Camping It Up

[joby 0]

Nice one mate, it's looking sweet - How much is it dropped by? Those side bars make them look a bit lower 8) Those wheels look great on it! Just needs the bumper/mirrors colour coded now :lol:

 

I've spent the day cleaning the inside of mine, and i'm off to have the side windows tinted tomorrow - then hopefully i'll get the spotlights in and the split charge sorted on the weekend :)

 

My total spend is looking like it'll be around the £7k mark which isn't too bad considering what you get for the money!

Its been lowered 60mm using cmc springs, its on its ars now! With the furniture and bed in it sits really low but doesn`t rub as long as you get the right offset with the wheels :) going to get the windows tinted this weekend and thinking about some graphics down the side maybe, then some finishing off inside with electrics and worktops and cooker and sink! Not sure about colour coding the bumpers and mirrors as they look good as they are, Going to have to think about that one :)

[Walesy 0]

I just got back from having my windows tinted, it makes such a difference, looks awesome 8) I've just booked it in for monday to have the window put in the tailgate too.

 

Whats the ride like on the springs compared to standard then mate? I can't make my mind up whether to do it or not - I had a drive of a 1.9td that was dropped and it was MUCH more harsh than mine :( but it looks SO much better! :lol:

[lilfuzzer 1]

Tent you say? pah! that's budget accommodation! :lol:

 

I'm quite looking forward to the first show I go to in it, when everyone else is faffing around putting tents up etc i'll just roll up, put the handbrake on and get a cold beer out of the coolbox and sit in my luxury pad watching a bit of telly :smug: :lol:

 

Nice idea that what the lads do at York to me! My mate has just got one of these and lowered it 35mm looks sweet and still very usable for towing his race car

[Wompa 0]

Thats raw dude! AWSOME ;) HAHA!

[joby 0]

To be Honest mate the rides not bad! It bobs about on the front a bit but its not bad at speed, I used cmc springs £60! be carefull what springs you use as jamex and some others are bad, And the front is on torsion bars so no springs there just wind the nuts down to suit your drop :) only takes 30 mins to drop the whole van :shock:

[Walesy 0]

Yeah i've heard its really quick and easy! I'm still not sure about it though, it doesn't seem right to drop such a heavy vehicle on cheap springs? I may go for a weitec shock/spring kit or something but it'll have to wait unfortunately - i'm bloody skint after buying the units/bed etc!

 

I'll put some pics up later of the electric install - the lights/socket/leisure battery/inverter/split charge are nearly in :)

 

I was a bit pissed off to find that the van wasn't insulated in the rear when I took the panels off though despite the guy I bought it off telling me it was! :mad2:

[joby 0]

Walesy, would be really interested in info and pics on the electris as thats one part iv`e chickened out of doing yet as im hopeless with electrics and dont want to set my new van on fire, lol

[Danny B 0]

Walesy just seen the post now, glad your doing a thread on the new van like you said you would in the last thread......Van looks cool, white is the new black dont you know :camp: ...... I would say concentrate on getting the van nice and comfortable and then think about how it looks.....will follow this with interest brings back memories of driving around OZ :) :( !!!

 

p.s. take the bra off aswell mate IMO

[Toad 0]

Yeah i've heard its really quick and easy! I'm still not sure about it though, it doesn't seem right to drop such a heavy vehicle on cheap springs? I may go for a weitec shock/spring kit or something but it'll have to wait unfortunately - i'm bloody skint after buying the units/bed etc!

 

Not entirely related, but we built a ute up as a camper in Australia. Took the rear bed off, made a body up which all the food clothes etc went in, and put a fibreglass bed thing on top, which jacked open so they could snuffle in at night, was a pretty useful tool. Anyway, to cope with the extra load, thy bought airbags that fitted inside the rear springs and could be inflated or deflated to suit the load on the back.

 

take the bra off aswell

 

:shock:

[Danny B 0]

inflating and delfating air bags in the rear springs...... sounds interesting, never heard of that (other than possibly a shite french manufacturer who shall remain nameless), how did it work ?

 

sorry bit off topic dont suppose Walesy's going to do that with the TDi !!!

[Toad 0]

You literally had two thick rubber bags shaped and sized for the springs that you dropped into the middle of the springs, then you had a valve at one end you connected some tubing to and ran that to a point where you had 2 tyre valves attached to the body.

 

You would load the ute up, and then inflate each bag individually until it sat level. The bags were pretty tough although there were some concerns about big thorns and three corner jacks, I believe they got on fine with them. If you wanted to adjust the bags, you just used a compressor.

[Danny B 0]

thats pretty cool, I would imagine the the bags would have to be like the ones the fire brigade use... made from kevlar or something.....dont you hate the way the aussie's always do it better !!!

 

I reakon you should give this a go Walesy then you could have any ride height you wanted at a push of a button :D !!!

[Walesy 0]

Yeah the ex-AA T4 vans have air bags on the rear suspension so they could raise the back when towing - air ride is something i've considered but again the expense is off-putting.

 

The bra is off already, was the first thing I did! :camp:

[Walesy 0]

Walesy, would be really interested in info and pics on the electris as thats one part iv`e chickened out of doing yet as im hopeless with electrics and dont want to set my new van on fire, lol

 

Tbh mate it's not something I felt confident with doing by myself - IMO it's not something you should attempt unless you're completely confident that you know what you're doing, I think being a paranoid new Dad might add to that as the vision of burning the van to the ground with a dodgy connection was enough for me to pay for an expert! :lol:

 

Luckily I had Simon from Individual Camper Conversions to give me a hand because he came down to let me view his interior units before deciding whether to buy or not, I can't recommend the fella enough if anyone on here in the S.West needs a hand with an install or wants a custom interior built - he's a nice guy and a perfectionist that won't finish a job unless it's done to his high standards! He can design/build any spec van to your requirements as well as being able to help with plumbing/electrics/lining/carpeting etc etc 8)

 

I didn't get many pics because we didn't have time, and those that I did get are pretty crap but here they are anyway! Simon didn't leave my house until nearly 10pm last night as I decided to buy his interior units and he hung around to give me a hand getting them all together so pics weren't a priority! It'll be useful to have a few though just in case I forget how it went in and need to take it out again :lol:

 

I chose to have 6 spotlights, which is a bit overkill but as they can be turned on/off individually I thought it best to have too many rather than too little! The roof panels popped out and Simon stuck the wiring in while I stuck insulation to the underside of the panels - I used stuff a bit like Dynamat which was fairly pricey but it's good to have it done :camp:

 

 

As I said before, the guy I bought the van off told me it was insulated but when we took the panels off we found that it wasn't :confused: so I chucked a load of rockwool in

 

Plug socket added

 

I had to remove the arch boxes to be able to mount the rock 'n' roll bed, i'll be carpeting them at some point in the future but they're uncovered at the moment. First the rear platform was fitted which acts as a shelf but is also where the bottom end of the bed when the vans in sleep mode 8)

 

Next the R&R bed is bolted to the rear arches and the front panel is fitted

 

Then the 'buddy seat' is bolted to the floor

 

Then the rear bunk/shelves are just bolted to the rear platform

 

All that was left was for Mrs W to stick a couple of throws on the foam as a temporary fix, her mother's going to make us some curtains and pillow/foam covers but that wont be for a while so it's a case of making do for the moment :camp:

 

 

 

And that's where the vans at for the moment. I'll be getting the kitchen units in the next few weeks, Simons making me a half bulkhead (piece of metal or ply that sits parallel to the back of the front seats and stops things from the back entering the cab when the vans moving) as I need a bulkhead to mount the kitchen units on. I've asked him to make me one in the same style as the rest of the units rather than have a plain one carpeted, which should be a nice little touch :camp: :lol: I cant wait to get it all finished as i've got the buz for it now its half done :)

 

I also had a drive of Simons van which is lowered on 60mm CNC springs just like Joby's - I have to say I couldn't believe how decent the ride was, it makes driving the van soooo much better - it totally made my mind up that i'll be getting it done!

[coolrado 0]

Looking good so far, I was having a look around my mates one yesterday and the carpeting on the sides has made a hell of a difference, feels so much warmer and has cut the road noise right down, he has gone for the sheeps wool insulation on his and its so dense but surprisingly light weight.

One thing i had noticed in your pics was that scotchloks have been used on the roof lights, if I where you I would change them for decent crimps or soldered connections, the scotchloks may be fine but i hate the bloody things, I have had to rewire loads of alarms and stereo's that where fitted with them, usually due to condensation corroding the contacts.

[Walesy 0]

Yeah carpeting makes it feel so much better, and the insulation has obviously also made a big difference already with warmth and road noise! :smug:

 

Cheers for the tip with the rooflights, i'll have a word with him about it and see what he says!

 

I'm dropping the van at Vansport in Penzance tomorrow AM for it to have a tailgate window fitted, i've gone for a limo tint on the back so the storage is still safe.

[Phil K 0]

Looking super-dooper matey! Has got me thinking about a new project now1

[Walesy 0]

Got a few snaps of it today, while waiting for the kettle to boil :smug: :lol:

 

I've got the RS4's back on it (it was on steelies due to tyre issues!) and have had the window put in the back with limo tints, and had the fronts tinted.

I've decided Im going to lower it 40-50mm, i've been undecided as I do go 'off road' a bit but having spoken to a lot of local T4 owners that go to the same sort of spots that I do I shouldn't have much problem if I buy a decent kit and dont go any lower than 50mm! Im looking forward to getting it dropped a bit as it's a daily and i'm forever driving around bendy lanes so the body roll can get annoying after a while :camp:

 

I've still got a fair bit to do, the interior needs the curtains/matress cover/pillow cases made up, and i'm going to paint the wheels black when I get around to it! Also, although I never thought i'd hear myself say the words - i'm going to get a spoiler for the rear hatch :camp: :lol: I think they look great on T4's and they're only £50 so it'll be done at some point!

 

Anyway, heres a few pics!

 

[Leonard 0]

Really like that mate, Im very jealous.

 

Not sure about the spoiler mind lol

[Walesy 0]

Haha, yeah yeah , I know spoilers are generally crap! (apart from SS ones of course! :grin:) but the one i'm thinking of is really small and just looks right (like the rado one IMO, not garish!) - I wouldn't want anything that looks tacky on it so it'll only go on if it looks smart :camp:

[Leonard 0]

Haha, yeah yeah , I know spoilers are generally crap! (apart from SS ones of course! :grin:) but the one i'm thinking of is really small and just looks right (like the rado one IMO, not garish!) - I wouldn't want anything that looks tacky on it so it'll only go on if it looks smart :camp:

 

:grin: I will believe you

 

So does it look like this one http://www.carmagazine.co.uk/upload/754 ... porter.jpg

[Walesy 0]

Yip, that's the exact one mate 8)

[Leonard 0]

Yip, that's the exact one mate 8)

 

Not bad at all then. Any updated pics on the interior or you not quite there yet?

[Danny B 0]

Thank god, I almost chocked coffe all over my laptop when you said you were going to put a spolier on it :lol:.....but the one in the picture looks cool :salute:

[Phil K 0]

Looks great I like the wing vent that you get on corrado's - oh wait a minute :lol: