Something different? T3 Syncro Ambulance - Extreme camper conversion

In the interest of providing you guys with a little variation in your reading I have decided to post news of my Syncro bus build alongside the rally Golf.

As there is a link and a common theme to the builds it should become evident the route I am taking and I would appreciate comments and ideas too.

Enjoy.....

 

I began looking on Ebay for bargain buses after our old Syncro was stolen from our home in May.

After 4 months I hit on a badly listed bus at a great price. The owner didn't know it was 4wd, let alone what the difflock buttons were. I brought it home with a 5hr journey from the top of Snowdonia in Wales. An epic first drive indeed.





According to the last owner the van had been an ambulance, converted to a camper in 2006. He had only used it for local fishing trips and occasional holidays.

Difflocks


Custom fibreglass battery lids


Roof locker


Tailgate view with roof lights, vents and drip rail


Interior


There was mention of it being a quarry vehicle and most recently being an emergency vehicle at Santa Pod Raceway. Great history that needed investigating.

My first day with the van was spent fiddling with switchgear and looking at details for clues. Odd switches in the dash and some electrical boxes under the passenger seat suggested some serious wiring but to what I had no idea. Holes in the roof could have been a lightbar? The weekend ended with me slightly frustrated and confused. The unique bullbar with front mounted spare, green stickers in the tailgate latch area and faded fibreglass roof revealing 'AMBULANCE' on the sides and back reminded me of the vans I saw a few years ago at Vanfest - Syncro Ambulances no less.

Dash 'switchgear'


A Google search pulled up some images.




Monday arrived and I was on the phone to Rowan Medical Services - I was sure I had seen a Syncro ambulance at Vanfest years before and thought this was one of the same batch. A long conversation with the owner revealed it to be one of 4 vans owned by them.

Originally a tintop panel van owned by the English China Clay company of St.Austell, Cornwall the van was repainted yellow from its original L90D White and saw service as a dynamite carrying truck. I have no further details but there are traces of yellow paint under another coat of L90D.

From there the van was purchased by BUPA, the medical services provider. As part of an initiative to suppy cross country medical vehciles BUPA asked Ken Griffiths to design them an ambulance - based on the Syncro panel van. Another van was sourced and its factory hightop roof installed. Lights, sirens and of course medical equipment was installed - all the latest spec gear and at great expense. For a number of years Ken ran the vans at events such as horse racing, cross country, rallies and more until BUPA lost the contract. Ken was offered the vans and all related equipment and he began Rowan Medical Services. He covered similar events for a number of years and does to this day. He still owns one van - an Audi 5 cylinder powered bus which is fully equipped and will be at Vanfest this year. Ken said he sold my van to another private medical service company who now provide service to Santa Pod raceway.

Further research dragged up an 80-90 member with a sister van:

 

Day 2 was spent messing with electrics and fitting a few parts.

The wind deflectors and LT mirrors destined for the old van were dragged out and installed. Bapp Fastenings provided the fittings for the mirrors and they went on easily. I know people have reservations about LT vs Syncro mirrors but they are a huge improvement over the cracked stock units that were fitted and cost me under 50. I may have a go at altering the angle later.



I worked out the switches and had a reversing bleeper, interior roof lighting and spotlights working. There are 15 or so switches and I had 5 of them doing something. Ken revealed there were others which were dash mounted but these are missing in my van. Removing the U/S stereo resulted in the original wires being found. Ken will be providing details of the missing parts.

My bullbar was missing two blue flashing spotlights but the wiring (cut off) was still running from the dash and up through the bullbar tubes.

The homebrew camper interior was OK, but a little limited so I put it up for sale on 80-90. It went to a new home last weekend and the funds were spent with Brickwerks on new 3pt rear seatbelts, a lap belt and a few other goodies including a spare key, Syncro stickers and an external hookup socket.

I wasn't happy with the Land Rover Freelander wheels currently residing on the van as I believe them to be 5x114.3 PCD rather than the standard 5x112 pattern. Removing them showed no bodging evident but not a lot of thread on the wheelnuts.

A set of cheap (39.99) Mercedes wheels was sourced on Ebay. They will allow me to use the 215R15 muds I had for the last van and gain some cool points and grip

On test fitting these too don't have much thread on the nuts (Merc rims are thick!) so either longer studs or adapters will be necessary before they get fitted. Longer studs would be the sensible option as that way I can get the four corners refurbed. Mr Ghia has a set of new LT rear drum parts set aside for me and Dave at Futbus (http://www.futbus.com) has struck a deal with some of my spares resulting in me having Syncro lift parts available for future fitting.

Dave does a great Audi based caliper upgrade and I am thinking if I need to fit new front wheel bearings to extend the front studs it would be a good idea to upgrade the whole lot in one go. Bearings, seals, studs, pads, calipers and discs would go a long way to improving the spec and condition of the van.

I decided to keep the van Ambulance-like so refitting the lights and reinstating the switchgear for camping uses will be a feature. This van has a past and great character. I'd like to keep that and build upon it.

 

Spent a weekend camping (roughly, with the poor R&R bed and a futon mattress) at Run To The Hills - our club show.

I cleaned the roof of bird poo and masses of blackened tree sap. The body was cleaned for a total of 14hrs and all the mould and grime removed.



First camping trip (Run To The Hills 2011) had the van looking lovely.





Back home the work continued....

Needing to get to work remove the interior I started on the units and worked out the side panels which are white fibreglass (for hygiene reasons I assume) in order to fit seatbelt mountings.

This was a difficult task as they were bonded in with an industrial sealant. It took 8 hours of gentle cutting with sharp knives to peel them back. This revealed a panel van structure and mean't the mount would need welding in.



Fibreglass loft insulation had been stuffed into the sides. This was removed as it's a trap for moisture and leads to rust. Sadly the space between C pillar and rear arch on both sides had water sat in it and had rotted the sill to some degree. A welder-friend will be visiting to attend to this.



I drilled the hole in the rear pillar after removing the vent. Multivan style mountings from Brickwerks were fitted with recoil belts and fitted inside the rear quarters. More mount were located (to be welded) to the side of the rear bench area.

Being a Syncro welding in belt mounts across the angled bulkhead is problematic. The tank is right behind it so drilling and heat aren't safe. I don't fancy dropping the gearbox and tank this early on in the build so I am looking for simpler solutions.

The Merc rims arrived. I'm not sure which model they originate from but would like to find 4 more. Two for spares and two more for the trailer I am building which will run 5x112 hubs.



Boltholes have been drilled out. On test fitting these too don't have much thread on the nuts (Merc rims are thick!) so either longer studs or adapters will be necessary before they get fitted. Longer studs would be the sensible option as that way I can get the four corners refurbed.

Mr Ghia has a set of new LT rear drum parts set aside for me and Dave at Futbus (http://www.futbus.com) has struck a deal with some of my spares resulting in me having Syncro lift parts available for future fitting.

Dented rear arches were tapped out and now resemble the shapes they were intended to be. Some cosmetic work will be required to make them good but I am happy they are convex rather than concave.



Bad filler work to a rust spot on the passenger side seam near the battery box was removed and ground back. I might need to invest in new panels to make this right - AH Schofields may be getting a call.

 

The steering has proved to be faulty. At certain angles it gets stiff and then frees off - seemingly fine. Much reading on the net suggested this was down to a stiff/worn UJ between the steering rack and link rod to the bevel box. Only PAS racks have this problem. replacement UJ's aren't cheap but I have bit the bullet and ordered an exchange item. The van is due for an MOT soon and this will certainly be a failure point - not only that it makes driving the van hard work and sometimes a little scary.

With the last van being stolen I ordered a tracker. Also on the cards is a van-specific immobiliser which was designed by a friend. The tracker arrived this morning - costing just over 100 it has loads ovf features including fuel pump cut off, microphone monitoring, GPS coordinate broadcast and more. Peace of mind

The replacement lightbar arrived too. It's made by the 'Premier Hazard' people that supplied the original and to the same spec/model type. I'll be cleaning/replacing the central band with a whiter bar and maybe a graphic on it.



I'm informed its illegal to use it on the road but if it's covered up normally you are OK. I'll only be using it for displays and a bit of fun at events so I can't see any issues. Mad, yes! But fun all the way.

Anyway, more Ambulance shots.



Here you can see the roof interior with 3 (working) lights, two roof vents and an aluminium channel. the channel was for hanging blood bags/IV drips etc from. I joked with the wife that my sister (a nurse) could get some bags and a canular I could fill them with real ale and cut the middleman out Oddly she was not amused.

The rear most vent has a spinning top externally but it looks like the vanes have been removed. Having never messed with such a device I am unsure if it is there to cool the van while travelling or not?



Under the seat are the electronics. A 'Premier Hazard unit' and a 'Lucas Interrupter' as yet I don't know exactly what function these units perform but I assume it is something to do with the siren/lightbars and maybe flashing headlights?



The tyres are mounted now, looking much better than the faffy LR items.



The UJ for the steering finally arrived. It would seem it's a rare part and Simon (@Brickwerks) was struggling to get hold of a core to refurbish. The replacement has come as good as new so when I get an hour (next week for sure) I will get down to swapping it.

Here I am considering how the van would look as a rally support vehicle:



I now have all the rear belts so I can get some mounted in the back but how to attach the mounts is a huge issue. The tank is just too close to the bulkhead to weld onto there. I may have to try and push some form of heatproof shielding between them. Any ideas welcomed.

 

Booked a holiday with the family in South Wales next easter so I have to make plans and work on the van

I've been slowly dismantling an old Dutch (I.E well made chassis) camping trailer tent and my plan is to swap the axle for a wider one and fit the custom Indespension suspension units I had made to it.

I had these fitted with HD torsion rubbers and the hubs made to accept 5x112PCD wheels so I can carry van suited wheels and tyres on the trailer.

Plans are not fixed but I fancy a combination of T3 Doka lower panels and a top reminiscent of the Alusingen boxes, with roller shutters.

Something like this, using 2 Doka rear ends welded together (maybe quartered to get the width right).

 

Finally got my hands on some R&R bed hinges. They are NOS genuine REIMO parts and way thicker than Westy/Just Kampers bits. Look like they are made to hold a tank up.

These will be mated to a REIMO style full width bed setup being made by a time served carpenter friend on mine, along with a full width roof locker being copied from a Westy unit. I'm looking to face these with something different -recycled ABS plastic sheet which will be CNC machined to get a nice clean finish. No iron on edging or tap on trims. Just tidy fitting and neat edges.

On the mechanical front, I have decided to go with the Rally Support theme.

New wheels have arrived and been grafted onto the AT's. I think they look hard! I wasn't 'feeling' the Merc rims and they didn't fit my motorsport them anyway.

They will require spacers/studs to mount them properly so Dave at Futbus will be sorting me some upgraded hubs. I'm also looking at replacing the brakes at the same time and Dave does a cracking 288mm VR6 setup that will fit snugly under the rims. That lot and friend Mike Ghia's old 16" rear brake setup will beef up the braking no end.

Anyway, enough chat - here is the new rolling gear!!!!!





Compomotive MO1565 - 15"x6.5JET35 with 195R15AT tyres.

 

look forward to this .......

 

Looks great so far, very interesting.

 

Yeah looks an awesome project. Will definitely follow this one.

 

A small update - with big implications. The van has been booked in for the beginning of February at The Campershack in Grantham. Here Andrew will be sorting the rust/panel damage, welding in rear seatbelt mounts and more importantly carrying out an engine conversion.

Currently the van is running a 2.1 Wasserboxer petrol engine - a development of the traditional beetle style aircooled engines or (if it make it easier to think this way) 2/3rds of a Porsche 911 engine with water cooling.

The wasserboxer isn't a bad engine but fuel economy isn't great in a hefty 4wd van and the head gasket design is what puts many owners off a sleepless night. I have run them in other vans with good and bad results.

My main reasons for change are that the replacement needs to be more economical, more tuneable and easier for me to work on.

After much consideration, looking at both petrol and diesel I have opted to fit an I4 Golf Mk3 GTI 2.0l petrol engine (AGG code for those interested).

This engine follows the same design basics as the early '827 series' Golf engines and will bolt into a T3 Transporter using the mounting parts and pipes from the Transporter diesel (itself an '827' based engine).

With 115bhp, lots of torque and the ability to tune it the Gof engine will make for an interesting upgrade for sure.

I've picked up my olf Mk3 GTI Colour Concept for not a lot of money. This will be stripped and broken to fund the conversion.

 

brilliant! Good call

 

Bones you might recognise the Golf. It's been owned by a mate for a few years after he swapped me for a van. Since then it's been up Morley way round the corner from you.

 

Fired the van up for the first time in months today and it started straight away

The new wheels arrived and after fitting and balancing the 195R15 chunkies Matt and I crossed our fingers to trial fit them.

Clearance and offsets are critical on these vans and having owned 2 before I was all too aware of the possible issues and potential need for hubs to be rebuilt in order to fit longer wheel studs and spacers.

I chose the 6.5Jx15"ET45 fitment. These are the closest to the ideal for the T3 vans.

The result looks pretty good in my opinion

 

hey did you get my email about the graphics

 

Full of retro goodness! Interested to see where you take it (And I don't mean the top of Snowdon!).

 

Interesting thread - I will follow this one.
Good luck with the build.

 

I'll be in touch when we get it back from the bodyshop

 

Interior cleared out and stripped.







Last look at the 2.1 Wasserboxer engine.





The next engine bay picture WILL show an I4 Golf unit.

Here is Matt testing out his Recaro replica seat in the donor car as he backs it off the drive.


And Andy attempting to extract himself from it after parking it on the trailer.


I have to give credit to these two nutters. They roll their eyes at my crazy plans but they are always supportive and lend a hand/trailer/spanner when needed.