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.So! might as well document the van getting done! The t3 syncro is my original baby, and its been getting a bit rough around the edges and bit of rot creeping in underneath. As per usual for me, i decide to spend some money on one thing and then something else goes wrong.. It has a TDI conversion, engine was a ‘new’ VEGE block. its never felt quite right, and has gradually got worse over the years. This year was the tipping point, burning oil, a lot of blow by and a power drop.
Decision was made to strip it down, it wasnt pretty.. what looks like oil starvation in the head and what looks like cylinder bores that werent round. Basically scrap.. A replacement was sources, and friend set about rebuilding it for me
The new engine was thankfully in very good condition, and could have probably gone in ‘as is’, but.. new bearings all round, new rings, lifters ect. Injectors rebuilt with bigger nozzles and turbo rebuilt as well, with a couple tweaks.. Also a new dual mass flywheel was used
interior slowly coming out.. running gear also being removed. black lumpy pic is rot on the chassis where the front shock tower attaches, the later pic with the grey chassis parts are the replacements.. gearbox, rear driveshafts, front to rear coolant pipes, propshaft, freshwater tank, fuel tank all come out.
made a start on removing the front diff and associated stuff. Annoying, greasy dirt. in your eye job..
got one drive shaft out, unbolted the other so its ready and removed the ARB.
Plus one pic of the front brake conversion, Audi A6 312mm vented discs
front carpets out, found some nice rot in the front step. thankfully i have new genuine steps here ready to go on.
Removed the insulation that was above the fuel tank, some rust but nothing drastic. Also got the front heater core out, im looking at replacing this with a air con unit. Expensive but worth it for those summer months abroad.
yep looks like we are!
1st couple pics are the rot behind the front shock towers, i have new sections of chassis to weld in here. Next job was windows out and carefully unpick the material from the walls. i’ve managed to track down the same stuff, so want to use the old as a template. It’s pretty much ready to be picked up now, just waiting for my slot to open up. Also waiting for my other garage to be made watertight, likely the new yeqr now.. so the Country can go in there and free up the garage its in. Then i can get on with building up the engine and gearbox and also freshen up the fuel tank with new roll over valves and breather hoses
to monitor this engine a bit better, i wanted a EGT gauge. instead of the usual 52mm gauge i found a company called zada-tech who do OLED screens of various sizes that can run various senders. I’ve gone for the smallest one, once i get a switch hole blank i can cut a hole in that and mount in my steering cowling like as in the pic below
