SYNCRO.CA
1986 Syncro Westfalia Joker Project

This vehicle was our 2003 project.  We imported this vehicle from Germany in April of 2003 and turned it into the ultimate off-road camper.

From the factory this camper had a pretty impressive list of attributes:

• Westfalia camper cold weather camping interior.  Same layout as the North America Westfalia plus you get fully insulated walls, double pane windows and a gasoline powered thermostatically controlled furnace.  

• Auto lighting refrigerator - this was not found on North American campers until the early 90s.

• Removable storage bin behind the passenger seat

• High top roof with storage over the cab of the vehicle.  Much quieter than North American Westfalia and no need to worry about getting wet in the rain!

• Locking differentials - front and rear

• 205R14 tires

Before I bought it, the owners spent some time in Finland and Norway and they did some nice modifications to it including:

• Large LT style mirrors

• Fimma awning

• Hella Rallye 2000 lights

• Reimo dash 'catch all' that holds your favourite beverage and has a fold out map table.

When we brought it to Canada we immediately started to make a good thing better:

• Wrap around front bull bar.

• Fast Forward Lift Kit for 52cm between the fender and the center of the wheel (stock is 47cm)

• Hankook RF-04 215/85R16 tires mounted on original Syncro 16 wheels

• Fast Forward +25mm trailing arms

• Old Man Emu front shocks

• Rancho RS9000X adjustable rear shocks

• Fast Forward rear bush bumper

• Ortec rear spare tire carrier

• The now discontinued Fast Forward cross drilled rotors.

• Gary Lee rear rack that holds a 20L fuel can, full pioneer kit and 1.5m long aluminum bridges for getting unstuck and over deactivated logging road entrances.

• Sony MP3/CD player with remote so we can listed to music in bed!

• Icom 706MKII-G HF/VHF/UHF amateur radio

In 2003, 2004 and 2005 we went to some incredible places including Yank's Peak and the North Arm of Quesnel Lake which require a very capable four wheel drive to get to.  No problem for this van as we have a little over 14" of ground clearance and increased suspension travel!

In 2005 we didn't do too much to the van as we spent time on our TriStar, mods included:

• Drive Shaft Decoupler with a solid shaft replacing the VC

• Multivan headlights

• Recaro seats