Sounds like a title for a good manual, eh? Well.....I recently completed
some minor modifications to my Syncro Westy TD, and today finally had the
cojones to pull off a test, of sorts. Coming off an entrance ramp onto the
freeway, a D***e diesel dualie pickup pulling a small car trailer began
breathing down my back a wee bit too close, so I floored the Syncro beast
for a long stretch of flat road, kept that D***e at bay for a bit, until I
looked down to see 140kph on the speedo (I retained the Canadian speedo
after importing the van to the US). Nothing that outstanding, until you
realize that with the wheels/tire combo, the speedo is under-driven by
almost 10%, which means 154 kph, or roughly 95 mph! Well, I was certainly
ecstatic! Never thought the beast would go that fast! Here is the current
state of modification, for those interested in what a 1.9 TD can do in a
big, heavy 4WD bus:

Stock 1.9 TD (rated at 75 HP, 107 Lbs-ft torque):
Lowered compression to 20:1 from 23:1
Boost pressure max raised to 15 psi (more to come with next round of mods)
Saab 900 intercooler, air-to-air (to become air-to-water in next round)
Pump timing set up to 1.00 mm from .80 mm
Cylinder head 'flowed', by cleaning up sharp edges in ports
High-flow 2.5 inch exhaust (basically a 'J' pipe and a short glass-pack)
Fourth gear ratio swapped to .77 from .85
Tires: 235/75R15 BS Dueler ATs mounted on SA 15 x 6.5 alloys
Of course, a full set of gauges to keep an eye on the engine parameters

Next round will add a Garrett VNT-15 turbo (still haven't worked out the
controller the way I would like) to replace the current Garrett T-3/60,
which has SO much lag up to 3000 rpm! Also, the intercooler will gain some
efficiency by adding a water-cooling jacket to it. With 18~20 psi, no lag,
quick boost pressure off idle, and denser air, things should become
interesting! This 'little' diesel is turning out to be quite the impressive
engine, much more so than I had expected! I would make a guess that at this
point HP is on the order of 90-100 and torque of 150-160. With the 'big'
turbo installed at present, the powerband is mostly from 2500 - 4000. With
the spin-happy VNT-15, that should change to 1500 - 4000. Fun to drive, to
say the least!

Karl Mullendore
Westy Ventures
1987 Syncro Westfalia 1.9TD