The Syncro thread

Oh Christ! Clear off back to your own forum!!

Syncost Alot. wrote: Is that Blackpool sands?

VWlewis wrote: Great to see another DOKA Taigagreen - but is it really still snowing in your area?

:D No, we have blue skies and 24 hrs daylight. But not very warm though. About 14 degrees C.

Here's ours:

Hi Jed, the van is Canadian spec, so has power steering, electric mirrors, electric windows, central locking and tinted glass all as standard, it also has just one difflock. The original owner, (who I bought the van from) had air-con and a Webasto night heater added to the list. Quite a van.Originally it was a 2.1 MV, that's been ousted in favour of a quad cam Subaru 2.5. It puts out 155 brake as standard, but with the K&N and no cat I suspect it's nearer 170. It's a lot of fun. The exhaust is a Porsche 911 backbox mated up to the stock Subaru header, as soon as I get a chance I'll replace everything upto the backbox with a bespoke header, but for now finances dictate I make do. It's too low for me to play around offroad, but then so is the sump. Again that will be ousted for a slim one as soon as RJES get there's sorted.
Apart from the engine and the Merc steels it's all standard.
Next move is to tidy up the bodywork.

As you correctly assumed, at present the engine guard is off, and until I get the sump and exhaust sorted it will stay off. Once I get those sorted I was planning on remaking the guard as required, whilst making it more substantial.
There's some pics on this thread: http://www.brick-yard.co.uk/forum/ej25-exhaust_topic49902.html
which show the current set up. As you can see it's totally inappropriate for any off roading.
It's a case of one thing at a time to be honest, I've had the van about bang on a year. Within weeks the 2.1 had spat a stud and the planned Scooby install had to be done sooner than I had planned, then wheels and tyres, various mechanical bits and bobs, it's a simple case of too many jobs, not enough money and time. I had planned to tidy the body by now, but it's still just as I bought it.
I'd really like to get involved in some off roading, but until the van is ready there's just no point. I live right in the middle of nowhere, and there are plenty of tracks around here, once I get sorted I may have words with a few landowners and see how they feel about me having a play.

jed the spread wrote: Get an AAZ in it if you wanna off road it  What gear box do you have in it? Has it got the oiling plates in etc? jed

I can't believe you said that. I feel faint now. Must sit down in a dark room for a while.

No idea re the box. Apparently it was re-conned a few years back, but I doubt it was done to much of a standard. I guess at some point in the future I'll have to get Aiden to build me a new one. It whines a little, well something does, but it's not horrendous. It stays until it breaks I guess. It's the original, APH could it be? The ratios are great with the Scooby lump.

You're absolutely right there. All too often people lose sight of what they really need. Currently mines a daily, it does that great, cruises comfortably at 70, still romps upto 85-90 without bother, plenty quick enough. Sure a Forrester 2.5 Turbo would be quicker, but would I really make any use of the extra 100 BHP? Of course not.
I can't see much point in upping to 16" rims, the change from stock to the 15s and the Toyos raised it quite a bit, and it now at least looks the part, in theory it's more capable now than it was, and with the power and gearing I've got at least the bigger rims haven't wrecked its acceleration too much. There's no dubt that it will spend far more time on the road than it will off, so decent on road manners are far more important than off road capability.
It was bought to camp in, to go places the average van couldn't go when required, to not get stuck anywhere, and to be used as much as needed, daily if required, without becoming a pain in the arse. It's managed to achieve all I set out for it.
My real dilema is the body, On the one hand I want to tidy it, because it looks shit, the PO had really let it go, but then I'll get drawn into doing the whole body, not just the rusty bits, because there's dents, flaky paint etc all over it. So then I'll have a very tidy van and be scared to rag it about or even consider taking it off road. I really don't know which way to go with the body. It doesn't help that I can't stand the colour.

Edited by Beelzibus - 16 Jun 10 at 23:21

Yes I think you're right about having some fun with it before tidying it up too much.
That's a very good deal in this day and age. However I work in the trade for a small but professional garage, we do bodywork as well as mechanical work, and have our own booth, so in due course when time allows I have it covered. But thanks for letting me know anyway.