Colour Conundrum

A white van is a blank canvas.  At least that the way I'm looking at it, but the more I look at it, the more I feel it's lacking some colour.

I find myself looking at other vans, and desperately trying to decide which colour I prefer the most. Typically I cannot seem to narrow it down to a single colour.  I keep circling back to a Gunmetal Grey, or Olympian Blue.

More looking meant more idea's and soon I ended up on Specialist Paints website. (See Links)  This now means there are even more contenders for the final colour.

Here are just a few I really like,  it would be great to hear your comments on them.

It's behind you

As the van started life as a panel van, it never had a rear view mirror fitted, clearly as there was no need to see the bulk head in the cab.

However as I've now got windows in the back doors, and sides, I thought it could well be a handy to see behind me.

A few minutes on eBay, and I've sourced a brand new one for under £20

Fitted in a matter of seconds, and it's starting to feel less like a builders van.

I've also now started converting the front end to a badgeless grill.  Photos to follow when it's done.

More little bits

My family know me so well, for Christmas, I was given a set of Heko wind deflectors, and a new gearknob and gaiter.

The wind deflectors were fitted in seconds, and look great!

Next was the knob, the original is looking a little worse for wear.

I've not grabbed a photo of the new one, but I'll put that on here as soon as I do.

It's starting to feel like I've put my own touch on the van now.  Next up is the roof conversion.

Glass goes in

Until now the van looks very much like a builders van still, nothing has had a huge impact on how the van looks externally.  Windows are essential for a camper conversion, so I started looking around for prices and availability

After several quotes, I had a chat with the guys at Lakeland Windscreens, who put an excellent Christmas offer together for me, with a sliding window on each side, and the rest in fixed windows.

With a day off work booked, I drove the van up to Kendal, and dropped it of with the guys there.  I had a wander into the town centre to kill some time whilst they worked their magic on the van.

It's a little worrying coming and finding your van like this, but I was offered a coffee, and sat down in reception while they finished the rest of the fitting.

Not long after I'd finished a quick Netflix catchup on the sofa in reception I was told the van was ready.  I was really impressed with the speed and efficiency of the team at Lakeland.  In and out within just a few hours, and for a lot less than I had been quoted elsewhere.

I'm really pleased with the finished article now.

Keep fit windows no more

After a few months of having the van, one thing became very apparent, I needed electric windows again.  I quick look on-line and a complete kit was purchased from TransportersRus.  The kit came with excellent instructions, a fully terminated loom, and even templates for the door cards.

The door cards came off fairly easily as per the instructions, but some clips were rather stubborn and needed some extra persuasion to come out.

It took me about 4 hours from start to finish to do everything, this included extra careful routing of the wires, and putting everything back together again.

For less than £175 for the kit, it's well worth doing, and its really easy to fit.

The switches look OEM, they even light up red to match the rest of the instruments.  But by far the best thing is not having to lean over to wind down the passenger window!

Small Jobs

Some more small updates for the van now, nothing major so don't get too excited.

First of all, the standard side repeaters, orange and tired looking.  An easy swap, and one that cleans up the look of the van.

After:

Much better I think, next was the tax disc removal.  It kind of felt weird finally taking this out of the van, but I've kept the disc in the glove box.  I've no idea why, so I guess I'll just mark it down to nostalgia!

It looks cleaner, but I'm still not used to not seeing a disc there.

LED Revolution

An evening of making plans around the van conversion, I decided to give the van a minor update, and dispose of the traditional bulbs for LED ones, with a cool white light.  Obviously I've not done the head lights, but sidelights, interiors lights, and number plates lights were fair game.

They all took a few seconds to install, and in my opinion, look loads better.

Before:

After:

Total cost for all the bulbs was under £10, a bargain!

Warm & Quiet

One thing I really dislike is being cold, as such I plan to insulate the van as well as possible to retain as much heat as it can, in addition I'll be fitting the Eberspacher D2 which I have removed from the old van.

In addition to the insulation I also decided to add some extra sound deadening to the panels to keep things nice and quiet in the back.

So with shopping list in hand, B&Q was the next stop.  Two Cellotex 1" thick boards, flash banding of various widths, foil insulation rolls, and some aluminium tape for tidying up.

First things first, take the panels off, carefully so as not to break any clips, then I applied a single layer of flash banding on the exposed panels.  It's interesting to see how little VW use when the van leaves the factory.  Next was a layer of the foil insulation, then a layer of cellotex, more foil, another layer of cellotex and a final foil layer.

The process was then repeated for the rest of the panels and rear doors too.

The pictures above show the other panels in various stages of completion, you'll see its not a tidy job, but hopefully an effective one.

The panels were all refitted, and after a full day of cutting trimming and sticking, the van looks absolutely no different.  Although I noticed a huge difference when I shut the doors, there's a good solid "thunk" where previously there was a hollow "clang".

A starting point

Now the van is home and I've had a few days of driving about, its time to make it less like a building van.  Essentially preparing the blank canvas for the conversion to start.

So first of all, the bulk head needs to come out, and then the play can be removed.  The main metal panels of the bulk head were unbolted, but this did leave a rather unsightly metal frame most of the way around the threshold.

Now to remove the frame, the plastic trims on the B-pillars just clip off, and amazingly I didn't break a single clip!

The seats also had to come out to give access to the lower sections and the floor piece.

Sadly the lower side sections are spot welded in, and the lower piece was welded in with 1" sections.  So a few hours of very careful drilling on the spots, and cutting with a 1mm disc saw the frame removed.  All the exposed metal was primed and painted to prevent any rust making an appearance.

Now to set about the ply lining.  I've saved the panels as they are like new, and will be handy for template material.

Last to come out was the floor and the anchor points, sadly I didnt take a photo of the amount of dust and rubbish under the floor, but I assure you there was a lot of it.  Several empties of the hoover later, with a good sweep, and a wipe down the back of the van is empty and looking fresh.  It even smells a bit better too.

I've still to remove the excess silicone from around the windows on the rear doors, but one very noticeable thing is how much the back of the van echo's now its open and empty.  Some donated scraps of carpet from my neighbour soon helped quieten the van down, much better for day to day use.

A small note..

I thought I'd best include this bit, just to cover myself. 

I'm not a professional van converter, and it's not something I've done previously.  So anything information you use on here, is totally at you own risk.  I accept no responsibility if you damage your van, or yourself, or next doors cat etc, from replicating anything seen or documented on this site.

I'll gladly answer any questions or comments you may have, but just bear in mind, I may not be right 

The search is over

After another few weeks of searching eBay and classified sites I finally found a van I like,  however it didn't quite meet my ideal specification, but given how many I'd looked at and how many were LWB I knew I had to compromise on some things, most noticeable the tailgate. There seems to be a huge lack of reasonably priced LWB vans with a tailgate.

So the van I found is a 2006 T5, with the 130Bhp Engine, in white with barn doors, single slider door, and manual windows.  So nothing like what I had originally wanted.  On the plus side, its very clean, only a tiny amount of marks on the paintwork, loads of service history, and under 120k on the clock.

On the inside, the cab area was very tidy with no real signs of wear, no damage to the seats, and in the back, brand new ply lining.  Not that the ply lining would stay, but it showed the van was well cared for.

Again, this was not a local find, so we headed north to Carlisle to have a look.  I hoped this was the one, and not another ruined van made to look great on the internet.

Thankfully this time I had nothing to worry about, the test drive went great, the van flew, no rattles rumbles or disconcerting noises.

After a little negotiation on the price we shook hands and the journey home started.

I present the new van..