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Well something we’re doing has worked – we just jumped to Number One In Google for “syncro”, “vw syncro” etc
before we were listed first for “vw syncro” but not “syncro” on its own. o/
I also recently added “keyword clouds” – i.e. a selective list of the keywords covered in each photo archive – if you see something you like you can just click and it’ll take you directly to those results.
I’m working on making it so that folks can add comments to the photos…not quite there yet though
Not you toomanyprojects, I meant TC’s mini-rant and “how odd of chris not to mention” etc etc.
TC making friends and influencing people as ever
This has been progressing nicely this weekend, the PGKR motor is out after only minor shenannigans, I forgot to disconnect the gear selector rod completely and managed to bend it in the process. I’m sure it’ll bend back but still. updated pics here:
The rod-shift box *just* fits onto the KR block. The Cable shift box had no clearance problems but the transfer box from the rod-shfiter closer to the back fo the block and the KR has an extra-bolt-hole which fouls the transfer box if it’s attached to the gearbox during gearbox fitting.
I fitted the main box, then just slackened off the bolts so there was some play and that was enough to fit the transfer box. It’s all pretty tight down there but it looks like the bracket should still fit.
I took a bunch of photos of the exhaust downpipe in place as it sat nicely before. the motor haivng run left nice black rings on the downpipe so it looks pretty clear where needs smoothing off
Actually looking back on past work, even though the downpipe merges the two pipes way too early (normal 16v secondaries only merge at the front silencer) it’s a lovely join…dunno if it really came out in the pics but I thought if I were exhaust gas I’d be pretty pleased at flying through there.
aaaaanyway… the new motor is now sitting on the wheeled dolly I made a while back so I can attach the last few bits.
It looks like I have not one but *two* 16v+pas alternator brackets, and on another spare motor I also found all the pulleys, belts and crap I need to make it work in situ, and a spare pas pump – result!
This motor is going to be mucky but it looks like it’ll have everything attached in the right places so fingers crossed
Funny, actually chris asked that too…
it’s not that it didn’t work at all or couldn’t be made to work, but to me it wasn’t looking like something I could reliably drive every day. There were a number of small issues like that the throttle lever on the carbs fouled the coolant flange, the standard flange didn’t fit but my made one leaked. The easyweld one broke too
It still had a “sawn-off” throttle body too, the breather pipe didn’t match up and the alternator was a little bit more wobbly than I would like it to be given how the syncro was driven in the past.I also don’t fully understand what’s supposed to happen with the ignition timing, vacuum retard etc – again not insurmountable but it’s another thing I need to get someone in to do for me.
It’s a shame realy cos it sounded *awesome* on the carbs but I have a feeling it’ll sound good on the KR too. The angle on the inlet manifold I made is also too shallow though – it needs a steeper angle to raise the carbs up higher so they clear the cooling flange and that means I need to take a disc-cutter to the manifold again. Even that work I’d class as “experimental” rather than a direct route to “something I can drive everyday”..
all in all it ended up quite a way away from the initial “maintain standard parts as far as possible” plan.
This way it’s a completely bog-standard KR, the only one-off bits are the downpipe and the bolt-hole bracket, both of which I have a degree of control over in terms of how solid I make them and thus how likely they are to fail.
In my world KR is the Thing That Works better than anything else. I’ve found it to be a tough little motor but without the weight of a bigger block. I like the revvyness and it suits my style of driving. I have and I have masses of spares for them as well as spare complete motors. Having them as an interchangable unit of “engine” which also fits in a syncro with no permanent changes needed to anything but the downpipe and bracket makes them really useful proposition for me.
I *really* want to go drifting and am going to get a car to do just that with rather than torturing the syncro with it but I’ve only got two parking spaces so the legendary gti 16v is going to have to go (of course – now that it all works properly lol).
It’s helping motivate me and getting me to prioritise stuff on the syncro because I have to finish that before I can think about selling the 16v since it’s my frame of reference for a working KR install!
Well it looks like it’s time for the G60/16v carb motor to come back *out* of the syncro this weekend so I can make the bracket for real and try and fit a KR.
I think that bracket is actually the only thing I’m really missing. It’s got the clutch and other gubbins already fitted. The syncro WAS actually just about drivable on the carbs so mechanically it does pretty much all work, just the PGKR mix was a no-go.
The downpipe, though not beautiful does actually work and mates to a 16v manifold (tested). The downpipe also has a lambda probe and mixture gauge (tested).
The KR motor going in isn’t cleaned up or anything at this point, if it all works then I’ll make a clean one and swap it in.
I have a full KR loom (thx to fishecuss), Aidan from bahnstorm.net has apparently got an ISV controller waiting for me. There are two used fuel pump assemblies – the assumption being that from the two we can surely build one
.It’ll get new fuel lines since the old ones have had 20 years with carb fuel pressures, so inflicting 60psi on them now might not be the best plan.
I think the only area whcih currently has vagueness is the alternator/pas pump. I reckon it should be fudgable but I don’t know for sure which alternator mounting I need for the KR so that it works with the pas from the syncro. I’ve got a few different ones and a few KRs lurkign though so I’m sure I’ll find something which fits.
If I can get the mechanical bits all in, it’ll go to Aidan for the wiring and some other minor bits to get it road legal
Oh and I do need to close up a couple of panels but hey if it runs I’m sure they’ll be stitched shut in no time
The in-panel rustproofing/undersealing I’ve been doing on the exposed bits really looks to be effective and could give the sills an extra 10yrs – makes me want to rip open all the panels and treat them but I’ll be here forever if I start that.
As long as it’s possible to weld it shut without it all catching fire should be no probs hehe…but hey my “mister” & fire extinguisher are always to hand when welding
I’m hoping that with the heat the underseal goo (holts not the rubber stuff) will melt and run into the cracks between the panels and form a seal to protect from the elements and stop moisture collecting and seeping into cracks.
Also jsut fixed the rest of the dud links you mentioned marcusn. The onyl one I left is syncromotive.com sicne that’s one of our members’ sites and I’m hoping it will be back soon
Ok I’ve been making decent progress with this and think I’ve got a workable solution.
I’ve been taking photos as I figure this out and they’re here:
I started off with a cardboard template to try and get a feel for the shape the bracket needs to be and so see how the stresses would spread. For reference as to clearances I’ve got a KR attached to a G60 syncro box on the hoist, and have a bare syncro block as a building jig.
Initially I was thinking to use a series of triangles cut from 4mm steel and welded together to brace each other as well as also clearly route the stress forces to the nearest bolts.
After cardboard I started mocking-up with regular body-panel steel to get a more accurate idea of what goes where. In doing this I realised that there wouldn’t be enough clearance around the CV joint and a couple of other places which would basically compromise the “plate” design.
Above the U bracket though is actually a nice amount of space. It’s directly under the manifold so it’ll be plenty toasty under there but I guess we don’t have to worry too much about rust.
In any case, whilst I didn’t really want to start adapting existing parts I realised that basically just welding a bar of 30mm box-section to the top of the U bracket, would nicely bridge the gap between the top-left engine-mount-bolt and the gearbox bolt on the other side in a very rigid-stylee.
This would mean the “bracket” could basically be made from about 12″ of said box-section and a few scraps for reinforcement. The angles in the box-section can be achieved using a slice-n-weld technique: leaving one side intact and removing the amount needed with a disc cutter, bending and welding shut at the new angle. I built my engine hoist using that technique and the joins are pretty sturdy.
Unfortunately the spare box I had is only a partial spare box, there’s no transfer-box or u-bracket so that means the next thing I have to do is pull the “PG-KR” from the syncro to test the fitment for real and weld the actual bracket up, since the G60 u-bracket is different.
We can worry about g60 kit when it’s running again
This is roughly the design I’m hoping to end up with:
The box-section will have a couple of nuts welded to it and de-threaded so that an extra-long gearbox bolt/stud can be used and bolted into place from the right-hand-side.
The Beam would be welded to the top of the u-bracket and then reinforced with small triangles of 4mm steel.I reckon that’ll make it as solid as the gearbox it’s attached to, if not moreso
Looking at it – I guess it’s the same technique as dannyp used in the pic above, but upside down to compensate for the other bolt-hole.
Is yours holding ok dan?
Just a quick update on this:
>Also on the Photos info section the vw syncro photo archive doesnt work – link – http://www.vwsyncro.co.uk/p.asp?p=4%2EPhotos%2F%5F
> And none of Chris’photos work – http://www.vwsyncro.co.uk/p.asp?p=6%2EPhotos%5FChrisS%2F%5F
> Also LD50’s photos dont work – http://www.vwsyncro.co.uk/p.asp?p=9%2EPhotos%5FLD50%2F%5F
Those are now all fixed, and I also fixed a bug where you could look at individual photos past the end of the list o/
