Date: Sat, 14 Dec 1996 11:17:00 +0100
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: Philippe Oudot <p_oudot@worldnet.fr>
Subject: Re: French Syncro Club
At 09:01 12/12/1996 -0500, you wrote:
>I think what is killing us, Phillippe, is that we desire the extra ground
>clearance of the 16" vans. Can you tell us how much more ground clearance
>there is over the 14" vans?
>
I got 28.5 cm on front under the skid plate and 26.5 cm under the engine
protection plate. I don't know about 14"er. I remember you that 1 inch =
2.54 cm, get your computer!!
I should say my Caravelle,(Vanagon) is a lot lighter than a Westy and that I
use 205/16 Goodyear Wrangler tires.
>Also, we are trying to figure out what the largest size tires that can fit,
>and then to calculate what gear ratios to change to here in North America.
I wouldn't mount larger tires than 225/16 otherwise I'd have to change the rims.
A friend of mine did that on a 16"er TD without intercooler, and it's a real
pain!
But I think with a 2.1l like yours, it'd work pretty well.
We at the Syncro Club are around 70 members and I think there are about 20
or so 16"er.
Some purists people want to stay as close as possible than the genuine 16",
that's why we usually don't change our rims. I have two sets of them.
>
>All North American Syncros come with a gear ratio of 4.86 but a check of a
>microfiche I got from Germany shows that all these different ratios are
>available:
>
>>>37/6 6.17
>>>35/6 5.83
>>>38/7 5.43
>>>34/7 4.86 (DEFAULT USA)
>>>32/7 4.57
>
>Our idea is to order 6.17s from Germany and then see if we can fit the tires
>in that go with this size. If not, then modify the vans to be more like 16"
>models so that those tires will fit. If the tires still do not fit, then try
>5.83 or 5.43.
>
Why do you want to get 6.17s from Germany? Aren't they available in the US?
You should contact a Mercedes tuner, stock 300 series steel 6.15s fit on the
Syncros, I believe you could get compatibles 6.17s rims.
>I believe there are a couple of 5.43 transmissions in storage in California
>but none are yet in use in any Syncros in North America, so far as we can tell.
>
>====================================
>
>I agree that custom skid plates are not too hard to manufacture. I added a
>lot of T-6 6061 aluminum alloy plates to the bottom of my van so I can smash
>it down on rocks and not hurt it.
>======================================
>
>You must travel to
>
>http://halfdan.med.umn.edu:8853/misc/archives/vanagon.html
>
>and search on the "archives" of the mail messages and search on the text
>string:
>
>syncro
I've also been there, could you tell me if they are others Syncros related
sites?
Many thanks,
Philippe
'89 16" Syncro TD Oettinger
French Syncro Club
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