deserted lakes and mountains and stuff than if i was in a normal camper.

Do i need a 16" over a 14" no but i like the way they look! (man, this is starting to sound really tragic...)

It is more than tin snips some of the suspension components are different. My 14" with 16" wheels, 2wd front springs and a spacer on the back still sits lower than my mates stock 16". He has much more space between the wheel and the arch than me.

Some reasons for going 16
Far higher resale value, extra body strength,tougher suspension parts to mention a few.
A 2wd camper converted to syncro will always just be that and not very easy to sell not to get into the insurance discusion.
There is nothing wrong with a 14 but it will never be a 16 or have whot goes with it.
Yes yes i know those who own 16's swear by them and some of those who own 14's are always trying to dismiss the fact that the 16 was and is an inprovement on the 14.
And then those who are always inplying about a syncros off road inabilitys, well a vehicle is as good as its driver.(but it will never be a rock crawler)
Russel

i`ve built a 16" westy pop top from a multi van and its a lot of work. i had both a westy pop top and a 16" syncro and wanted to sell both of them and buy a genuine 16" westy but its like impossible to find one for sale so i had to make one myself out of the multi van.

if like me you wanted a genuine 16" before a genuine westy then you will have your work cut out. there`s photos of the roof cut on one of my posts......cant find it now ....... but to replicate what westfalia did will take hours of panel beating and fabricating.

buying a westy and syncrofying it i think it much less work in the long run.

lee.

Take a look at this tread, he is converting a 16" caravelle to a camper. That is the one i have seen,I bought my doka from that guy. The tread is in norwegian but the pics might give some idea on the work involved. You could try google translator too.

If you want a 16" Westy then you will be lucky to get one - even a bad one - but dont let that stop you looking
If you want a 16" Syncro with a Westy interior then that's much easier as there are some very sound looking 16"s for sale at the moment and is probably the easiest way
Getting a good 2wd Westy and properly converting it to a 16" to do what you want for the reasons you have already stated is a daft idea. Its doable for a 14" but not for a 16" because of the differences in the gauge of some of the panels around the B & C pillars - and thats just a start. You would end up with a 'bitsa' thats cost a shed load
There is a lovely, low mileage example of a 16" on mobile.de now for 16,000 euro. That would be a great place to start.

Russel at Syncro-Nutz wrote: extra body strength,tougher suspension parts to mention a few.

Just to confuse the issue even further ...some of the 16" goodies made it into the 14" with "Schlechtwege-paket" (i.e. additional ex-factory spec for "bad roads")
On my ex-militar spec 14" they would be:
uprated shocks
the front rubber CV-joint protectors
a tube protecting the gear link
additional, lengthened gearbox and and clutch breather hoses in the engine bay
the ominous bodywork strenghtening on the B pillar (though not the one in the rear between C and D pillar)

How about this one for a start .....



http://suchen.mobile.de/fahrzeuge/showD ... geNumber=1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Or this maybe .....