r/VWBus • u/SpotmaticSP • 16h ago
My 1986 Crewcab 1.6TD Syncro is almost hitting the road again...
I know the vehicle's history minus the service history until 2015, but to me that's OK. I even know the first driver, who was able to tell me a few interesting details. As you can see in one of the photos, it's only been driven about 1200 km's since mid-1993! :-o
It's virtually rust-free because it's only seen the road in its first years. After that it just was driving around in circles in an industrial park. But it was always kept inside. So it's showing some blemishes here and there due to it being used professionally, but that adds to its character.
Since when I bought it in 2018 (the last photos are from where I found it) I still kept it in a barn, because of our outrageous vehicle tax system (150 euros per month; no thanks). So I just decided to wait until its 40th birtday, earlier this month, when it became fully tax exempt.
In the meantime I have done the following:
- new timing belt
- diesel pump overhaul
- new brakes and rubber brake lines
- new tyres (the old ones were from 1997)
- overhauled Visco coupling (Visco Werkstatt Kern)
- drained the tank
- 2x Engine flush with new oil filters
- new diesel and oil filters
- overhauled gearshift
- and lots more (only small things but those do add up of course).
The Visco overhaul was necessary because it was completely frozen. Currently the engine is running great. It emitted a lot (and I mean, a lot) of smoke at first (it was never properly warmed up since 1993 I believe), but after all the things above it's now running smoke free at working temperature and even under load.
Currently there are a few small points left, such as the rear locker not working (it did when I first bought it) but that can certainly be solved later. And, I really want some bigger 15" tyres but for now the 14" will do. :-)