Wel I've had this in the country since November 2005 but not really had much of a chance to get it road worthy as I've been working on the Crewcab (now sold). Fingers crossed I can get somewheer with it now and start driving it around... espeically offroad!

When I first saw pictures of it, it didn't look too good. The windscreen was smashed, the 2.1 DJ was long gone, the drivers door has been folded back onto the bodywork , the propshaft was dead and the the front diff felt horrible. When I removed the front cover plate, you can see that the main pinion bearing has failed and from there on it's just been a giant mincing machine!

The history on the van is a bit sketchy but it seems to have lived most of its life in a Lime Quarry in Germany. It was ordered from VW with Vinyl undercoating which I had never heard of until I looked at the options list for the van. As a result the underneath is totally solid

More details to come as I progress.

MG

Hahaha... no

A few more bits of info.

The rear window was perspex (!),

The engine was/is a DG from a 2WD and had been fitted with the 2WD engine bar putting the rear UJ of the propshaft at a horrible angle... probably why it had failed!

The wheels you can see it on are Mercedes 15inch steels at the back and Audi 16 inch steels up front on 185/50/16's!!

When I removed the front bash plate, I dropped it on the floor to remove all the lime which was sitting insdie it and then weighed it.. 30KG of Lime!

The Lime had embedded itself into the paint and nothing seemed to shift it. We tried washing, scrubbing with brillo pads and scrubbing brushes, even T-cut wouldn't move it. Eventually we grabbed some Mr.Muscle and Cillit Bang  and that shifted it! Paintwork now looks rather nice.

All the rear brake lines were history along with the front discs and all 4 flexi's. Thankfully the rear driveshafts and CV joints are ok as are the rear arms. These are very expensive to replace as they're 16 only parts!

I phoned up VW UK before heading over to Germany to pick up the van with the Chassis number trying to get confirmation that it was really a 16 and got back some wonderful results. VW sent me a series of emails with the whole options list

It comes with heated drivers seat (plastic, not cloth), Electric mirrors, Front and Rear diff locks, Engine access panel lock, Vinyl Undercoating, dip rear view mirror, Rear wiper, Rear heated screen, 16 inch wheels option (basically this is a very small amount of writing to say what differences are made on the van to make it a 16) and lots more...

MG

Kev... er no.

Just too much to do and work takes up my time. Have to get it registered once its MOT'd too and I think I'll have to go down to the DVLA office to do that.

I'll have it on the road hopefully in the next month....

MG

Hi Michael,

Saw this one ebay last year...have seen a lot of 16inches in bad shape but this one looked horrible on the pics but i have to say you made a fine 16inch of it again. Offcourse lots of work still to be done but its worth it on rare beast like the 16inch.

Cheers,

Erwin

Thanks mate,

There's still a way to go as you say but I can't wait to take it off roading and see how it compares with a stock Syncro 14

MG

Update:

Now MOT'd and had it at Van Fest!

Just to register it now and get the TDi in

MG

Dave, I can't get away from the way it drove offroad. Having all that torque from tickover made it feel like you could drive it up walls!

I was fairly unimpressed with how much it vibrated through the body (my fault) and the gearing (also my fault) but these will be addressed when it goes into the 16.

The V8 is going in the Sika so I'm still a petrol nut  and I'll probably be buying gearboxes in bulk from CJ to keep the thing going .

Nick, cheers mate. I spent some time cleaning it up and done a small amount of bodywork but I'm not a painter so will have the whole thing re done at some point when it gets the camper conversion.

MG

Kombi57, it was nice meeting you too mate... always good to put a face to a name

MG

Update:

The TDi is bolted up to the gearbox with South African bellhousing etc and in position.

Depsite everyone saying you have to lift the lid for this conversion on an Audi 5 cylinder engine, it fits under the stock lid!! This is gonna save me a huge amount of bodywork raising the bed and then trying to seal it properly again.

The TDi has a much lower inlet manifold that the petrol engines so I can only presume that that is the main thing which gets in the way of the engine lid on 5 cyl petrol engine conversions. Add to that that the syncro engine and gearbox already sit 20mm lower that the 2WD and the clearance is just enough!

I have cut out some of the rear top cross member to clear the timing belt cover but will be able to put back the section at the very top which seals up against the lid. I'll also weld some metal in further into the cross member to put the strenth back in where I've cut metal out.

I now have to weld in strengthening plates to the chassis rails and then add captive M12 nuts.

Hopefully it'll be nice again next weekend so I can get on with the welding.

Here are some pics of the South African specific parts needed for the 5 cylinder conversion.

MG

I,I whats gong on here then.

Have you cut into the side of the chassis and slotted a plate into there and welded it up. ?

Must admit i like the look of the engine cradle as well, should stop a lot of the vibration.

The inter cooler looks smart, is it home made ?

Nice to see something different, vision my friend.

Andy, I had a good look at the AFM and the plate has a fairly strong spring unlike the usual petrol engine'd AFMs so I think it'll be ok running vertically. It certainley doesn't open the flap from its stop just by turning it over. If its a prob, I can always change the pipework and run it the other way

Nige, yes I've welded in some 8mm thick plate with M12 nuts welded to the top of it. Should be strong enough for the grief I'm going to give it!

MG

Ok a small update but still thinking of ways to build this thing

I've bought a load of stainless pipe for the intake pipes and the exhaust aswell as Racetech sending me a 50mm 90o silicone hose as a sample. I think I'll be buying more from them although probably in 60mm sizes.

The exhaust will be 3 inch bore all the way through and I'll be making a silencer out of an old Stainless twin DTM styleeee from my Golf GTi days . This'll mean I can keep the exhaust system inside the engine bay (although heat wrapped to keep engine bay temps down) so it doesn't get bashed offroad.

It's going to be very close on the left hand side of the engine bay as everything (inlet and exhaust) is on that side. Shame really but there isn't enough room to get any of the pipework over to the other side of the engine bay.

These are hopefully going to give me enough flex in the pipework to allow the engine/gearbox unit to move around when offroading without putting too much stress on the charge cooler or intake pipe.

Oh and this is my old silencer which will be shortened and opened up to allow a 3 inch bore pipe through the middle

MG

Silicone hoses are from http://www.raceparts.co.uk - www.raceparts.co.uk and the stainless pipes are from http://by105fd.bay105.hotmail.msn.com/cgi-bin/compose?curmbox=00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000001&a=21bc83fb030fc31e5501844bbd6c2672f28f29ccc21238af83a7453b09eb8448&mailto=1&to=stainless_steel_sections@hotmail.com&msg=969F5FCC-91F9-4AAA-AF73-E6702F017206&start=0&len=2683&src=&type=x - <FONT face="Courier New" color=#0000ff>stainless_steel_sections@hotmail.com  who operate on ebay.

I bought a 2 meter length of 3 inch pipe, a 1 meter length of 50mm, a 750mm length of 60mm and a 500mm length of 70mm, 3 50mm 90o bends and they brought it to my work place at a great price.

MG

Ok it's been a while since the last update, sorry about that.

Now that I have managed to get back to it, here are some pics of the bits I've managed to get sorted over the last couple of days.

The left side of the engine bay is getting a little crowded!

Fistly there is the main inlet pipe TO the turbo which will eventually run from a snorkle into the van through the left rear vent, then into a K&N Apollo sealed filter, into the air flow meter, through the floor into the area infront of the left rear light unit and across to the Turbo.

Next is the compressor pipe FROM the turbo to the Chargecooler. I had originally planned on running the pipework down, across and up as pictured above but after looking at how to sort the exhaust, I figured there was nothing stopping me from turning the compressor housing around to make a shorter run helping with throttle response and keeping the heat away from the exhaust.

This will mean remaking the waste gate feed pipe from the compressor housing. I had to cut off the original pipe from the chargecooler and use a 90o bend in order to clear the bodywork above it.

Next was the inlet manifold pipe FROM the chargecooler TO the engine. I have yet to tig these pieces to the chargecooler and inlet manifold. There will be a 60mm 45o bend of silicone pipe inbetween once it's all done.

I have now sorted out the run of the exhaust and managed to get the bulk of it Tig'd up today although the flange had to be arc welded due to the differences of mild steel and stainless. I may yet add a silencer to it but I think I'll try running the straight through pipe with a larger cylinder over 12 inches of the main pipe with holes in it and some matting to allow 'some' of the noise to be quietened!

More work to do as soon as I can get back to my mates tig welder!

MG

Whos been busy then, best get on with mine.

Nice to see it coming together mike.

At last I've just had a delivery of the water pipes I've been waiting for from South Africa. These are brand new and fresh from VW.

I have bought 3 sets as I plan on 2 5 Cylinder Audi engine conversions in my vans and then I want a set for spares... NO They are not for sale! I will email the part numbers for those interested though.

I need to change the thermostat outer housing for one the same as the South African vans so the water pipe will fit. Good time to fit a new VW thermostat.

The South African vans came with an electric aux water pump which I'll be fitting. The Syncro TD comes with the same setup and I'll be fitting a turbo temperature sensor to bring it in when things get hot.

The water pump fits inbetween to the 2 pipes which are sitting behind the cooland header tank.

You can just make out the black metal pipe which bolts to the block. This is a fairly important piece as 5 pipes join onto it from the block, cooland header tank, heater matrix and aux water pump.

I'll have to heat up and bend the end of the metal pipe to clear the syncro tank.

The last bit of this kit is the bracket which both standard coolant bottles bolt to. I've only fitted one bottle for the moment as I'm going to have to re-route the power steering feed pipe to allow it to sit in it's proper place.

Here are 2 pics of 2 original South African engines to compare with.

I think I'll remove the original 2.5TDi diesel fuel filter and bracket so that the water pipes can sit comfortably without chaffing against things. I'll prob use a stock T3 Diesel filter and bracket for neatness.

MG

Nigel, are you doing the Coast to Coast?

MG

No i'm affraid not, the van still needs the VC fitting, front diff converting, new outer boot for front prop but the good news is the AKG rear box is in the van now. Down side is i have to fit the tdi to drive it all.

Still getting the 2wd ready to sell, then concentrate on the syncro.

You best pull your finger out or i will be coming past you with the diffs and gears.

Update on the 16. No it won't be ready for coast to coast, not a chance in hell! Maybe the next event....

I finished tig-welding up the exhaust (what there is of it ) and tig'd up the remaining stainless section of induction pipe for the Turbo TO Chargecooler.

Then I started on the ally welding... hum this isn't as easy, in fact 3/4 of an hour later and I'd not gotten very far with the first section at all with lots more to do. I could not get my friends tig-welder to work for me welding ally. For whatever reason the arc just wouldn't centralise and was jumping around all over the place. More practice needed!

Back inside the van I got the K&N Apollo filter out with all it's associated bits and mounted it in place with riv-nuts.

Sorry about the blurred pic.

Next I figured it was time to get the loom, ECU etc out and start working out where it was going to fit. I had already tidied up the loom (hence the masking tape!) but haven't wrapped up the loom in loom tape as I haven't finished shortening or lengthening sections yet to suit.

The ECU sits nicely behind the Air Flow Meter (again fixed with riv-nuts and bolts), large fuse box and the 2 relay boards allow the loom to have a nice flow without nasty kinks. I have yet to make up a plate for the 2nd relay board to mount to which I will weld into the inner panel. I also have to shorten to the 2 thick red wires as they connect to the 2nd relay board but in the Audi A6 it's mounted further away.

Then I started looking at where the loom will run into the engine bay. Fortunately the loom falls just right so that it will fit nicely into the front left corner (with small grommet) and then the engine loom will run across the front of the engine bay wall tucked up out of the way.

You can just make out the felt pen outline I traced around the inside of the stock westy rear cupboard Nige leant to me (thanks Nige) so I know this'll all fit inside it.

I need to buy some P-clips to hold the loom up in place and will recover the loom with loom tape once it's all in place.

MG

Small update as I've had a lot on my plate recently!

Have tried fitting 2WD diesel front to rear water pipes but found that they won't clear the fuel tank at the back and sit in the proper place in the engine bay. Have now bought some Syncro Diesel front to rears instead and will try those on to match up to the SA water pipes.

Eventually managed to track down 2 early style thermostat housings which the SA vans use. These have gone obsolete from VW/Audi so the only source now is breakers.

Have fitted up the water pipes properly with VW/Audi spring clips so it's starting to come together. The coolant tank is in place although I think I may have to drop it down a little bit to clear the lid.

With the 2.5TDi diesel filter and bracket removed, the water pipes sit quiet nicely and I've added a stock 1.6TD filter in it's stock position. Just need to find some fuel lines and fittings and it'll be connected.

I've now bought my own set of hole saws in order to fit the remaining intake pipe through the rear wall which will come out through the left rear vent.

My tig-welding is ok on stainless steel but for whatever reason, both myself and my friend (who's tig welder I've been using) have been unsuccessful in welding up the charge cooler or any aluminium so I may end up paying someone to do that.

More pics when I get a chance.

MG

Right,

Todays findings are that the Syncro JX uses the same front to rear pipes as the late Syncro petrol including all 2.1s... so I've bought aa 2nd pair of front to rears from CJ for nothing

But on closer inspection the originals were both about to go  so they needed replacing anyway .

The Syncro front to rears stop about a foot short of the engine bay and then use a rubber hose to go into the engine bay. I now have the choice of either using the 2WD Diesel pipes which are hard up against the tank or using the extension pieces as per Syncro....

MG

Interesting link

Go Westy Plastic pipe adapters

http://www.gowesty.com/library_article.php?id=113 - http://www.gowesty.com/library_article.php?id=113

Thanks guys.

I think I'll use the stock syncro pipes and then the factory extension rubber hoses etc.

Interesting link re-Go-westy stuff. Not sure how they're supposed to stop the end of the pipe dropping off as the pipe usually disconnects right under the clip...

MG

Ok now that the Bluestar has gone, all my work is being focussed on the 16.

Again looking at the front to rear plastic coolant pipes, the main pipes in the engine bay are much bigger in diameter than the joining sections which VW use on the syncro diesel so back to the Diesel 2WD pipes!

Here is a pic of where the coolant pipes enter the Bluestar 2WD Diesel engine bay and are held in place with factory clip.

By moving them back an inch or so, I was able to get them to sit fairly comfortably next to each other and up against the tank but not under any pressure. They're not fitting up into the bodywork because of the interference of the tank but then looking at the way the rubber hoses sit coming off the engine, they didn't really want to fit there anyway. It hit me, the engine is sat lower than in a SA van... doah! ok so they're all connected up and fairly happy. I'll weld in a section from another van so that the pipes can be held in position rather than floating about. Up front, one of the rubber hoses was now too short so I replaced that with a new section of pipe and again used factory spring style clips. These are now used throughout the cooling system. Wow... the cooling system's all connected up!

Next section is the wiring... I've been dreading this but hey it needs to be done.

After an hour of struggling to get a smaller grommit over the main loom so that it fits nicely when going into the engine bay, and another hour of carefully threading all the plugs of the loom etc through a 38mm hole... the loom is in the engine bay and I've start connected things up. There are a few spare plugs on the loom so I'll have one for the aux water pump which I'll connect up to either an output from the ECU or a temp switch I'll fit later on. I will have to cut the original wires going to the airflow meter and then splice that section in further up the loom close to the ECU as the airflow meter now sits outside of the engine bay.

Using rivnuts again, the Audi electrical plugs are bolted to the engine bay wall and the loom sits nicely running along the back wall.

The wood is there to protect the tank which is directly behind where I'm drilling holes!

I've bought a set of hole saws, these are great! so the final hole has been cut for the snorkel/inlet pipe to go through. I'll be adding another 90o section outside aswell and then welding the whole of that s-bend section to the body so it's a permanent feature along with a mushroom snorkel on top outside.

MG

Small update while I drink my cup of tea!

Finished with the wiring in the engine bay and fixed up all the small ancilleries, vacuum reservoir, boost pressure sensor, vacuum line solenoid etc etc... there's not a lot of room for anymore!

Engine bay staring to get tidier if that's a word. Charge cooler head tank mounted to the inlet manifold and the pump will be directly below for easy pipe routing.

MG

Hope that engine is nice and clean

The little bits and pieces on a project really take up time!

After another days work, I've almost finished off the wiring in the engine bay, connected the airflow meter wiring up next to the ECU with solder and heat shrink. I removed the old accelerator cable, mechanism up front in readiness for the Golf Throttle pedal assembly. There's no room on a RHD van for it but there's a big space above the throttle pedal on a LHD. We'll see when I get one!

The list of things to do is large!

Tig up the charge cooler and clean out thoroughly

Tig fittings onto it so it's bolted down to the body,

Tig new water pipes to it so they face in the right direction,

Make a new bracket for the Charge cooler water pump so it doesn't sit so close to the exhaust

Heat wrap exhaust and tighten to turbo fully (allen nuts)

Check routing of all vacuum pipes etc

Buy lots of 1/2" pipe for the charge cooler system and plum it in,

Replace the plugs on the wiring for the pump and the loom as they're not water resistant,

Have all boost pipes bead rolled so they hold pressure,

Add (tig) necesary take off pipes to boost and inlet pipes for breather system pipes

Fit wiring plug to spare wires in loom for aux cooling system pump, trace up in main loom and research if ECU has function to switch it on, if not fit temp sensor and wire up.

Fit front to rear wires for the throttle potentiometer, immobiliser, speed sensor, clutch/brake pedal switches.

Fit oil cooler system with radiator up front

Finish wiring off with feed to the Audi loom and integrate that into the VW loom

Connect up rev counter wiring and adjust

Fit power steering bracket, tank, rack and pipes (not necessary for MOT)

Make bracket for aux water pump

Fit fuel return line from filter to tank

Fit fuel lines in engine bay from and to filter from the diesel pump

Fit coolant system cap and mount coolant tank bracket so it fits under the lid

Fit remaining bolts to the bell housing and torque up

Seal bell housing to engine and fit breather pipe

Reconnect gearbox breather pipe and check all bolts for tightness

Fit prop shaft and protection bars

Make engine/gearbox protection bars to incorporate rear engine mounting support

Weld snorkel pipe work to body and finish snorkel

Fit new plastic vent and cut to go over snorkel

Fit clips to all boost/inlet pipes

Fit gauges to cab (boost, oil temp, gearbox oil temp)

Build 4.57 gearbox (with mods) and fit 4.57 front diff

Will add more when I think of it. That should keep me going for a week minimum!

MG

When chatting to a friend earlier this evening, he was asking how much I'd spent so far on the engine conversion... I did a very quick calculation in my head and decided that I could have done a Subaru Turbo conversion using all the Small car parts for less money! These things aren't cheap!

Ah well, I've got this far etc etc and it should be great offroad.

Todays update is fairly small one but another step closer...

My latest bit of kit is this lamp which is fantastic and comes well recomended from both Baxter and myself!

And just a small pic of how the van is looking at the moment on wheels which really need painting!

MG

Thanks Shapey. It seems to be taking a very long time even for me!

After buying silicone hoses, stainless steel/aluminium pipes and bends from all over the country, I find a place less than 3 miles away from me which could have supplied everything with ease! Ah well now I know for future projects.

http://www.venairsport.co.uk/ - http://www.venairsport.co.uk/

I bought this earlier from ebay... a bargain and just what I need for the 16. Innovation didn't seem that bothered about selling anything!

MG

Aidan, Nah the wardrobe will be unaffected by the wiring etc, it's just the rear cupboard which will take a hit space wise. You'll be telling me I need to add a hightop to it next!

Vlux, I'm running 7.50X16's. They're fairly big . I have another set of 16 wheels with 245/75/16s for street use.

MG

Beaker wrote: won't get many clothes in the wardrobe when it's built eh ?

Wot, no space for clothes?!!  Right, I'm off!!!! 

I can see me designing an extending wardrobe for you

Not much going on with this atm due to the Tristar work.

The wheels (another ebay bargain) will be going on with 245/75/16 tyres once I have the Tristar wheels.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&%20;item=190166085868&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=009%20 - http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1& ; ;item=190166085868&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=009

Got the inlet pipe finished, just need to add the mushroom top.

MG

Wow, Inspired! That's a serious project, respect!

its comeing on well now , how long till shes up and running ?

also did you have 2 vac pipes on the old audi air box ?

what was the engine out ov ? engine code ?

I'm curious, whats the plan for covering the rear vent with the snorkel pipe in the way.

Bus Boy, yes it had 2 pipes coming out of the air filter housing which then went into one (y-piece) and they were connected up to the EGR control solenoid which is now defunct as I've blocked it off so I can delete those although the EGR solenoid will stay connected to the ECU so I don't get any error codes. The engine code is AAT. Once it's up and running I'll be fitting some 175bhp injector nozels and having the ECU chipped.

As to how long... er that piece of string is long . Everytime I think it'd be nice to have it up and running for a specific date something else comes up which needs sorting first. It'll be up and running for End to End next year so I'm not pushing to get it up and running. That said it would be great to have it up and running over Christmas.

Nige, The rear vent will have a hole cut in it with the same hole saw and will slide over it etc. I had thought about making up a blanking plate but we'll see how it looks with an original vent cut to suit.

Dub4life, thanks dude... I'm looking forward to doing some serious offroading in it.

MG

why so many wires ??

my loom dont look like that !! did you remove it from the doner car your self ?

I think your 2.5 is a TD rather than a TDi. I removed the loom from the car myself after having test driven it. I have to remove just about all of the interior including the dash.

MG

I've added a few pics on the first page of the 5 Cylinder specific parts needed.

MG

Tim,

The 5 Cylinder, the V6 and V8 Audi engines (not the VR6) all use the same bolt pattern so you can use the SA Bellhousing for all.

The 5 Cylinder sits at the same angle as per factory in Audi's. It's leans over slightly but not much.

Audi use the same gearbox casings for the 5, 6 and 8 cylinder engines so the angle will be correct no matter which engine you fit.

Oh the Porsche water cooled flat six engine also uses the same stud pattern as they started off with Audi gearboxes in the Boxster and it grew from there.

MG

Tim,

Yes the platform is raised by about 4 inches. The 5 Cyl TDi has a lower inlet manifold than the petrol and no dizzy (which is what gets in the way). Also I have lowered the engine another 20mm from syncro height (which is already 20-25 mm lower than 2WD) to get the engine under the stock lid.

I have a few pics of a V6 petrol install but not from above but I expect that he raised the floor slightly. The V8 wouldn't fit in a van, it only just fits in a Syncro Pickup so I'd expect the V6 would be similar.

The parts when bought in SA are not expensive. It's getting them back to UK which is expensive. I have imported 2 lots of parts from SA myself and both times the shipping costs (inc import duty) were more than the parts themselves.

Porsche engines, Boxster is mid-mounted with gearbox at the back but the 911 (996 and 997) use the same mounting and are rear engined. They're extremely expensive to fix though and do go wrong.

MG

The Porsche gearbox (from 911) is particular to Porsche. Nothing changes over.

MG

Good work fella  

Can't wait too see it in its finished Glory!!!

V Small update due to the fact that it's pissing down and I don't have a garage or lean to big enough to put this thing under

Sorted modding the coolant tank bracket so that they sit under the lid and don't catch any of the engine components. I welded a few spacers onto the frame so it would sit in the right place.

I'll have to shorten a coolant pipe a little () and make up a small bracket to weld onto the body for the 3rd mounting point but otherwise everything fits ok. Lots more to do.. hoping for a gap in the weather.

MG

Another small update.

Cut down and test fitted the last silicone boost pipe again supplied by http://www.venairsport.co.uk/ - Venair . I need to buy a few small ally pipes and make some brackets to bolt the charge cooler down in situ and then take everything to my welder.

Bought a TDi throttle pedal assembly which I was hoping might fit behind the dash tube but it won't . I will look into bolting it on next to the steering column surround but I'm not sure yet if the angles will be right for the pedal to feel right under the foot. Plus I'll have to move the brake pipes etc. I might look around at other TDi pedal assemblies in the mean time.

I think I'll have a good stint at the wiring etc tomorrow.

MG

We've had a good day today. I had a helping hand from a good friend (Byron take a bow!) who works for Lotus.

First on the menu was to replace the gearbox mounts which I stole for the Tristar as they were missing. One of the bolts made a mess coming out when they were removed so a Time-sert later and they're back on and bolted up properly.

Next was looking at the throttle potentiometer again and with ideas between us, Byron fitted up the potentiometer block, heavily modified the throttle arm by cutting and welding it and finally welding the pedal back on. I think results speak for themselvse. I might make up a cover to go over the potentiometer but haven't decided yet.

This setup has several advantages over other TDi conversions. You can remove the original pedal completely and weld up the floor. You don't have the potentiometer somewhere else like under the floor up front or in the engine bay where it can get wet (they don't like getting wet! I know from experience!) and you don't have a cable to worry about.

I'll run the cables from the rear to the front in the roof frame along with the immobiliser wiring.

Next was to make up a bracket for the 3rd bolt of the cooling tank assembly.

Start with a bit of plate...

A bit of cutting and grinding and then a nut welded on the back...

And bolted in place. I'll run a seam of weld along the bottom of it in the van when I weld in all the other little brackets I'm making for various things around the engine bay and it'll get painted body colour when the van is painted.

A couple of small brackets made up for the relay box..

Then back to the Chargecooler to finish off fittings and water pipes..

I've drilled 4 20mm holes through the floor and the chargecooler with have 4 lugs welded on underneath which in turn will be tapped out to M6. That way it'll be rubber mounted so as not to vibrate as the engine rattles to van to pieces! I made up the water pipes, in and out.. pics of these when I get the chargecooler back from welding.

Here's where the lugs will sit.

Right now I'm looking for a bead roller. At this rate I'll be making my own. If anyone has one kicking around or knows of anyone who I can borrow one from, please let me know.

MG

Oh yes I almost forgot,

I have bought a section of 5 inch Stainless tube to make a silencer out of. It might not quieten it down much but atleast it's an attempt!

Of the 3 foot or so of 3 inch pipe which comes from the turbo, turns 180o and then straight out the back, I'm going to use 12 inches of it, drill lots of holes in it and then use the 5 inch section over the top to create a muffler.

Byron is drilling pilot holes here. I need to buy some stainless sheet metal for the ends.

MG

nice job mike it looks like a massive amount of work to get everything right but it will be awsome when its done.

if you ever need anything from down my way give us a shout will be glad to help.

lee.

.

Well it's been a while but I'm mega busy working back with Baxter (back hurts from that whip! ) but managed to get the Chargecooler into the welders and have it finished off.

Now this is done, I can bolt it in and get the rest of the Chargecooler water system connected up and running.

I've still not managed to find a sensibly priced bead roller to roll beads into the ends of the pressure pipes but at the moment I'll be running stock pressure which is no more than 7-11psi.. hopefully everything should stay put. Once I start upgrading, I'll have to bite the bullet.

MG

Fitted!

I've got the do some more tig welding on the main inlet pipe for the breather to connect to.

I'll be fitting lots of stainless steel hose clamps soon and some bigger M6 washers!

The chargecooler water system will run as follows:

(The catch tank runs in the system rather than just being there for topping up so it also acts to self bleed rather than the system creating air locks.)

Catch tank out --- to --- Water pump in

Water pump out --- to --- Radiator in

Radiator out --- to --- Chargecooler in (lower pipe)

Chargecooler out --- to --- Catch tank in

MG

Congratulate the slack f**ker when he's doing the End to End, John o Groats to Lands End and not before.

Tenner says he doesn't go.

Ghia wrote:     I've still not managed to find a sensibly priced bead roller to roll beads into the ends of the pressure pipes but at the moment I'll be running stock pressure which is no more than 7-11psi.. hopefully everything should stay put. Once I start upgrading, I'll have to bite the bullet. MG

all we used to do when we had to make coolant pipes at my old job was a nice neat run of weld round the pipe to make a bead round the end..  sometimes that was enen used on high pressure hyd systems (normaly on water systems though for cooling tests).

Update on Limey.

I used half of today to visit my friend with his Tig welder again to try to get the stainless stuff finished.

For whatever reason me and tig weren't getting on very well today but I got most of it done.

The main inlet pipe breather pipe is now finished along with the Snorkel top piece. I'll be painting this body colour when the van gets  a paint job.

I had a rethink on the exhaust after having drilled many holes through the stainless 3 inch bore pipe and bought some exhaust bits from Milner Offroad to make my silencer and got as far as possible with the tig welder. I think I'll be buying some stainless wire and straight Argon gas for the my mig welder from now on.

With help from the chop saw, things got shorter...

And then longer again with a section of the new exhaust silencer centre added.

The silencer is only 12 inches long and 5 inches in diameter. With the ID bore being 3 inch, that only leaves an inch all the way around for the stainless steel wool to absorb sound. Hmmm I think it's gonna be noisey!

MG

Another update of lots of small things. It's amazing how long it takes to do all these little bits!

I have bought a new power steering bottle and bracket from VW, a bargain at �28 all in!

The factory position is just to the left of the diesel fuel filter but I'd already used one of the mounting holes for a wiring socket bracket.

I couldn't find anywhere else where it would fit nicely so the socket got moved again.

Once bolted into position (not easy as the bracket has captive nuts but on a syncro, the fuel tank is in the way of getting into fit bolts. I figured that I could turn the wiring socket bracket through 90o and bolt it to the new bracket. Great but that meant drilling a hole in it and I really didn't want to spend another 1/2 hour fiddling with finger tips on spanners trying to undo bolts I can't even see.

Hmmm, ahah that last drill I bought but hardly ever use will finally get used!

Yey for Snap-on .

Now that the bottle is fitted, I could start on the pipework. I've manged to use the Audi A6 bottle to pump pipe and Pressure pipe (after some heating up and tweeking for the right angle) from the pump and I'll have a feed pipe made up to go from that to the rack. The return is low pressure so I'll use stock hose.

You can also make out the coolant pipe just below the servo pipe which now has a VW joining piece (from the heater matrix front to rear pipes on a T3) in with spring clips. This was the last of the mods needed for the cooling system so it's ready for coolant now.

I've made up a list of the remaining things needed to get it running. It's getting closer and it's taken even longer that I anticipated.

MG

dont worry you will get there... and when you do it should be spot on...

just think you should have a t3 syncro that will go most places, quickly, and good mpg...  hard combination to better..