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Topic ClosedTristar Syncro, 2WD to 4WD, more BHP!!

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Ghia View Drop Down
Vanorak
Vanorak

Nesh

Joined: 04 Mar 05
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 Nov 07 at 21:04

Thanks for all the support guys!!

The Tristar is up and running again with the correct injection system and a Syncro AKG gearbox. I figured while I had the engine out, now would be a good time to build a gearbox out of the endless bits and pieces of gearboxes I have lying around!

Next thing to do is add the propshaft and I'll have a working speedo. Front driveshafts will be fitted when I fit the matching AKH front diff as there's an ADH (4.86) front diff in there at present.

I'll take some pics of the engine bay again once I've had chance to clean it properly after installing everything.

It's nice to be driving a syncro again

MG

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Ghia View Drop Down
Vanorak
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Nesh

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 02 Dec 07 at 19:36

Right, it's been a busy weekend but I now have a 4WD Tristar

The difflocks are taking some encouraging to get them working again (I think it's lack of vacuum) but I pulled out my spare pair of front driveshafts, the AKH front diff and spent today fitting it all up.

I had a good look at the VC's I have sat about and found that the one which was in the ADH front diff looks to be the original from the Tristar as it has a 1989 manufacture date on it. Even better, it hasn't failed and works well .

Once I've got the difflocks working and some protection bars underneath I'll be happy to do some 'light' offroading with it.

But for now it's back to the 16 in an attempt to have it running for christmas!

MG

Quick update, difflocks now working well. The vacuum feed to the difflock system had been glued up!! Plus a bulb or 2 out and the usual front difflock knob threads screwed up. Just the protection bars to sort now.

MG



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Ghia View Drop Down
Vanorak
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Nesh

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 Dec 07 at 21:26

Well it's been a week of ups and downs,

The fuel pump I fitted decided to spill the contents of the tank all over the floor! It was sent back and another bought.

It seems that these fuel pumps suffer from corrosion between the aluminium body and steel bracket which holds it. The result is a holy body, a fuel pump which still works but also leaks fuel all over the place. The worst thing about this is that the extent of the corrosion isn't always obvious until the pump is removed from the bracket and until it is used again and under full pressure.

The replacement fuel pump has been cleaned up, taped up to stop corrosion and new brackets have been used.

A new top balljoint has been fitted (stopping an annoying suspension knock and the steering pulling). A new rear wheel cylinder has been fitted thankfully before brake fluid had a chance to ruin the shoes.

After refitting the engine with the injection system and trying to tune it, the idling stabilising circuit wasn't functioning. This only really presents itself as a problem when the engine is cold by not idling. Also when trying to setup the mixture on a gas anyliser, despite adjusting the mixture correctly at idle, the result is that the engine runs very rich over the rest of the rev range. Another injection system has been bought for spares, the idle stabiliser control unit was changed and the system came to life. The mixture was reading 4.8% despite having been set at 2.3% previously.

As a result of all of the systems now working on the engine, it has really come to life, especially in the 1500 to 3000 rpm range.

I've fitted some 225/60/16 tyres (factory size in the Tristar brochure) which have made the gearing and handling much better.

A new set of Audi specific wheel nuts have been ordered from U.S for both the Tristar and Limey. I think I'll be out looking for snow tomorrow for some fun :)

MG

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Vanorak
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Dec 07 at 14:34
Looking good Ghia!  God, I love crew cabs, Syncro or not!
Brick-Yard. Not a club, more a way of doing things. (Robert Fripp - kind of...)
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Ghia View Drop Down
Vanorak
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Dec 07 at 18:27
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Dec 07 at 19:48
Nice one Mike looks like you had a good day at Tong thenand you only told me on Friday that you wouldnt be offroading the Tristar
2.1 DJ
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Dec 07 at 23:31
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Ghia View Drop Down
Vanorak
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 Dec 07 at 07:42

OK I got the bug for offroading after having seen everyone going off for the weekends drive from Brickwerks.. I think I'll be joining in with the Tristar until the 16 is running.

Best get out and get it running.

MG

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Ghia View Drop Down
Vanorak
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 Dec 07 at 12:52

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

MG

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Ghia View Drop Down
Vanorak
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 Dec 07 at 16:17

It's nice and clean again and back on street wheels.

I managed to get hold of the factory Cyclone air intake system for it. Aidan supplied the Cyclone and obsolete rubber tube from it to the air filter housind the rest came from VW so now I can go wading or driving through water fast without wondering if it's going to suck a load of water in

Only things remaining to do are fit the protection bars (waiting for brackets from CJ), fit a new O/S/F CV boot (old one has split), get the wheels from Germany (January) and get the aluminium dropsides on.

The dropsides are needing a bit of tlc. They are in generally good condition but the design of the brackets which hold them onto the van isn't fantastic and as a result they get broken. My set have one original which I will have copied (billet aluimium) and the rest have been make out of steel. They bolt on so it's an easy thing to fix. Then I need some factory handles/levers as some of mine have been homemade and the factory ones from steel dropsides are correct. I haven't decided yet whether to have them painted the same colour as the van (as they are in the Brochure) or just leave them as they are.

What do you think?

MG



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Yardie
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 Dec 07 at 21:22

Is that my brochure

Hope you haven't got any stains on it

1990 1.9td SYNCRO DOKA
1988 1.6td SYNCRO AMBULANCE
1989 2.1i LPG Camper
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 Dec 07 at 21:26
Originally posted by Ghia Ghia wrote:


What do you think?



Machine polish em?



YOU CANT EDUCATE GAMMON

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 13 Dec 07 at 22:31

i remember back in 1990 the VW dealer i worked for used to buy a lot of VW/Audi cars from the manufacturer at closed auction. the boss had a big family and ran caravelles, this one time we bought a six month old carat, and tristar. i worked in the parts dept at the time, but remember helping my valeter mate clean the tristar. it was red, and looked superb. i recall the guy who bought it ran a truck firm, and kept it for ages. i am going to ring him to find out what happened to it, and try the reg on dvla search.incidently i ended up buying the carat in 94, when the guy who owned it was part exchanging it for a new caravelle. i wish i had taken photos of the motors that passed through the dealership at that time. a lot easier now with digital

Great tristar Ghia Big smile

eltee

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Ghia View Drop Down
Vanorak
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Nesh

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Dec 07 at 17:49

Update on tuning the stock 2.1 DJ engine.

I've been fairly unimpressed with the engine ever since I bought this van. It was clear that there were plently of things wrong with it externally but all gas anylising results and compression tests showed that it wasn't worn, in fact the opposite, it had very low HCs and the compressions were well within spec for a new engine.

My first major trip in the van over to Wales and back (mostly motorway miles @ satnav 65mph @ 3,200rpm) returned 18mpg. Not great! Ok so the only thing I hadn't replaced which was a serviable item was the injectors so I took the spare set I had and had them cleaned by Sewells in Leeds. At £15 each plus v.a.t, I think that's fairly cheap to say that replacements are a minimum £70 each plus v.a.t.

The injectors weren't too bad but 2 of them failed the Leak test and all were down on flow rate. An improvement to say the least.

I've been keeping an eye on emissions etc as the engine has only been in a few weeks and adjusting it accordingley.

I had a call from a friend of mine the other day who has started up his own tuning business called RS Tuning. Paul said that he had just bought and installed a rolling road dyno and invited me to bring a vehicle along. Cool, just the thing to find out why this engine doesn't seem to want to go.

Even with everything I had replaced (without injectors) the first run produced just 77.7bhp . Not good. I was hoping for atleast 85bhp with improvement from there. Hmmmm.

The fuelling wasn't far out but Paul felt that the timing could be advanced so I checked it and he was right, it was running about 3o @ idle (should be 10o). How in the world it had lost 7o in 3 weeks I've no idea. However I reset the timing, swapped over the injectors and checked the mixture at tickover and went for another power run.

84bhp. Ok a definate improvement but still a long way short of the 112bhp which these engines are supposed to have. Paul suggested adjusting the timing while under load to see if anymore power/torque was to be had so while he held the engine @ 3,000rpm, I moved the dizzy to advance and retard the ignition and watched the figures as I did. It turned out that it was already at it's optimum timing and anything either way dropped off power.

Ho-hum. I was so unhappy about the lack of hp that as soon as I got home I whipped a plug out and measured the stroke of the crank. 76mm. Hmmm well it's a 2.1 alright. I think I'll just have to put it down the fact that it's a Volkspares recon with solid followers and I've no idea what camshaft they use when they rebuild them. As a result I'll either be tearing down my spare 2.1 DJ engine and rebuilding it or looking for something else to put in.

Onwards!! now then, Audi Turbo 5 Cyl... 1.8 20V Turbo... TDi... hmmm

 

MG



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Vanorak
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Dec 07 at 17:52
scoobydoobydooo

you know you want to, yes you do, you really, really want to


T3 Westy, T3 Syncro (the ScoobyVelle), New Beetle Cab, 2 x Polos - I have too many projects
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Ghia View Drop Down
Vanorak
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Nesh

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Dec 07 at 17:55

Hehehehe, right now it doesn't seem like a silly idea.

I think if I was going to do that then it'd have to be a turbo engine. With the amount of cash it takes to do an engine conversion, I don't think it's worth messing with anything under 200bhp.

Hmmmmm.

MG

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Ghia View Drop Down
Vanorak
Vanorak

Nesh

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Dec 07 at 18:35

Hmmm, more news from the world of Volkspares. A good friend recently spoke to Volkspares and asked what camshafts they fit and got the reply that they're 'some beetle cam mate'!!

As all Volkspares engines come with solid followers (WHY??!!) so they can't use the stock hydraulic camshafts.

Looking at the stock VW torque figures, I'm not that far off the 128 ft lbs which they should have but to lose 28bhp?

MG



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Vanorak
Vanorak


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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Dec 07 at 18:48

Originally posted by Ghia Ghia wrote:

 As a result I'll either be tearing down my spare 2.1 DJ engine and rebuilding it or looking for something else to put in.

Onwards!! now then, Audi Turbo 5 Cyl... 1.8 20V Turbo... TDi... hmmm

 

MG

Guess who just so happens to have a Audi 2.2 Turbo 5 cylinder engine.

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Scruff Daddy

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Dec 07 at 22:38
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Coprophagous Cretin

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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Dec 07 at 22:57
put a diesel in it.

Actually, dont, theyre shit.



YOU CANT EDUCATE GAMMON

http://www.tee3.co.uk/
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