Date: Thu, 29 Nov 2012 23:21:33 -0800
Reply-To: Scott Daniel - Turbovans <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Scott Daniel - Turbovans <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Subject: Re: New owner questions-Syncro ownership costs.
In-Reply-To: <50B83506.6060506@colorado.edu>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
lol,
what you may be missing is knowing how senstive the driveshaft and it's
position can be.
had one client .. he had regular u-joings and a slip yokeput in his
stock driveshaft, . by anOff Road and truck type driveshaft Shop.
( 6 cylinder EZ30 subaru engine, tin top Syncro van )
Having no indexing I just put it in, yoke forward I think.
I drive it ....and it just vibrates for about 200 rpm at 3,100 rpm in
each gear I think ...
Figure we'll 'see how it goes' to start with.
a couple of months or so later n ...we work on it again ..
Iswap it end-for-end, and do the 'Van cafedrive around some with the
front diff bolts loosened' ...
then tighten them back down.
that fixed it ..
Syncro's can be 'very nebulous' in their drivetrain .....
I have read about people removing their driveshaft ..and getting
*more*vibration.
and many such wierd things..
I don't even think there is a 'do it this way and it will be right for
sure' method.
GW even sells a laser alignment thing ..
and I've heard that's not a 'for sure' , and so on.
I've also heard ..a guy on this list said I think...... he doesn't mark
'em ( index marks ) and try different positions too much anymore..
think he said he spent a lot of time doing that with it not making much
difference in the end.
it's a Black Art.
here's an example of that Nebulousness.
Stock Syncro Westy ..vibrate badly decellerating from 50 to 35 mph.
Can't find a thing loose or worn or wobbling ..run in the air
....nothing seems noisy or loose or out of balance.
Finally I check the trans magnetic drain plug ...usual metal particles,
plus a piece of gear tooth.
In the process of remving trans ..
I find the driveshaft rear u-joint stiff in one plane ....
and a broken off lower engine mounting stud ( busted off in the block,
under that exhaust bracket that's sometimes there ) on the left side.
oh ..it also 'very very slightly 'almost missed' ... subtle uneven power
...many people wouldn't notice it even, but it was there forsure. I
suspected the Air Flow Meter.
Since we're doing a trans rebuild,,
and a Driveshaft, and a new clutch and starter, ..heck ..
might as well do a new AFM too .
that fixed that too ...that Rig was a 'normal syncro ' again.
fwiw ..they always feel ( due to the VC ) to me, on pavement, like a car
with too knobby snow tires on it.
they sure do well and are awesome though !
scott
www.turbovans.com
scott
turbovans
On 11/29/2012 8:24 PM, Richard A Jones wrote:
> On 11/29/2012, Andrew wrote:
>> It is a good idea to index the driveshaft flanges and the input/output
>> flanges before removing the driveshaft so it may be reinstalled in
>> the same
>> manner at a later date.
>
> Andrew:
> Can you explain further about this? I've read it before, but it
> doesn't make sense to me. The front diff, prop shaft and tranny
> were not all balanced as a unit. The prop shaft was (or should have
> been) balanced by the driveline shop. How can indexing it to each
> end make any difference? Am I missing something?
>
> Richard
>
