Date: Mon, 21 May 2001 15:42:50 -0500
Reply-To: Chris Stann <ChrisS@INFORMS.com>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Chris Stann <ChrisS@INFORMS.com>
Subject: Re: Hollister Hills Syncro Event - It was Great!
In-Reply-To: <3B095E5E.AB91C716@syncro.org>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Pictures? Got any pictures?
Also, statistics please. How many Syncros vs non-Syncros go stuck and had
to be pulled out?
Chris.
'85 wanna-be-Syncro
-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com]On Behalf
Of Steve Schwenk
Sent: Monday, May 21, 2001 1:29 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: Hollister Hills Syncro Event - It was Great!
I meant to say 25 syncros and 5 non-syncros.
Also, I forgot to mention the group dinner at a Mexican
restaurant in San juan Bautista. The restaurant set up
a long table for about 15 or more people in a room we
had to ourselves. The service and the food were
excellent and it was fun to meet and socialize with
everyone before heading off to the camp.
steve@syncro.org wrote:
>
> Thanks to the efforts of all who attended, the second
> annual Hollister Spring Syncro Event (soon to be
> renamed) was a great success.
>
> Including the five day visitors, we had 25 syncros and
> 5 syncros in attendance, and about 50-60 people. Most
> of the attendees were from California, although Tom and
> Adam came down from Oregon, Brian from Washington and
> Andy from Nevada.
>
> There were three Subaru conversions, including a 240 HP
> 3.4L six cylinder dream machine! There were two Audi
> conversions, including Detlev's 2.6 (??) prototype
> install of the deluxe engine they use in South Africa.
> (I was lucky enough to test drive all of the different
> conversions). The TICO that was supposed to make it
> was not finished on time.
>
> The display of exotic hardware and syncronaut
> innovation/engineering was astounding. Nearly every
> syncro there was exceptional...even the one shabby
> syncro westy (owner's name i forget) day visitor that
> was purchased for $800! Among the notables were:
>
> Coyote's 15" syncro westy with 16" trailing arms, Betts
> Springs, Bilstein shocks, Wessels custom axles, 15" SA
> wheels, large tires, modified gearing (5.83 FD with
> taller 3rd and 4th for perfect syncro ratios!), ration
> rockers, modified chip, 15" brake kit, Front diff lock,
> winch, bull bars, and too many other mods to list. I
> was lucky enough to drive it and must say it is the
> ideal syncro in terms of gearing, ride height,
> handling, suspension. Everything works together and
> the package feels more natural and right than any other
> syncro i have ever driven. (Coyote received the
> "Syncro Rookie of the year" award at the awards
> ceremony for his contribution to the advancement of
> Syncro R&D!)
> '
> John Wessels SyncroMog with Huge 15" wheels/tires,
> 23"+ of ride height, softer/taller stock springs,
> custom bilstein shocks, custom axles with HD CV joints,
> custom and really nice skid plates, modified front and
> rear ends for more ground clearance, custom bumpers,
> and much more. (John received the "Syncromeister
> Achievement Award" for his engineering breakthroughs,
> innovation and incredible machine.
>
> Tom's 1986 GL with the "pneumatic drive shaft
> disengager" (obviously not it's correct name!)
> engineered entirely from VW parts and which can be
> operated from the cab. It disengages the prop shaft
> for highway driving so you can save your front diff/VC
> and transaxle a lot of wear and tear. We are hoping
> Tom will make this available to the rest of us
> syncronauts. It is a clean and basically stock set up
> that VW offered on only a handful of syncros, from my
> understanding. Detlev also had a custom built
> disengagable drive shaft that does the same thing with
> really nice u-joints. I hope he develops this for sale
> as well. We will all benefit from these.
>
> Ben's 16" Syncro Doublecab with 1.6 turbodiesel.
>
> Andy, Warren, Brian and Mark brought their engine
> conversions noted above. Many of the syncros had
> custom springs and OME shocks, and lots of neat
> personal modifications too numerous to list here.
>
> The 4WD action was pretty exciting, to say the least!
> One syncronaut had to be lowered down a hill by cable
> after encountering a rolled Toyota, another syncro
> nearly rolled and had to be lowered by people hanging
> on the custom bumper and using rope to pull it down
> from it's near vertical resting position after it fell
> partially into a hole of sorts. One syncronaut
> received minor scrapes and scratches in the rescue
> effort. Another syncro (the famous yosemite e-bay
> syncro) encountered one hellish obstacle after another,
> conquering them all, although with some difficulty in
> places. As usual, other vehicle owners at the park
> voiced their utter amazement on numerous occasions at
> what the syncros and their drivers could do.
>
> The camp events went well and included community camp
> fires, a pot luck barbecue, a kids theater production
> (on the camp stage with lights!), a hokey awards
> ceremony, videos of the day's 4WD action projected onto
> a screen on the camp stage, Tom's swap meet, and lots
> of socializing, test driving, inspecting and BSing.
>
> The camp was not crowded, there were hot showers, the
> weather was really nice and the event just worked!
> Even the kids had a fantastic time. Thanks to all who
> attended, and for all of your efforts to make it such a
> great event (and especially Brent, John, Coyote, Mark
> and Peter).
>
> Stay tuned for next year! It will be even better and
> we will increase the number of Busses that can attend
> to 35 or so.
> Steve
| 
