1.6 td in a Syncro Van?

[burnskiez]

Chris,
    Thanks for the heads up on the alh, but for the time being things are mostly on the back-burner and I'm at a bit of a budget standstill.  Unfortunately, our local forest service has decided to cut back a lot of jobs around here, so I'm currently out of one and as such the van is on hold.  I'll also be headed back to school for a year and a half down in av this fall, so I'm gonna be saving a bit for that too.  However, I've been getting a few hits in down in yosemite and seki, so if something does turn up I would be interested in the engine, but like I said its all so up in the air its hardly worth mentioning for any other reason than to say that you should grab that engine up.!   .  What kinda project do you have planned for it?  Replacing the 1.6td or got another project to throw it in? TDI and projects and AutoCAD sounds like fun!

Kerry

[Luckypabst]

I already have an ALH, the 6-speed trans and a bucket of electronic mess to match... At some point I had a little extra cash and thought that the first engine would like a friend to hang out with... then I got laid off, bought a 2-stroke sport bike project and went back to school...

The biggest plans are to manufacture a few key parts to make an ALH swap go a little smoother into a Vanagon, also including 1Z/AHU fitment for some of that stuff and I'm interested in making some bolt-in parts for dropping a TDi into an early watercooled chassis (though all the money is in the Vanagon market).

Ultimately I'd like to drop that ALH into a van of my own, but I've realized that the Westfalia layout doesn't really work for the way I use the van (I'd like to build a hightop Euro market Syncro for a full time residence) and it's not in nice enough condition to show off my work. Same goes for my Caddy - it's my daily driver/medium duty off-road ride and isn't worth the effort to put together a quality engine swap.

Chris

[burnskiez]

Wow very cool man, where's the 6-speed transmission from?  Yeah I've got hightop lust bad for my syncro too, and the worst part is I'm pretty sure I'm gonna have to give in and buy one once I get the diesel in, I won't have all the lack of power/reliability excuses that I used before.  And those new timbertech tops on the samba aren't making it any easier at all. 

Kerry

[Luckypabst]

That would be a Beetle 6-speed... I thought that was gonna come across wrong.
I was thinking hard on running out to Libby's for one of those tops. But I couldn't justify throwing that much more money into a van that I was beginning to get tired of. Bringing a Euro spec van in from Europe almost makes more sense to me, for what I'm after.

Chris

[burnskiez]

Oh, ok, I never knew they put a 6 speed in the bug, that sounds like alotta fun.  Was wondering whether you were talking about a subie trans or some oddball like a renault.  What are the rules for importing vans from europe?  I used to be up to date on this stuff when I was looking to bring a diesel nissan patrol over from ozland, but its been a while since I've looked into it.  The 16" syncro options would be pretty priceless, I've got such a longing to rally one of those hard down in baja, but more realistically I'll probably go with the burley motorsports setup, seems more than good enough for a hack like me! 
And thanks for reminding me about the top libby,  , believe me if I had to cash to spare, I'd already have bought it, everytime I see the ad on the samba I check my bank accounts and do the math.  Not in the cards right now, but hopefully in a year or two. 

[Luckypabst]

I haven't looked deep enough into importing to know for sure, but certainly bringing something into the states that already has a domestic version will save some headache... and bringing a diesel into CA reduces the hassle even more (the common Euro gasser is not smog legal, for example).
Busman.be is now offering a complete import service where they handle everything to the point of handing the customer a registered, US legal van. Not a bad way to go if you're only doing it once!

Speaking of Renault... I was over at a buddy's shop today and they had a Renault R5 turbo sitting there with the hatch open - it's the second one I've seen come through their place... what an AMAZING car. Kinda funny to compare it to the Le Car sitting 15' away in their storage yard.

[burnskiez]

I wonder how much he charges to bring a typical syncro over?  It'd probably be one with the 1.6td, it seems I've seen a lot of those on the European classifieds sites and ebay.  Is that a good source for syncro diesel parts as well?  I've seen a diesel fuel tank on ebay for $350 including shipping, seems like a decent price, but I'm still looking for a better deal if I can find one. 
So you're sayin that there's a renault shop in Lone Pine?  I'll believe it if you say so, but boy talk about another East Side oddity, gotta love it.  Speaking of east side oddities and establishments, have you ever done any business with the Sierra German shop in Bishop?  I was thinking of going over there and bothering him about some of the vans he's got sitting around the yard there, I have a couple of nice spare wbxers I'm looking to put in donors at some point.  I bothered the owner for an hour or so once, when I was having some ecu/fuel injection wiring issues, seemed pretty on top of it and above average as far as thinking outside the box.

Kerry

[Luckypabst]

The Renaults were in a buddy's shop in Costa Mesa... all grey market euro stuff - crazy ass Ferrari's and Lambo's passing through there regularly. He just sold his M3 BMW to finance a Lotus Cortina, while selling his Cortina parts cars... fun stuff! He was tinkering on a Corvan when I was there the other day... neat to see the underside of that after seeing so many Corvair engines in sand rails - front end looked like standard 60s - 70s US passenger car... rear was exotic for its time.

I've no opinion on Sierra German, though they did put a hydro NA 1.6 in my Caddy at some point. I do all my own work, so no need to have them do anything for me. I have stopped in a few times... not interested in oddball diesel mods... no interested in hiring me with no late model knowledge... can't blame him! But it's good eye candy when running up the highway!