[GreasySideDown]

Well I'm outta town again for 8 weeks on "business" so I thought for posterity I should document what I'm doing on my B4V (since I know there are at least 6 of you out there that still like these cars..).

Goal: TDI B4V Syncro on bags

Living in the PNW I have grown to despise the loathesome Subaru. Seems like every other car on the road is a Subaru. Time to build what I really want and at the same time proudly proclaim "this is NOT a Subaru"..

So way back in 2012 I bought this car from a Portland hipster who didn't know **** about cars. She had a bunch of problems and the interior looked like a bum orgy (now fairly common in Portland). I rebuilt the engine and it's been through some iterations over the years as I figure stuff out.

Current list of crap that I've done:
-MK4 cloth seats with matching black interior from a stolen car 95 GLX (another story right there)
-70k miles on engine build
-Engine parts include ALH 0.5mm over pistons, ARP studs, decked block, Borg BV43 turbo with AFN mani, some other crap I don't remember
-Malone custom 24psi tune for the VNT
-Airlift bags and Huffs
-2.5" straight stainless exhaust
-Air horn
-Audi G60 fronts, MK4 rears
-Big Tunes

Now back in December I found that MK3 Jetta Syncro getting parted out so I jumped on it. Came home with pretty much all I needed. I sourced the correct subframe mounting plates and also found an extra viscous coupler to play around with. I decided not to Haldex this because I 1. don't want to spend the extra $$ and 2. Syncro is better (scroll down and see where I changed my mind).


Here's the car from where I found the Syncro stuff and afterwards getting home:

Pictures of car before it went in the garage:

Engine out:

Painted and cleared K-member, new everything installed including rack:

02C and 02A (CTN TDI gearing). This picture was on my way to the village idiot trans builder, I ended up going back and *forcefully* taking them back after he tried to **** me over:

And I had to pack it all in to go to work. More updates on this thread when I get home in mid-May. Rear subframe will need a clean/paint/refurb, new brake lines, new exhaust, driveline install, and I need to fab a fuel tank since I can't seem to find one from a B3 anywhere:

 

[scubydoo]

Lookin tasty!

 

[c3k]

Very envious! Looks like you've done you're homework and are doing it the right way. There was a guy out east in Wilmington, NC who found a B4 syncro in a scrap yard a few years ago. I think he bought all the parts for the syncro swap and started to sell them piece by piece. I'll look up his contact info and see if he has the B4 wagon syncro fuel tank. :thumbup:

 

[ToddA1]

Watching this...

Were synchro B4s brought to the US? Curious how one found itself in a JY. There was a guy who converted a synchro driveline into his tdi B4V, somewhat locally to me. I got a short ride in it, although he didn’t keep it long, after finishing the conversion.

-Todd

 

[c3k]

The syncro B4 car found in a junkyard was a European import. It had the full Euro dash with under dash trays, e codes, a front Euro bumper and of course metric guages. Not sure how or why it ended up in NC but it died there haha.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

 

[GreasySideDown]

Wow I'd probably faint if I saw that in an American JY. Us lowly 'mericans never got a Syncro anything except those weird van things.

I'm still away for work so just waiting to be done here so I can get back to the car. Currently in North Carolina so if any folks out there can scrounge up a fuel tank I'd be willing to take a day off and come get it. I do fabrication and engineering work so the plan included building a cell but an OEM tank would be even better.

 

[amockalypsenow]

the interior looked like a bum orgy (now fairly common in Portland).

hahahaha

Dude, please document everything because I would love to do the same thing! Lots of pics! A B4V syncro would be so sweet! Awesome!

 

[GreasySideDown]

I'm back! Actually I've been back for a week now but I have been quite busy. I'm balls-deep on the transmission stuff right now and I'm making youtube videos on the teardown and rebuild process. I've not done many pictures but you can get an idea of what's happening.

My 02A CTN was destroyed from my poor driving habits but luck shone-down upon me as I stumbled upon a fully intact 97 B4 TDI in the Pick-N-Pull!!! I spend a few hrs pulling the transmission out and dammit I'm so lucky. The guts were nearly BRAND NEW! Someone had been in it before me. Also picked up a .658 5th gear. As the project stands at the moment is thus:

I garnet-blasted the 02C case and painted it with PPG SS urethane in Sequoia Green then made a 3-part how-to/exploration of building an 02A/02C trans
:

I finished rebuilding the output shaft assembly, the Peloquin with 3.17 ring gear, and I did all clearancing (output shaft @ 0.20mm preload, diff @ 0.40mm preload and 2.0N-m turning torque, input shaft @ 0.21mm play). Tomorrow I finish the transmission and can re-install in the car. Once I get the car back on the road I'll start in on the Syncro subframe with blasting/coating/freshening seals etc. I still need the center driveshaft section lengthened and I need to fabricate a fuel tank (need a plasma cutter first though, maybe?). All this is happening within the next two weeks.

Enjoy

 

[GreasySideDown]

Random pictures

 

[GreasySideDown]

More randoms. I've been hard at it trying to get it done for *edit* Summer.

This one is all the weird brackets I had to make. Ignore that weird oil pipe, I did it in two beautiful 90's to clear the axle (*edit, see below for finished product):

Pieces of 2.5" exhaust. Note: this has gone through probably revision 10 as of 11/2020:

The fuel tank has turned out to be quite a large project. I had to stop today when I ran out of argon so the final side isn't fully welded on nor are the mounting tabs and filler neck assembly:

Water testing for leaks. Got a solid 24 gallons. The old tank was 26 gallons so I'm not too far off the mark. The tank is designed to sit exactly flush with the rear differential. I still have to weld skid plates on the back edge of it since the car is on bags and I have dragged the tailpipe on occasion (edit, much later I removed the tank and sliced the back of it in a wedge shape so it is now hidden when viewed from behind, no skidplate needed):

Made a crossmember. I TIG welded the mounting plates for it to the body so it's crazy strong:

G]

 

[ToddA1]

Great progress!

-Todd

 

[amockalypsenow]

sweet!

 

[john1600cc]

Nice Build! What turbo are you running there? Just finished my b4 build and would like to upgrade from my KKK.

 

[GreasySideDown]

Its a Borg BV43 VNT turbo. Running a Malone AFN 24psi tune. Love it. Car is on the road and I've been too busy riding bikes to take pictures!

 

[scubydoo]

Any update to this build??

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

 

[GreasySideDown]

I've been driving it without the cardan shaft and just yesterday I got a measurement for the center portion (finally). I'm headed to a driveline shop tomorrow to get it lengthened so it will be in sometime next week hopefully. It drives amazing and that LSD really moves. I have a camber/toe kit coming from Epytec.de for the rear so that will require removal of the rear subframe and some welding/cutting of things. The home made fuel tank works flawlessly. Fun side-note, Syncro rear struts are 4" shorter than FWD cars so I had to get Mk1 rear bags. It's been a fun project and I'm eager to do another one soon. I have a few lines out on more Syncro stuff!

Typical axle modification to get the length right:

 

[GreasySideDown]

New day new problems (kinda). Today I cut the ends off the center portion of the cardan shaft to see what they looked like. For some reason I was thinking they were slip-in yokes, not butt-welded. Oh well. So what you see below (*picture host is gone and I can't find the picture on my phone, grrr) is an Audi TT prop shaft that I cut one end off. Unbelievably the Syncro yokes and the TT shaft are exactly 60mm OD. Even more amazing is the flange from the Syncro fits on the TT yoke! Props to VW for making things easy. Makes me think the pedigree for the TT came from the Syncro! Driveline shop said "no problem" squaring them up and welding back together. Flange to flange measurement I'm shooting for is 34.25" (thanks to a kind Canadian for that measurement). Oh and I'm using a 1989 BMW 325i center support bearing on one end and the stock TT on the other. Fun with driveshafts.

 

[GreasySideDown]

Well I finally got around to doing the drive shaft. I had a friend turn the yoke down (it's the same yoke as a TT) and I cut the shaft and TIG'd it in. Carrier bearing mount solution with BMW 325 bearing:

Then the rear differential failed while on the stands. Tore it apart and found the sprag exploded. Bummer. Shoved some cutoff axle stubs in the rear a-arms to hold the bearings together so I could drive it. Thought I was having a bad car-day. Then I found the solution.


More pics coming Wednesday when the FedEx guy gets here. It'll all make sense then. (hint: Skoda)

Car is currently driving with 2 of the 3 driveshafts in. The BMW carriers were perfect for this application and only cost $15/carrier. Sucks I gotta head East for work this weekend so I won't be working on cars until December.

 

[GreasySideDown]

Got a 17/27 angled drive. Part #02C409107H

 

[GreasySideDown]

Looking back at this thread I see a trend. At every turn of the project so far I thought I would have various things done by others. The transmission was the first to fall. That guy turned out to be total doucheface, so much so that I learned about and rebuilt the thing just in spite of him. Next was the drive shaft. I dropped it off at a Portland driveline shop that said they could do it. After a few weeks of back and forth I decided to just take my stuff back. They wanted to do all this balancing crap and install new bushings etc. So after they quoted me $700 for the work I simply paid my friend $40 to turn a yoke down. I welded it in square enough and pounded on the cheap carrier bearings myself. Also I installed the super secret pilot bushings fairly easily (that shop wanted to charge me $100/bushing!!). Ridiculous having to rely on other people to get things done. So now reflecting on the whole car in the 6 years I've owned it I have only had a friend install tires and once I let a shop align it (before I learned how to do it myself and better). I guess I also had help with the engine since I don't have cylinder boring equipment or a torque plate for honing. What all this means is simply:
If you want it done right, do it yourself.