Dictionary of VW Bus/Wanagons Terms (.txt)

vanagon.com:

The 16″ version differs from the 14″ in a lot of details.

1. additional reinforcements (…) integrated into the bodywork sheet-metal structure.
2. thicker or more rigid material for the b-column, the shock-absorber flanges, suspension hinges.
3. Gear-box and transmisions (…) differ from the 14″ in their ratio
4. A rear diff-lock (…), for some countries even the front diff-lock
5. some special air tubes for the transmission and friction housing in order to avoid to sucking water while wading.
6. front suspension of the later models was changed from welded sheet-metal to a more rigid and corrosion-resistent steel-cast part,
7. CV-joints are covered by a special PUR protection shield.
8. The rear half-axles have a bigger flange-diameter (108 instead of 100 mm).
9. The filling of the visco-coupling is (…) slightly different
10. also enlarged brakes from the VW LT 3,5t light-truck – conventional drums at the rear, 280 mm disk-brakes in front
11. Factory tire size was 195 R 16, the 205 R 16 or 7.00 x 16 were also available with a new car
12. (…) modified suspension (…) which (…) enlarged the wheelbase for another 20mm.
13. modified wheel-wells (…) the ‘fenders’ are modified and covered with these typical black extensions molded in polyurethane

Have a look at the numbers at the sticker near the fuse-box near the drivers-doors or in your service booklet. You will find one number starting with e.g. 253 for a Kombi based vehicle, 255 for a Caravelle or Vanagon GL (see also production figures above and the dictionary at vanagon.com) The three digit number that follows tells you about the stock engine, body, tire & rim combination. The first two digits are quite complicated to structure, the last one tells you factory tires for your model were 185 R 14 tyres if ‘7’, 205 R 14 if ‘5’ and finally 195 R 16 if ‘A’. The optional 205 R 16 tires were encoded M 855

• VW bus börse (on e-bay)
• un de vendu !, plenty to come!
• great VW Van engine swaps (via teutonix
• vanagon.com (& mailing lists), syncro.org, vanagon @ thesamba
• owner’s sites list @BTDT – tons of links
• storage boxes (hitch-mounted & underneath)
• syncro-services (related to fast-forward, home of the only t3 DoKa hard top seen so far)
• « Claude’s DoKa » (Claude converted his Synchro Westfalia to a TDI engine)
• bustedbus.com
• Vanagon List Sticker Site, by Frank Condelli of BusFusion
• Tom’s VW Pages
• Mickael Sullivan is probably the one who sketched a tyre conversion diagram but he’s best klnown for his TDI conversion. Vanagon Engine Conversions covers the same subjet extensively.

Try buying one from Besko‘s. …We can supply VW Transporters Syncro. All these vehicles have permanent four wheel drive, 5 gears one of which is a crawler gear. Some have 100% locking differentials and fuel driven heating. At an extra cost of 2000 euro an electric winch ( Warn 6000 ) can be neatly built in [ED: whoah!]. (…) Did you know that there were only 43468 Transporter Syncro T3 built of wich only 2138 have the Syncro 16 suspension and wheels. It is therefore a very exclusive and much sought after vehicle… [ED: guy knows his figures, for sure].

• Even has Landies, Mogs, Goelettes, or name it he has it!
• bundeswehrautos.de (e-bay virtual shop, via lemkecars.com of synchro4x4) has a Reflexmatte rot/weiß Schwertransport NEUWARE. I want one!
• LES WESTS D’LAUT BORD D’LA GATE (mécanique)
• British Haflinger Club
• OZsynchro