T3 Transporter bump stop modification.

Lowering a T3 is a pretty common operation, the benefits are well documented and we won’t go into that here.

The one thing we do see a lot of is when someone books their van into the workshop complaining of the poor ride in their lowered van [ 95% of the time the van is sporting red springs!] and most of the time we can fix this problem fairly quickly, easily and more importantly cheaply!

What a lot of people don’t realise is that from the factory there were 2 lengths of bump stop, a 5 rib version [longer] and a 3 rib version [shorter].

From the factory the commercial models had the longer bump stops, so that’s most models with a Transporter badge on the back so all pick up models, Single cab and double cab pick ups were designed for commercial use and have the longer 5 rib bump stop and the yellow coded rear springs. Panel vans again were designed to carry a load and they too have the longer 5 rib bump stop.
What makes a mess of this little rule of thumb is that some Kombi models [empty vans with windows] were badges as transporters however they usually have the shorter 3 rib bump stop.

Passenger carrying T3s, That’s your Kombi, Caravelle and Westfalia campers [and Dehler probably too] came with the blue coded rear springs and the shorter bumpstops.

In the UK it was the norm for camper van converters to buy the cheapest van they could, usually a white panel van and then cut windows into it, so if you have a UK converted camper then the chances are you have a Transporter and it will have the longer 5 rib bump stop.

As you know we sell a lot of suspension products and one question we get asked is how to modify the bump stops for use on lowered vans.
We’ve been through our Facebook page and found the images when we did it before and we’ve written this here so it’s a little easier to find.

As the old saying goes, a picture speaks a thousand words…..

 

BumpStopChop01 Starting point, usual 5 rib commercial bump stop.

 

BumpStopChop02 Break the bump stop into 2 parts, attach rubbery end in the vice and pull and bend at the same time.

 

BumpStopChop03 Once you have it split, cut 2 ribs off, the narrow one, and one fat one.

 

BumpStopChop04 Whittle the last rib down in the bench grinder to a diameter similar to that of the one you chopped off.

 

BumpStopChop05 Cut a nick in the sleeve.

 

BumpStopChop06 Cut another nick in the bump stop rib.

 

BumpStopChop07 With a bit of light oil, engage the rubber in the sleeve and twist, the screw action will pull the smaller rib into the sleeve.

 

BumpStopChop08 Ta Da! 5 rib to 3 rib bump stop in minutes.

 

There you go, when lowering more than 30mm we would always do this

Budget Exhaust kits – T3 “Late Petrol”

We’ve just put these kits together for Petrol T3 models with the 1.9 and 2.1 Waterboxer.
We say “budget” but thats just compared to the full stainless systems we sell. They still fit together and work well… and we think this is a pretty good price for the whole shebang!
We’ve stocked and fitted these for a couple of years now, and the systems we’ve fitted seem to be lasting well, which is a big consideration for the WBX exhaust because they can be such a pain to fit! Its not a job you want to be doing too often!

t3wbx19exkit

Petrol 1.9 WBX 2WD
Petrol 2.1 WBX 2WD
Petrol WBX SYNCRO

Rotten radius rod.

image

This is what lurks beneath your radius rod bushes. All too familiar tale here, changing these things is becoming a weekly occurrence. Trouble is that this rot has already nibbled the front Cross member resulting in a nice little welding job before we can rebuild it.
image

The hole in the Cross member should be round! Eek!

Gearbox / Front Diff Mount – T3 / T4 Syncro Iltis POWERFLEX

Brand new from Powerflex and tested and developed by us.

Fit T3 Syncro, T4 Syncro, Iltis.

PF_85-1020

 

Powerflex supply these as kits of 2 or 3 bushes depending on application, but we prefer to sell them as seperate bushes. One bush consists of 2 halves and a stainless steel sleeve.
We would always recommend changing all the mounts on one component at the same time.
So:

T3 Syncro Front Diff will require 3x (order 3)

T3 Syncro Transmission will require 2x (order 2)

VW Iltis Engine Mounts will require 2x (order 2)

VW Iltis Diff Mounts will require 3x (order 3)

VW Itis Gearbox Mounts will require 2x (order 2)

VW T4 Rear Diff Mounts will reguire 3x (order 3)

Webshop Link

T3 Eibach 40mm Pro Kit – Free Shipping

You know the kit… Its the kit thats so good we had Eibach continue making it solely for us when they discontinued it a few years ago!
We stock loads of these, we have to because we have to buy loads just to get them made… and soon we have to move umpteen boxes as we make room for more new products!

So, whilst we dont really do “special promotions” as such (we prefer to just sell at the best possible price whilst giving a little back to clubs in the form of club discount), we figure its much easier to shift them out of the door and onto a UPS truck straight to your door, than shuffle them all around the ‘werks…

So, limited time offer, free shipping on the Eibach T3 kits. (UK only, please see exceptions on product description regarding UK areas which wont be free shipping)

eibach

 

Webshop Link

T3 Magma

DSC_0215 DSC_0216 DSC_0218 DSC_0257 DSC_0258 DSC_0259 DSC_0260 DSC_0261 DSC_0262 DSC_0263 DSC_0264 DSC_0265 DSC_0266 DSC_0268 DSC_0269 DSC_0270 DSC_0272

On a recent trip to Germany we spent a fair bit of time in the VW Automuseum on Dieselstrasse in Wolfsburg.

Being a long term VW nerd it was a perfect place to indulge in a good dose of geekery and the museum didn’t disappoint! One of the cool things about the museum is that they have a lot of prototype models and design studies, not models that were ever goin to be released more of a “I wonder what this will look like” kinda affairs.

The VW T3 Syncro Magma above was produced in 1987 as a design study, the concept of the study was realised as the “TriStar”, I suppose you could call it a SUV.
To many it just may look like any other T3 double cab pick up but to the spotter there are quite a few cool little features on this truck.

  • 15″ Atiwe “Pepperpot” alloy wheels, 7″ wide. This style of wheel was fitted to T3s’ but in 14″ form usually, the 15″ versions were fitted to contemporary Dehler conversions but again they are very rare.
  • Body kit, this is a one off, moulded to fit, there are not the common “TriStar” arches, nor are they the Bauer made 16″ wheel arch trims, they aren’t even “Postie” arches as fitted to German post office delivery vans. the arches and bumpers are clearanced to fit, the rear bumper has a rebate big enough to open the rear flap.
  • Bull bar, this seems to be very similar to that fitted to the Jagdwagen but without the connections to the roll over bars.
  • Front winch, bit of a strange one this as it sports a Jagdwagen style mounting bracket designed for steel bumpers however it’s on GRP bumpers and spaced off to fit.
  • SEV marchal Iode spot lamps, I believe these were a aftermarket conversion for mounting into plastic grilles usually used on Golfs and the like, the design team at VWN must have liked them as they were also fitted to the Syncro prototype known as the “Weltenbummler”
  • The interior is fairly special, the van was locked and we weren’t meant to go snooping and the museum was deadly quiet and there weren’t many people in there so us slamming doors probably wouldn’t go down that well but having a nosey through the window the interior seemed to feature zip off seat covers and MKI Golf style door arm rests.
  • Spare wheel carrier is a one off, not something I have seen before but what a great idea to lock it on eh, a locking fuel filler cap!

I wish I had taken a real camera instead of my phone now….